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TO THE EDITOR
Savar tragedy
I was really shocked to watch the deadly building collapse in Savar that killed a few hundred poor innocent workers. Why should owners neglect workers' pay? I can't understand what kind of businessmen they are. Why did they care little for their workers? How could they construct a building without proper planning? They have to remember that workers are also human beings. Don't treat them as another form of machinery that is needed to make a product.
It is a matter of great regret that in the last 15 years around four hundred workers have died in garment factory mishaps. The owners deserve severe punishment for their lapses. Please try to change your attitude towards these poor workers.
G.M. Rezwan Rasul
City College, Dhaka
Learning English
Dr. Robert (Sunday 24th of April) was right in saying one is not guaranteed success simply by virtue of one's ability to converse in English.
This I think is rather an exemplary comment from an English speaker, for those of us, campaigning relentlessly on the state of English language in government schools and colleges.
After residing in the UK for the last four years now and studying for both my A-level and now at university, my impression is in line with Robert's. I have seen so many Chinese speaking students as well as people of from other places come here to study without any previous knowledge of English, but they are now excelling at British universities and other educational institutes. In fact, if you go to LSE or Imperial College nowadays, you will see
more Chinese faces then English faces to be honest. These lead me to think that learning a new language is just another part of your education and surely it can't be the supreme objective of education, like what the English medium schools in Bangladesh and our 'know how' English speakers make it. It's more important that our policy makers concentrate on making education more accessible to the majority of the people of Bangladesh whose mother tongue is Bengali so as to enable them to understand and appreciate the subject contents, by translating higher education materials into Bengali.
Talking about the UK, just want to say how hilarious things are getting here under the New Labour. They have started this stupid programme on the immigrants about their ability to speak English and knowing
English cultures to qualify for citizenship. Of course you need to be able to communicate in English if you are living in the UK anyway, but knowing English-ness or Britishness seems rather a bizarre idea. I have always wondered how many of my English mates know the things those poor immigrants are asked in the Home office in their nationality tests!
Come on people in BD, let's not whinge about English anymore. We have other things to worry about!
Chowdhoury Mohibul Hassan
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) England, UK
Hasina's stand
Sheikh Hasina, the AL Chief, has said in a meeting that "fearing defeat in the next election the BNP-Jamaat alliance has conspired to
snatch people's verdict by appointing a party man as the chief of caretaker government"(CG). Then does she want to mean that she already knows the people's verdict otherwise would be in her favour!
However, how under the sun, one person can snatch away people's verdict (yet to be known) ?
I just cannot conceive such a wild guess! If this be the case, then I say they (AL) should retire from politics. I am now feeling that there may be some truth in the prime minister's speeches here and there that sensing unpopularity and seeing no sign of victory in the next election they (AL) are bent upon creating chaos, confusion and hurdles for the public and the government to go ahead with free and fair electioneering under the CG -- which they hailed when they won.
The AL chief has also identified in
her deliberation in the meeting that 111 BNP parliamentarians allegedly have criminal records; so let me appeal to the opposition leader to similarly identify criminals in her party as well, so as to enable the poor innocent voters know whom to vote for in the coming election. Alternatively, as tit for tat, let the govt. publish a list of unwanted, unpopular and harmful politicians from the opposition (as she has already identified in the govt.) After all, no one wants criminals from either party to decide the fate of the people. And if there are so many criminals in only one party, how many will be left out as the noble members of the parliament from the other party is anybody's guess -they have no right to do politics with the destiny of the people, irrespective of their party affiliations.
As the criminals should be
weeded out, should we not then look for gentlemen of good nature, good character and amiable disposition from the alternative stratum- if we have some.
A F Rahman
On e-mail
Islamic cricket?
The letter dated 6/5/05 with the heading "Islamic Cricket?" raised some interesting questions. I think ours is a democratic country, which allows the citizens to practise the freedom of expression and religion. I think those boys from madrassahs didn't mean any harm to anyone. I remember there was a time when I along with my classmates used to play cricket wearing my school dress. It's obvious that those boys came from their madrassah dormitories and came out with their usual clothes or uniform on, as the writer
put it. It's not professional cricket they are playing that they are bound to abide by the costume rules. They are all free to play with any clothes they like. Why should the writer be concerned with that?
It is also important for us to uphold our identity. Many young people know they are Bangladeshis, but what kind of Bangladeshis? Probably Western Bangladeshis. The writer's concern about regimentation creeping inside rejuvenated religious practices is pointless.
If the writer is practising his freedom of expression in the letter, then why doesn't he respect the freedom of expression (in a different context) of those boys?
Md. Intekhabul Hafiz
BRAC University