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COLUMN

An open letter to Obama

HABIBULLAH N KARIM
Dear Mr President Obama,
The last two decades have seen the geo-political lines redrawn on a scale not seen since the Second World War. The drama is still playing itself out at many war theaters around the world from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Congo to Sudan, from Abkhazia to Chechnya, from East Timor to Tibet and from Assam to Kashmir the global village is more akin than ever to a cauldron of suffering humanity fought by warmonger chieftains supported in many cases by the war machines of great powers, the greatest of which is of course the USA.
Into this mayhem throw in the financial meltdown in your economy the largest in the world, a whopping one-fourth of the global economy, large enough to pull down many other economies to the gutters. This double whammy of war-infestation and near financial bankruptcy of the world is bound to create pronounced tectonic movements in the geopolitical arena that is already overcast with gloomy forebodings.
This is the world in which you have claimed your prize at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in Washington DC last week. With your coronation as die 'elected monarch' of the richest and mightiest democracy in the world, a great sense of hope has been created. The combination of President Abraham Lincoln's sense of fairness and civil rights leader Martin Luther King's humanist optimism in your calls for a new beginning have found a hopeful echo in hearts around the globe.
You have raised the hopes of your own people on uniting your nation and earned back the respect of the world. They will be looking up to you to save them from the scorn in foreign lands, from flattening income levels at home and from the seeds of intolerance at home and abroad.
The people of the world will be hoping for the biggest military might in the history of human civilisation to rein in its festering brawns that have been bandied about die world without a care in
the past, they will be hoping for you to rise above the exceptional doctrine of your predecessors and truly be a compassionate statesman of the world, they will want to see the land of the free pay cognizance to the freedoms and investitures of people outside the borders of your homeland.
From the poorest to the richest, from the humblest to the mightiest, from the smallest to biggest all nations must have equal dignity and an equitable opportunity to better their lots just as you are spreading hope to the disadvan taged minorities in your own country, so that they are able to fend for themselves with the right kind of policy imperatives.
The assumption of the office of the president of the USA by the first African-American has raised expectations around the world like no other US president has ever done. In your own words, this marks a new beginning in a country where your black father could not have entered any restaurant he wanted because of his ethnicity only a few decades ago. This humble citizen of a not-so-high-and-mighty South Asian country would like to see your presidency' bring true equity in international relations, especially in trade and economic relations. While your country is going through the worst job loss in recent memory, brought on by the financial market woes, you must not look inwards and ignore the ripple effects of your softening economy on the world's less fortunate souls, such as the poorest of the poor in a country like ours who make do with less than a dollar a day.
The situation obviously will test your patience and belief in globalisation but I hope you will not lose faith in the power of global trade in goods and services, in enhancing worldwide human equity and dignity. I hope you will not make service outsourcing a political scapegoat and try to stem the flow of service jobs to lower-cost destinations. I hope you will resist populist tendencies and rather work with world leaders in finding synergies amongst the
economies of the world.
President Obama,
You are a white woman's pride, a black man's gift, a far-eastern noblesse, and a Hawaiian hoop of joy. Please help this world become a peaceful home of the human
race exalted by the multiplicity of nations dwelling in the one and only life-inhabiting spaceship called Earth.
May all that is good steer you on the path of righteousness and human goodwill in your eventful
journey.
The writer is the founder CEO of Technohaven Company Ltd and the current president o* Bangladesh Association of Software ano Information Services (BASIS) He wevmes feedback al hnkanm@gmail com.