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It should be quite obvious by now that Israel’s latest invasion of Gaza and Lebanon had very little to do with rescuing her fallen soldiers. As I write, the rogue state, run by some of the worst war criminals of our time, has killed some 750 unarmed Lebanese civilians –– mostly women and children, destroyed mosques, bridges, roads, houses, schools, hospitals and much of the infrastructure of southern half of Lebanon. As in 1996, the terrorist state has massacred scores of civilians in Qana this past weekend (July 30, 2006).
   Israel has bombed Red Cross centre and ambulances, and a UN observation post killing 4 observers. She has displaced a million people inside the country, some of whom are forced to take shelter in even prisons. Infants have been forcibly separated from their parents, and the elderly from their care-taking children. Relief supplies are difficult to get to the internally displaced refugees. Nothing is immune from Israel’s bombing campaign.
   If a small fraction of these crimes were to be committed by any invading state, in contravention of international laws, Bush and Blair and their European friends in the NATO would be screaming aloud demanding ceasefire, failing which they would threaten the invading nation with all kinds of actions –– UN sanctions, embargo and war. But when it comes to crimes of Israel, they are her greatest cheer-leaders. They want to see more Muslim blood, more destruction, literally hell on earth and not cease-fire, because to them Muslim lives and properties are cheap and expendable.
   As Michael Schure, an ex-CIA analyst and the foremost expert on al-Qaeda, has said, Bush and Blair through their both overt and covert support of such monumental crimes against Muslims have repeatedly shown that they are the worst enemies of Muslims. They have given credence to everything that their adversaries –– conveniently depicted in the West as the ‘bad’ guys, the so-called terrorists –– have been saying about the West. No bones about it. Truly, it is not OBL and al-Zawahiri that is radicalising Muslims throughout the world, but these two white-collar Christian warlords that epitomise evil and hypocrisy. With world leaders like these, who needs OBL to bring the Armageddon on earth?
   Exchange of prisoners between contending parties is not new. It takes place all the time. Even Israel has, in the past, negotiated such exchanges. Moreover, the demand of Hezbollah and Hamas to exchange captured Israeli soldiers for Muslim prisoners held by Israel is justified given the fact that it is Israel that for decades has been holding thousands of Palestinian prisoners and hundreds of Lebanese citizens –– many of whom are women, children and (even) infants –– some literally kidnapped.
   Remember that although Israel was forced to withdraw from southern Lebanon in 2000, some 22 years after its invasion, she continued to hold onto the Sheba Farms in defiance of UN Security Council resolution 425, and refused the release of 300 Lebanese prisoners including a number of Hezbollah leaders. Israel also refused to hand over to the Lebanese government the map of land mines planted in south Lebanon. She continued to violate the air, water and land sovereignty of Lebanon. Even the plea of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora with the Bush Administration did not produce any result. So, when all the options for a peaceful resolution of these legitimate concerns were balked at by the Zionist regime, Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers when they violated Lebanese sovereignty on July 12.
   Hezbollah promptly called for the exchange of prisoners. Unfortunately, Israel does not care about the fate of those soldiers. She used the event as a pretext for something more sinister, something that remained unfulfilled from the Zionist blueprint for six-decade-long history of annexation and annihilation, massacre and manipulation. The current murderous campaign of Israel inside Lebanon cannot, therefore, be grasped without an understanding of the Zionist dream that includes annexing the southern part of Lebanon to the Litani River, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the West and East banks of the Jordan River.
   It is, therefore, not difficult to fathom why Israeli Prime Minister Olmert preferred invasion of Lebanon over negotiation to exchange prisoners. Israel has always been a colonial enterprise that thrives on opportunities for practising state-run terrorism and colonisation against Arabs. The capture of Israeli soldiers provides that criminal justification to destroy and slaughter, let alone an opportunity to set up a client state in the plundered territory that would safeguard Israel’s so-called inalienable rights to intervene. Invasion comes rather easy with Israeli warlords. To these hawks, Barak’s 2000 pullout from the ‘Security zone’ was a mistake and needed to be corrected. They want a ‘Buffer zone.’
   One should not forget that it was Israeli atrocities and western betrayals that brought about the emergence of resistance fighters of Hezbollah, born in families of the Shi’ite victims and out of the ashes of south Lebanon. During the Lebanese Civil War, when the USA and France acted more like proxies to pro-Israel forces in the region, the U.S. Embassy (April 1983), and French and U.S. Army barracks (October 23, 1983) were attacked by these resistance fighters killing nearly 300. By the time the Civil War ended, Hezbollah, with its militia, refused to disarm in fighting the Israeli presence in the security zone. The Lebanese government with a weak military was in no position to contest IDF and found it prudent to overlook Hezbollah’s efforts to securing the southern border. Thus, the latter had a de facto approval from its constituency. [A poll conducted by the Arab-American Institute as recently as April of 2006 showed widespread support for Hezbollah. Only 6% of Lebanese people agreed to a disarmament of the group.]
   Hezbollah also did a superb job building clinics, hospitals and schools, paving roads and constructing homes, and rebuilding houses and other infrastructure in war-torn Lebanon. These activities earned them immense popularity in the south and made them a major political and social force to be reckoned with.
   The presence of the IDF and its surrogate SLA in the south was a source of constant irritation for Lebanon and her people, and led to hostilities with Hezbollah and the Lebanese forces. In April 1996, during Israeli ‘Grapes of Wrath’ campaign to destroy Hezbollah guerrillas, Israeli artillery gunners shelled a United Nations base in Qana, east of the port city of Tyre, killing more than 100 civilians sheltering there. That massacre at Qana galvanised the western leaders to arrange a ceasefire.
   Fighting between the Hezbollah and the IDF resumed again in June of 1999. In May 2000, under the new Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the IDF started to gradually withdraw from southern Lebanon turning over its positions to its ally –– the SLA. However, amidst incessant pressure from the Hezbollah, SLA collapsed, leading Israel to accelerate its withdrawal, which it accomplished by late May. Nonetheless, she held on to the Sheba Farms.
   On Sunday, July 30, 2006, under new Prime Minister Olmert, the IDF repeated the war crimes of 1996 through missile strikes in the village of Qana. Villagers had gathered in a shelter in one of Qana’s buildings, probably thinking that the massacre of 1996 would not be repeated by savage Israelis. But they were wrong. Lebanese Red Cross officials said that 58 people died in the Israeli assault on the village, including 34 children. Rescuers dug through the debris to remove dozens of bodies.
   In 1996, Qana was the price Lebanon had to pay for world leaders to end the killing. But this time, with the US and its leadership firmly behind Israel’s war crimes, no such ceasefire is in the making. So, when the rest of the world cries out foul and is saddened with savagery of Israel, and demonstrates for ceasefire, leaders like Bush, Blair and Condi Rice show how evil western leadership has become. Their behaviour is immoral, demented, sadistic and criminal. Truly, if we are looking for a modern-day Nero, we have it in these world leaders.
   In their delirious mindset, they have forgotten that when the doors of negotiation, seeking fairness and justice, are shut down, radical elements –– prone to seek alternative ways to redress their grievances –– always emerge. If that happens, don’t mumble ‘why they hate us?’ It is events like Qana that produces recruits for 9/11, 7/11 and 7/7.
   The current events in the Occupied Palestine and Lebanon once again have shown the utter moral bankruptcy of the West and its leadership, especially of the USA and the UK. Hypocrisy is its hallmark. The West can preach equality, liberty, democracy and human rights, but they truly don’t mean them when it comes to vast majority of non-whites. So, when Israel commits monumental crimes against Arabs, violating scores of international laws and UN charters, the USA and her western allies have consistently cheered and supported her criminal activities.
   It is said that when criminals and demons rule our world, it is better for human beings to be dead than alive. How long will humanity let these modern-day Neroes to rule our world?
   Dr Habib Siddiqui writes from Philadelphia, USA. He can be reached at: saeva@aol.com

We are witnessing globally, particularly in the developing countries, a lot of interest in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The financial industry is starting to realize the immense potential of this sector and is actively examining ways to gain access to it.
   Their willingness in financing SME is not an outcome of ‘follow the crowd’ or ‘keeping up with the neighbour’ syndrome, but a strategic decision taken on the basis of their business needs and for sound business reasons. If this is followed up with commitment and hard work, it will not only benefit them as an institution but also the economy as a whole. The SME sector needs all the support it can get from the financial sector to make a more robust contribution to the growth and poverty alleviation efforts of the country.
   In this context the publication of the ‘Banking Survey on SME Market’ by SEDF-IFC is a significant milestone.
   
   Why is this important?
   One of the stated objectives of the government is Poverty Alleviation. Experience in many countries has shown that this sector has contributed significantly in achieving this goal. The government has made developing SMEs a national priority and has undertaken several policy decisions to accelerate growth in this sector.
   The report on the ‘Banking Survey on SME Market’ will help us achieve this objective.
   First, the wealth of statistical information given in the survey gives us insight on the characteristics and dynamics of the SME segment. It also leads to certain issues that should be given consideration both by policy makers and the financial institutions in dealing with this segment.
   Take the distribution indicators based on asset size. 47% of the firms are in Small and 29% in Medium Enterprise segment. Based on geographical distribution, only 32% of the SEs are located in rural/semi-urban areas. On the basis of loan size: medium-term loan is Tk. 17 lakh and short-term is Tk. 15 lakh for SEs.
   
   The issues the indicators present to the FIs are:
   l Small sized individual loans, dispersed geographically, create cost and distribution issues.
   l This has interest rate implications.
   l High interest cost is one of factors that can impede a robust growth of this sector.
   
   The answer perhaps lies in FIs harnessing IT and driving volumes.
   FIs need to look at best practices and successful business models around the world, adapt and adopt them to drive their businesses in this segment more successfully. This will require commitment in terms of investment in IT and human resources.
   Secondly, the financial profile of the SMEs as presented by the report. The formal financial sector often tags SMEs as ‘risky’ business. This is more a ‘perception’ than reality. It is a ‘fear of the unknown’, which is not supported by facts. A cursory look at the bad-debt portfolio of any bank in this country will confirm the fact that there is a heavy concentration of large loans. Indeed figures indicate more than 50% of the total bad debt portfolio of the country is concentrated in the large loans.
   This survey also confirms that risk perceptions are inhibiting growth of this sector. The is evident from the survey findings.
   One of the risk measurement parameters is the financial viability of the enterprise. SMEs operate quite profitably and have low debt/equity ratio.
   
   To quote from the survey:
   l Average gross margin is 24% for both SEs and MEs.
   l Return on Capital is highest in SEs at 33%
   l Cash Cycle is 92 days in SEs and 118 days in MEs
   l Debt/Equity ratio around 80/20 for both SEs and MEs
   
   These financial indicators do give enough reasons for FIs to review the validity of their perceptions
   Third, the SME is viewed as a risky business mainly because of the fact that the financial industry in Bangladesh concentrates more on the collateral rather than the cash flow in their risk assessment. The survey indicates 76% of the loans are collateralized and in all cases collateral is higher than the loan amount. It also states that the main reason for credit denial is insufficient collateral.
   ‘‘Cash-flow statement’ is not given much attention in the risk analysis although the survey reveals that 55% of the banks require a cash flow statement to be submitted by a loan applicant. The fact that almost all loans are in fact over-collateralized is an ample evidence that in the event the borrower cannot support the loan with more 100% collateral credit is denied to him irrespective of quality of the cash flow.
   Cash Cycles ranging from 92 days to 118 days are acceptable norms and allows banks to intermediate to the benefit of the bank and the borrower on an acceptable risk basis.
   The over-emphasis on collateral-based lending raises serious access to finance issue.
   The survey highlights:
   l Only 38% have requested FIs for debt.
   l 2% for Lease Financing
   l 41% of the financing is in Mid-Term Loans and 23% have Working Capital Financing
   
   The hurdle an SME entrepreneur faces in accessing credit from the formal financial sector discourages him and forces him to turn to the informal sector. It is interesting that the survey does not go into informal financing sources in any detail. It would have given us further insight on the financing patterns.
   The quality and usability of the products on offer by the financial industry to the SME borrower requires attention. Here too, there is a disconnect. Typically the lending is short to medium term and the survey clearly indicates this to be case. Except in Textiles and Agro-Processing, loans are below 3Yrs maturity.
   Limiting the financing to below 3yrs in many ways inhibits the growth of these enterprises since bulk of surplus generated in the initial years goes towards loan repayment. This acts as barrier for SME entrepreneurs in leveraging the equity and expanding operations in this critical phase. 80/20-debt/equity ratio for all SMEs is further confirmation of this fact.
   The role women entrepreneurship plays in the SME deserves special mention. The success of micro-credit is an ample proof of the fact that there is no dearth of capability among our women entrepreneurs and the low default rate is a clear indicator of the fact that women appear to be better credit risk. Further, there is a large population of micro-credit users who could potentially migrate to small enterprise. Yet the survey presents a dismal picture:
   l 4.3% of owners are females
   l Women appear to have least access to larger amounts.
   l Average time for approval of loans is 57 days and in the case women entrepreneurs loan approval period is 145 days, which is three times longer!
   
   The financial industry cannot apparently explain this glaring inconsistency.
   Recommendations made by the survey are important, but the Financial Institutions should focus more on the wealth of data that the survey has presented. This includes profile of the entrepreneurs, location of the units, types of business they are involved in and some important financial indicators. This data base provides the basis of for working out the product programmes and also frame an effective business model.
   Overall, the survey has given a great deal of information. The Bangladesh Bank is taking further initiatives in this regard. It is examining the possibility of making refinance available to equity-based products and longer maturity term loans.
   The bank and financial institutions should urgently increase their engagement with the SME sector in a more meaningful way. This would not only create a very large profitable market for them but also, and more importantly, help in our poverty alleviation efforts. The benefit to the economy as a whole does not need to be elaborated.
   This article is based on a speech delivered by Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, deputy governor, Bangladesh Bank, at the launching ceremony of the ‘Banking Survey on SME Market’ by SEDF-IFC held in Dhaka on July 29, 2006

On campus turmoil

During the last few weeks, the nation has been observing a severe chaotic environment in the educational campuses. Not only BUET or Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University but also half a dozen of public universities are facing consecutive class suspensions, strikes and clashes among the student wings and vandalism of premises by students. The reasons behind these turbulences are political rivalry, corruption of authorities, students’ demands not met by the authorities, etc. Indeed, this is a sudden buzz at our educational institutions that will bring irreparable harms to the rising generation of the country.
   But our national leaders are remaining hushed in regard of its immediate solution. We cannot but be shocked at this unexpected scenario of our campuses. Actually this is a point of frustration which prognosticates many session jams, the nightmare in the lives of students, and the decline of standard education. Our expectation from the government is a speedy stride in order to resolve the prevalent problems.
   M Alauddin Ansary
   Zahurul Haque Hall, DU
   

It is very easy for us, pampered westerners, to sit in front of our plasma screens and condone the bombardment in Lebanon. Instead you need to imagine the horror of seeing your child/wife/husband die in your arms or under the rubble that used to be your house. The fact that the stupid oaf in the oval office and his faithful dog haven’t put a stop to this is not surprising. It is however shameful and surely any good will that we may have garnered amongst Muslims and indeed the world will evaporate.
   Tim
   Cardiff, UK
   

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