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Simmering “discontent”
The dictionary describes 'simmering' as bringing slowly to a boil. When this is coupled with 'discontent' the authorities should beware. We have already had a couple of manifestations of 'simmering discontent' in recent days that caused immense damage to national property and prestige. 1 am giving 4 more flash-points simmering fast.
1. The privileged have amassed wealth beyond imagination both here and outside by methods that are blatantly illegal. They include Bank Defaulters, Tax Dodgers, Political Touts and the like. Out of thousands such, just a few are being hauled up. The general feeling is, they too will be let off eventually to enjoy their ill-gotten gains after getting a slap on their wrists. In contrast, millions of “poverty stricken people are being repressed and tortured for unpaid loans of small sums. Is this fair, is this just?
2. Most top moneyed people either pay no taxes or declare nominal amounts. Yet year after year they get the facility of paying a pittance to whiten their black money. This time, it is a mere 5%. In contrast those law-abiding people who regularly pay their taxes sometimes at the highest rate of 25%, get another 10% deducted from their savings. Is this fair, is this just?
3. Most main roads have been cleared of slow-moving vehicles to give easy passage for more than a 150,000 gas-guzzling monstrosities (GGMs), driving empty/halfempty and causing horrendous traffic jams on city roads every day. Yet millions of rickshaw pullers, their families and service providers are debarred from earning a hard but honest living to appease those whose show of ill-gotten wealth is obscene and questionable. Is this fair, is this just?
4. Yesterday some elders were honoured on the occasion of UN day of old people. I hope they did not have to walk to collect their awards as they seemed to be car-
less people! Children’s Day is also imminent, will they also have to walk to their functions as 99% of our children and their families do not have cars. What an anomalous country weflive in! We have all the rights to walk on any road we want without let or hindrance, but the moment wt sit in a rickshaw, we lose this right. Is this fair, is this just?
I have I ved 75 years without blemish. I till work 8-10 hours a day for my I ving while commuting daily by ric tshaw from my rented flat in Niket m to office in Banani (I have no mo tile phone, much less a car or a mt nsion). I have paid my taxes regul uly for more than 50 years and t that do I get in return another 10% deducted at source from my n odest savings. This is not fair, this is not just I Is it not time thatlgotso ne relief?
In the ast two months, the Mohakhali Road was 'declared' rickshaw free. I have been summarily forced'to walk about a kilometer ir searing heat or driving rain twice a day (I have undergone By-Pass op ration). Thousands of men, women, children, old, disabled, s ck, infirm and those with small loads have to do the same, dod ;ing death from the raucous ar d racing vehicles and their ignormt drivers/insensitive owners. Is t! lis fair, is this just?
On the first Ramadan on my way home at 4.30 PM, I finally rebelled. 11 >ld the cop that since he would not allow my rickshaw on the road and no footpath is available would walk in the middle of t re road. I did so and 3 others join id me. Next day, I did the same a id this time more than 25 men, women, children, a disabled person and gray-beard inusallis cc ming from Asr prayers joined me v oluntarily in the middle of the road.
I have desisted thereafter because I < id not want anyone to be hurt. We have lodged our protest and now Mr. Deputy Commissit ner, TYaffic, it is your turn to think seriously whether you serve just a few or the vast majority who make ip this nation. What will happen when this 'simmering
discontent' boils over? SikanderAhmed Niketon, Dhaka
Teaching English
The PCP article by Chris Austin (3 Oct) is wonderful and it fills me with elation that others in the world do care about the common people of Ban gladesh. Thelearning of English and its secrets as exposed by him and the other practical proposals of help will no doubt advance this most worthwhile objective for the betterment of Bangladesh and its technical manpower, as it has done for China and other countries in the region.
From my own experience of childhood I remember English as a subject which most of us approached with trepidation. There was never any love for the subject as was, say, for Bengali poets, ?nd poetry qr the Bengali literature of the day including the “Dashyu Mohan” series of adventures. English was a subject which needed to be learnt only for passing the examination, and there I thinklies thecruxof the matter.
Teachers and guardians must inculcate the beauty, efficacy and rewards of learning a foreign language to the students and allocate proper hours and machinery and trained personnel for this purpose.
Knowing more than one language gives a better IQ and understanding of the world we live in.
Poet Rabindranath Tagore said somewhere which I can only paraphrase, ”If one cannot write good English, one cannot write good Bengali either!" Engineer Shafi Ahmed London, UK
Two important issues
As per media news, two important decisions are in the process of consideration of the CTG. These are:
a. Truth Commission
b. National Economic Advisory
Commission. (NEAC)
a. The concept and purpose of the truth commission as very briefly mentioned by the law and information adviser has already invoked a mixed reaction from various organisations and forums.
However, one thing is very clear from the editorial of a daily that the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" formed in 1995 in South Africa had completely different perspective and purpose, and had all the necessary moral, legal and political force built-in to formulate that commission. Since there is a fundamental difference in the perspective and purpose of the truth commission idea in Bangladesh with that of South Africa, it would be advisable not to use the same name or idea if the government finally decides to give aformalshapetoit.
b. Regarding the NEAC the finance adviser has given some • highlights in his interview with the BBC Bengali Service and a local satellite TV channel. The TOR and the composition of the commission are yet to be finalised, and might be ready by midNovember this year as mentioned by the adviser.
Apparendy, this would be an outfit in the MOP to be chaired by the adviser himself. The members might include notable economists from various groups including civil society, independent economic forum, etc. The main purpose would be to provide policy advice on micro-economic management to the MOF/govemment
One expects that this would be an independent advisory body, and for that purpose it might be worth considering to make the chairperson from among the other members of the commission. It should not be difficult to determine the criteria of the members and chairperson. The position of chairperson can even be rotated as might be determined.
On the question of membership, the government has to keep in mind the professional creditability and he or she should be free from political inhibition or tilt as far as possible. Therefore, it might be useful to include at least 2-3 renowned new generation macro-economic analysts from independent economic forums to maintain the needed diversity in the commission. Representation of women should also be kept in mind.
A reader One-mail
Aussies back to business
The rise of the Australian cricketers in India after lying very low for some time both at 20/20 in South Africa and elsewhere is indeed amazing.
In Pakistan, too, the situation is almost the same where the visiting South Africans have defeated Pakistan in the first Test and the runners-up in the20/20 are reeling under the superb cricket delivered by South Africans.
The main issue here is: how come the champions and the runners-up are faring so badly at home , while the defeated teams, Australia and South Africa are showing brilliance with considerable ease in their opponents' groundsnow.
One answer is that 20/20 is not meant to be played by international cricketers, but only by juniors, sub-juniors and school boys!
DnAbdul Ruff Colachai JNU, Delhi
TIB report
In this letter I would like to make a comment on the above report by
drawing information from the news published in your paper on Sunday, October 2,2007 under the heading "TIB says its study not applicable to' all NGOs". In particular, I will keep my comments within the limit of the methodology used to collect information.
According to Dr. Iftekhar, Director, TIB, a 'scientific methodology' was used to collect information. If we look into scientific research, we will find that scientific research includes, if not only but mainly, lab-based experimental research. Therefore, the mentioned scientific methodology sounds irrelevant in conducting research to gather information from any source which concerns human activities. It is clearly understandable that NGOs mostly deal with people; thus, TIB's 'scientific methodology' can be taken as an inappropriate effort to study NGOs.
It has been reported that TIB used 20 samples to study thousands of NGOs! It is really a gross mistake to claim a right to comment on 47,000 NGOs by doing research only on 20! Such generalisation is unacceptable.
Dr. Abu B.Siddique Development Consultant UK
UN positions
On 6 October you wrote in support of Bangladesh's efforts to secure senior level positions in the UN by virtue of, among other things, Bangladesh's contribution to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations throughout the world. Without question, Bangladesh's contribution of troops has proven useful to the UN. Like Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Kenya, all major troops contributing countries, Bangladeshi troops cost much less than troops from North America and the European Union.
However, instead of foisting a Bangladeshi bureaucrat or even a serving member of the ruling caretaker government upon the UN, Bangladesh should take a principled stance that officials of the UN should be hired on merit. The UN has too often been the repository of out-of-work or out-of-favour senior government officials.
This type of activity does not advance the noble causes of the UN, nor does it dignify the sacrifices made by the Bangladeshi troops.
Robert A. Johnson Gulshan, Dhaka
Trade licence
1 fully support Dr. Abdus Sattar Syed's opinion on this issue (Letters to the Editor page, June 19, The Daily Star) that the advance income tax ofTk. 1000 proposed on every fresh issuance or renewal of a trade licence should be withdrawn. I would like to go even further to propose that the requirement of trade licence be waived for very small starting enterprises (a suggested limit: fixed investment under Tk.1.5 lakh). Unfortunately, we inherited a legacy of a top-down authoritarian rule of the colonial past which has not changed a litde even after adoption of democracy. Field officials of the government have the authority to harass the general public if their corrupt demands are not met.
Our policymakers sitting in the capital would never understand what harassment a new entrepreneur has to undergo just to get a trade licence unless s/he is prepared to pay the demanded bribe money. This harassment that an entrepreneur faces at the very beginning of an enterprise puts him or her off. Since we need large scale proliferation of small
enterprises for poverty alleviation through mass employment, such a situation is not at all desirable.
Therefore, the above conditional waiver of trade licence should be given a serious thought Dr.KSiddique-e- Rabbani ProfessorofPhysics Dhaka University
Our workers in
Malaysia
Just within a week of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed's meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Mr. Abdullah Bin Ahmad Badawi in New York where, as reported in our media, the Malaysian PM assured our Chief Adviser of all possible help to assist Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, comes the bad news of ban on our workers in that county.
Where does our foreign policy and diplomacy stand? Are our 'friends' taking us seriously? Zobalda Jahan Melbourne, Australia
TIB report & NGOs
It is an undeniable fact that some very remarkable accomplishments have been made by some NGOs in healthcare and education and expanding opportunities to the disadvantaged children of Bangladesh. Yet, no doubt, theTIB findings on corrupt practices of NGOs are well founded.
Tlie large ones are undoubtedly corrupt and managed by autocratic and dictatorial personalities. They are mosdy one man show. Those top guys surround themselves with their sycophants, relatives who are mosdy inept, undereducated , ill-trained, but capable of managing and approving corrupt practices. Most of the mid-level managers (majority with Master’sjare very ill paid. They earn one third of a driver's salary given in a multinational company. They work for those organisations with the clear understanding that they can manage their life quite well under bribery and corrupt practices. The majority of managers survive and prosper under the corrupt patronageoftheirseniors.
The NGOs hire lot of senior retired bureaucrats to manage things at the government level. These retired top civil servants are well looked after by their employers. Unfortunately, most of them have no experience or expertise to manage NGO activities, or commercial industrial ventures, to generate inebme to be reinvested in the core objectives of the organisation--- poverty alleviation and dispensation of basic health and education to the poormassesofthecountry.
It is time to look into the NGO activities and prpvcnt misuse of donors' money.
Dr. K.C. Das Purkaystho NewYorkCity, US
Ammonia pollution
Mr. Islam's report in your daily (Oct:3) on abnormal quantities of ammonia gas exhausts from Zia Fertiliser Co. Ltd. , polluting the environment around ZFGL factory, is deplorable news. What are the authorities doing about containing It? The surrounding cropland of about 2Q0 acres is losing fertility due to excessive alkalinity. Fishes in ponds within this area are also reported to be dying unnaturally! People in the locality are suffering from skin diseases and respiratory problems. However, strangely, nothing was mentioned about the employees of the factory and their families who live in the factory location!
Is the concerned adviser aware of the situation? It will be best if he goes there for an on-the-spot investigation to ensure that what is needed is done urgently.
Where is the government's responsibility for this act of criminal neglect?
SA. Mansoor Retiredengineer
Misplaced priority
The politicians have again started to beat about the bush. Though the main problem of Bangladesh is now corruption, some politicians are saying undemocratic things. Whatever is good for this world is
permissible in Islam, then why do you question Islam's complete code of life? I think some people’s hard line against Islam ignites Jihad among some fervent Muslims, which is creating dire situations in many countries.
What is most important at this juncture is to shim the age-old obscurantism, highhandedness, favoritism, and excel in good deeds.
AbdusSubhan Lalpur.Natore
Business community In Plato's Republic, theplaceofthe business people was earmarked outside the city. May be their loyalty and patriotism were suspect. Modern day multinationals are, however, quite unabashed and unconcerned about it.
Have the traders upgraded their positions lately? And so very well-(hat a special truth commission is ordered just for them! Bui why do I have this feeling of a blind man in a dark room, chasing a black cat that may not be there?
WD Ahmed
BaridharaDOHS, Dhaka ■
What's going on?
We were encouraged when the Malaysian Prime Minister assured the Chief Adviser in NY that all problems pertaining to the BD workers in that country would be solved, but now we hear that Malaysia has imposed a blanket ban on BD workers!! What is this? Why around 300,000 would be workers had to be put. in this situation? It seems that thSpresent administration is more interested in pushing those hapless workers to different countries than engaging in wise and effective negotiations. We suggest the government immediately send officials to other manpower exporting countries, like the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Egypt....to learn as to how to ensure proper safeguards for our workers.
Dr. M. Hussain Canada