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Remittance: largest forex earner
   Yes, indeed, the money being sent home by the blue colour workers is actually the country’s largest single net foreign exchange earning sector. And while the export earnings through readymade garment exports are higher than the remittance income – US$6 billion compared to well over $8 billion – accounts for higher income but the net income from this sector is actually little more than $4 billion. This is because of the RMG industry’s failure to establish proper backward-linkages for higher value addition to its overall export products. The country’s total net export earnings, however, is higher.
   It perhaps needs some explanation. For example, during the first 11 months of FY2006-07 (July 06 to May 07) RMG sector’s total exports were recorded at $8.249 billion. We may assume that with the addition of export earnings during the month of June, total exports from this sector may have reached $9 billion during the year with almost equal contribution from the weaving and knitwear segments. The weaving segment’s value addition has been variously calculated between 25 and 35 per cent of its total exports of say $4.5 billion. Let us say that the value addition stands at 30 per cent or $1.350 billion. The knitwear segment’s contribution appears much higher as its value addition is being estimated to be between 65 and 75 per cent. Its net contribution, therefore, calculating at 70 per cent value addition, stands at $3.150 billion. Together their contribution in terms of net foreign exchange earning stands at $4.5 billion.
   However, it must be emphasised here that it would be absolutely wrong if the RMG sector’s contribution to the economy is calculated only on the basis of its net foreign exchange earnings. This sector has provided direct employment to over 2.2 million – mostly women – and countless more in other related economic activities and was directly responsible for making a sea change in the country’s overall socio-economic culture. The emergence of a sizeable women workforce, making them economically independent and useful members of their respective families perhaps would not have been possible otherwise. The RMG industry’s impact cannot possibly be calculated only in terms of net foreign exchange this industry earns.
   Having said that it would also remain incomplete if we do not mention the successive government’s inaction or failure in helping the private sector to ensure higher value addition through strong and proactive policy support. If it were done, the country’s RMG industry would have been on a much stronger footing today than it is now. But that is another story.
   
   Wage earners’ plight
   The four million Bangladeshi wage earners, mostly blue colour employees working under the most trying conditions in a number of countries, have sent home over $6 billion during the last fiscal year that ended in June. This works out to be about seven per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). But what do they get in return? Practically nothing. Apart from having a separate ministry for dealing with expatriate workers, successive regimes have discussed a lot to help improve the plight of the poor wage earners in vain. Concerned ministry officials never had enough time to seriously think about the issue and do something positive. Whatever they did appeared superficial. Lack of sincerity appears to be the main problem. Those involved in what is called ‘manpower export business’ – both in the private and public sectors – are basically interested in making money at the cost of the poor wage earners. Corrupt and wicked people are still thriving in doing business through their recruiting agencies and deceiving the unsuspecting innocent job seekers with false promises despite the recent changes in the administration. Clearly, this has to change.
   This is time that the ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment evolves a system under which no rogue recruiting and manpower agency could lure innocent job seekers into a foreign land and abandon them after literally robbing them of their money. People have become sick and tired of frequently reading such stories in the print media. The latest plight of a large group of expatriate workers abandoned by their recruiting agents in Malaysia is a case in point. The concerned ministry could not take any action against any of them during the reign of successive political governments because they happened to be cronies of politically powerful people. There are a number of police cases against some of these rogue agencies and the concerned ministry could have taken the initiative to punish them instead of allowing them to carry on with their business. This is the minimum that the ministry officials could do to justify their existence.
   The impact of the huge amount of remittances that the expatriate Bangladeshis send home every year is quite visible almost everywhere in the country. The money reaches the people and they use it to buy land, properties, build tin sheds, houses and also to start up small businesses. Analysts believe that the outflow of funds through the banking channels from the rural areas to the urban areas is perhaps largely being compensated by these remittances. Bulk of the fund is sent by the hard working expatriates – mostly blue color workers – but they do not get any incentives from the government. They usually get their jobs by either selling their land or mortgaging it to pay to the recruiting agents with the hope of repaying the same from their earnings.
   The government leaders on occasions talk about the contribution of the non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) who have duel nationalities and also from time to time send money home for their family members; but the plight of the blue color workers who return home at the end of their contractual agreements with their employers never come up for discussions. If occasional reports in the media are to be believed, these workers often have to work under extreme difficulties but labour attaches posted in some of the Bangladesh embassies hardly keep any information about them. Even when some of them lose their jobs or get their jobs terminated illegally by their employers, they do not get any help from the embassy.
   Some economists and civil society activists from time to time strongly advocate to offer ‘more economic benefits to the country’s one of major foreign exchange suppliers’; but they have specifically mention the non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs). While the blue colour workers are also part of the NRBs, yet the terminology chiefly identifies those professionals or businessmen who have practically settled abroad and do not need to send money home but are interested or could be persuaded to make investment in the country. The blue color workers usually return home after serving a particular contract and sent their hard earned money home every month to support their families which form bulk of the remittance income for the country.
   
   Job market & WTO
   The countries in industrialised West are ageing and they are looking for younger people for doing strenuous and less paying jobs from relatively under developed regions. The new member countries of the European Union from the Eastern Europe are relatively backward and a large number of their citizens are flocking to the richer member countries for better-paying jobs. Even they are not being able to meet the total requirement of new jobs on offer. Besides, East Europeans have inadequacy of English language where people from English-knowing countries of South Asia have an edge over them. But this advantage could be made use of by manpower ministry through advance planning and appropriate implementation.
   Senior economist Dr Mustafizur Rahman who works for the local think tank, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) as Research Director has reportedly suggested that jobs for unskilled and semi-skilled manpower are available in the developed countries and the government should approach the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to facilitate such recruitment. What is required for the government to do is to make arrangements for adequate training facilities for the foreign-bound workers, introduction of a system to save the workers from the clutches of the rogue recruiting agents.
   It is the assigned job of the ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment to find out the manpower needs of different countries and develop facilities to train up such people specifically meant for those markets. Dr Mustafizur Rahman specifically suggested that the government should approach WTO seeking assistance to develop new manpower markets in the developed countries for semi-skilled and unskilled manpower under the provisions of Mode-4.

Neither did I know her nor did I ever meet her until January 8, 1987. I was visiting Bangladesh from my work place in Kuwait. In order to convey a verbal message from our ambassador, a famous historical personality of our liberation war, I called her directly seeking a short appointment disclosing the purpose of my audience. Notwithstanding her very tight schedule, especially because of the preparation for the 10th January, she gave me the appointment the next morning. Accordingly, in spite of scores of people waiting outside, she spent more than an hour with me answering all our illustrious diplomat had wanted to know from her. She was Sheikh Hasina, former prime minister of Bangladesh and daughter of its founding father.
   Next time I met her was, probably, some time in 1992 in the National University hospital of Singapore where (I was an academic) she was nursing the husband of Rehana who was fighting for his life. My companion, a famous business leader of the country and not one of her great admirers at that time, was so overwhelmed by the sisterly nursing of her brother-in-law that he was transformed into a fan of her which I believe would only be reinforced over the coming years. A few weeks later, I visited Rehana’s very humble rented apartment in Singapore (with a lone table fan sharing between the bed and drawing rooms in highly humid Singapore) and discovered that Hasina was there and was cooking lunch for the family. Her Bengali hospitality compelled my whole family to dine with her and shared whatever food she had cooked in the tiny kitchen. She fondled my five-year-old son taking him in her lap. My ten-year-old daughter (who is now finishing her Bar-at-Law) was amazed by the simplicity and humbleness of the leader of the opposition in the Bangladesh parliament. I found it appropriate to narrate this anecdote only to portray the glimpse of simplicity with which the detained former prime minister, an accused in a case of extortion, lives her life. Unlike a few who are trying to control her destiny she does not have a mansion at Gulshan or Baridhara. She has given them to a trust whatever immoveable property she inherited. Her husband’s modest house does not have multi-million bucks arch that could be a place of attraction for visitors from both home and abroad; neither has it contained any chandelier that could evoke envy even for the most fortunate ones in the land of plenty.
   Sheikh Hasina has been arrested in a commando style operation by around a thousand members of the law enforcing agencies, some of them wearing bullet proof vest, who reportedly brought dog squad with them. The target was, in the words of NEW AGE, ‘neither a dangerous serial killer nor a terrorist kingpin, but an unarmed near-60-year-old woman isolated in her home.’ Over the last year or so Sheikh Hasina had two options before and after January 11. Before January 11, she could have participated in the election as planned by the incumbent government and could have congratulated the victor, the identity of whom was in no doubt in any one’s mind. In that likelihood, those who are controlling the destiny of the nation today would be left with no choice but to faithfully saluting the ‘constitutionally elected’ leaders of the Republic. She, however, choose the second option, and prudently galvanized the unity of all the opposition political parties nationally and pursued international support in favour of a free, fair and impartial election. The means that were used could be debatable, albeit I have not seen any one outlining any better ones, but the goal carried the full merit thereby putting her in high ground. The emergency of January 11 received wide spread acclamation only because the people in general were convinced with the realistic validation of her alliance’s reform proposals and since there were no other options available to materialise them.  
   After January 11, the army backed CTG did some tremendous tasks of doing some seemingly undoable deeds. But as it is obvious now that they are embarking on doing something far beyond their ‘mandate’ of the so-called ‘doctrine of necessity’ which very appropriately has been termed ‘Command Politics’ by some political analysts. The so-called accusation of extortion committed by a sitting PM is untenable, if not absolute nonsense. Moreover, as reported in the media the principal accused allegedly threatened the plaintiff, reportedly a self-made billionaire in a sort span of time, that “he threatened to stop the contract with the help of Hasina (the then PM) if the commission was not paid.” Even if this threat were really made by her cousin, a cabinet minister himself on his own right, could it be a case against a former PM to warrant her arrest? The alleged extortion was committed in early 2001. The next five years happened to be the hay days for of the opponents of the accused, where scores of legal suits have been brought against her and she was almost physically eliminated, to settle the old scores. Apparently, the plaintiff could not manage some time to avail the golden opportunity. Now after 7 years, under the tenure of CTG the plaintiff took some time off, on his own (!), from his busy schedule to file the case. A great story to sell to our people indeed!  
   Sheikh Hasina had the option to avoid all these harassments which are being inflicted on her if she would opt for retirement from politics thereby letting the current authority to pursue the ‘command politics’ without any hindrance as is becoming evident with every passing day. She, instead of capitulation, followed the footstep of her legendary father and opted to the raise her voice, which she believes, in favour of the people’s right. After her return home to a rapturous welcome by thousands of adoring supporter on May 7 she declared “they will make another mistake if they arrest me like they did earlier by trying to prevent me from coming home.” It is obvious and unfortunate that the authority, seemingly, once again has been ill-advised and did exactly what she apprehended.
   Regrettably, all of our government leaders in the past, democratically elected or self-declared, always behaved as if there was no government before theirs and there would be no government after theirs. Around 200 days ago, I shared the optimism of millions of my fellow compatriots that the current one would be different. Alas, that optimism is fading away with every single passing day, a big chunk of it drooped away only on the other Monday!   
   Dr Mozammel H Khan is the convener of the Canadian Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh

HARD times call for drastic measures; that was the ideology behind the current government’s tough amendments to the counterterrorism legislation in Australia. According to a media release from the office of the prime minister, John Howard, the amendments would ‘give relevant agencies a greater capacity to respond promptly whenever threats arise’. Unfortunately, the Australian Federal Police took those words too literally by acting hastily and beyond their capacity in the case of Dr Mohammed Haneef, an Indian citizen working in a Gold Coast hospital.
   On July 2, just two days after the foiled Glasgow airport bombing in the UK, Dr Haneef was on his way to India, with a one-way ticket, supposedly to meet up with his wife and their newborn daughter. At Brisbane airport he was picked up by the federal police and was remanded into custody under the anti-terrorism legislation. He was interrogated for 12 days at the end of which he was formally charged with ‘providing support to a terrorist group’ linked to the Glasgow incident. On July 14, the Australian Federal Police commissioner, Mick Keelty, at a press conference, remarked that ‘nearly 300 police and lawyers across Australia’ were involved in the investigation and an astounding ‘36,000 four-drawer filing cabinet’ equivalent quantity of materials were seized. One can only imagine the amount of work and resources the federal government has put into trying to incriminate the Indian doctor. Fortunately for the doctor, after all that effort they are still failing miserably at it.
   The main contention that the federal police make is that a year ago Dr Haneef, while living in the UK, apparently supplied a SIM card to his second cousin, Dr Sabeel (a brother of Dr Kafeel, the failed Glasgow airport bomber). This SIM card was allegedly found at the scene of the Glasgow Airport attack, implying his involvement. The police affidavit submitted in court also stated that the doctor had no explanation as to why he had a one-way ticket to India and that while in England he resided with his cousins, both of whom are in police custody in the UK for the Glasgow attack. Dr Haneef’s links with his second cousins were cited by the police as a key factor in their argument with the implication that the doctor might have known about the attack. With selective leaks to the media, government agencies tried to reinforce their case in the public eye. Intense political pressure from a right wing government, intent on proving Dr Haneef guilty, forced the investigating agencies to build a case against him which is turning out to be as fragile as a house of cards. That house is slowly falling apart.
   September 11 has changed the world we live in, especially in so-called western countries. We live in fear and democratically elected governments harbour this fear to gain political ground or further their agenda. Dr Haneef is a classic case where a government went a bit too far when they were a bit too wrong in a bit too media-intense environment. As it turns out, the case against Dr Haneef was built on very thin ice where facts were distorted and testimonies misrepresented. This was all done in the name of saving Australia from international terrorism and Dr Haneef was to be the proverbial lamb to be sacrificed at the alter of anti-terrorist laws.
   Fortunately for Dr. Haneef, it all started coming apart for the federal prosecution when his barrister leaked a taped record of Dr Haneef’s interview with the federal police. Although criticised unsparingly by the federal police commissioner and the attorney general, Haneef’s barrister remains unapologetic about the leak, deeming it necessary and lawful. The transcript of the interview was a revelation and pointed at two major discrepancies in the affidavit submitted to court by the federal police. According to The Australian, a major national newspaper, the transcript reveals that Dr Haneef never lived with his cousins, contrary to what the affidavit had stated. The affidavit also stated that the doctor ‘had no explanation as to why he did not have a return ticket’ whereas the interview transcript shows that Dr Haneef gave a detailed explanation. Apparently, he did not have enough funds in his bank account so his father-in-law booked and paid for the one-way ticket on the understanding that the doctor would pay him back in India and he would then purchase another one-way ticket for his return journey.
   To make matters worse, it was confirmed that the SIM card was not found at the scene of the Glasgow airport attack, contrary to the evidence presented in court. This revelation cast fresh doubts on Dr Haneef’s guilt and prompted his barrister to ask ‘why was it allowed to stand on the public record for another five days until presumably Scotland Yard detectives were so embarrassed that this false info was in the public arena that they made this leak’. And if you think things couldn’t get any worse for the prosecution, it did. On July 23, The Australian revealed that officers of the federal police wrote the names of overseas terrorism suspects in Dr Haneef’s personal diary and later grilled him during an interrogation as to whether he had written the incriminating notes. Dr Haneef’s barrister later commented on ABC radio, ‘Why would investigating police officers write on something which may later turn out to be evidence?’ Why indeed.
   This case has been going through extreme media scrutiny in Australia with civil rights groups screaming foul play. There have been rallies held in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in support of Dr Haneef. Many prominent politicians and lawyers have come out and criticised the handling of this case. The Indian government has summoned the Australian high commissioner in New Delhi to seek an explanation and express their concern. For the Australian government it is turning out to be a trial of fire for their anti-terrorist laws and Dr Haneef’s case has opened up a whole new can of worms. Whatever the outcome in court, this shameful episode draws attention to how power and legislation can be abused in a draconian form by democratically elected governments. The spread of international terrorism is responsible for tougher laws and stricter enforcement, and it is definitely imperative that laws reflect changing times. But as more and more power is given to law enforcement agencies to counter terrorism, western democracies also need to setup watchdogs and safeguards to prevent deceitful practices becoming inherent in the system. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is nowhere more evident than in the case of Dr Haneef. Instead of holding on to democratic principals of fairness and transparency we are fast becoming more authoritarian and manipulative of powers that are there to protect us. Our governments now have the power to prosecute the innocent and protect the guilty.
   After all is said and done, Dr Haneef’s tribulations don’t end there. Recently, the Australian government has revoked his visa and sent him to a high security prison where he is being held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. The explanation given by the Australian immigration minister who revoked his visa was that ‘I reasonably suspect that he has or has had an association with persons engaged in criminal activity, criminal conduct, namely terrorism in the UK’. The minister further went on to say that even if found to be innocent Dr Haneef would not be reissued a visa.
   It would not be presumptuous in thinking that in a fair society a person is thought to be innocent until proven guilty. In Australia we tend to think that everybody deserves a fair go. It is a country with strong democratic structures, and values. Australians are more aware of their political environment and world politics in general than many of their western cousins. I would like to think that Dr Haneef’s case is an isolated incident and not endemic to the system. I would like to think that justice, whichever form it might be in, will prevail and that civility will triumph over dirty politics. Questions, however, do need to be asked and investigators investigated. If this is a world we are going to inhabit ten, twenty years from now, we should be seriously concerned.
   Fyyaz Shahnoor is a management professional based in Canberra, Australia

British politicians’ call
for Hasina’s release

How do these politicians know that Hasina is innocent and she is arrested on baseless grounds? And what is the reason of their clarion call?
   The Brits, a small population of a tiny island, have caused the world much damage and even today, now a third grade power, puts its fingers everywhere, from division of India to Israel-Palestine conflict and problem of Iraq today. Much faults lie with the nations that listen to them. The world would be better of without British involvement.
   TH
   On e-mail
   * * *
   British or other foreign politicians have no business in the internal affairs of Bangladesh. They have had enough meddling in the internal politics of the country; now no more. They have already crossed the limits of diplomatic norms and boundaries. When the police searched or questioned the British PM or a British VIP is arrested for alleged crime or corruption, did any Bangladeshi politician ever dare to ask the British government about the incident? Then why will they interfere in Bangladesh’s own problem?
   Nasir
   Canada
   

Biman has been registered as a PLC. In fact, there was no alternative before the authority to invite public share in the management and equity participation. Biman will hopefully find a new horizon.
   Kumar Prithwiraj Nath
   On e-mail

The World Bank has no authority to select MDs for our banks. We all know that the WB will hire consultants to do the job. It would be best if our government selects the MD. Or better still we may consider holding a lottery of the short-listed persons.
   After all, the World Bank directors have no history of selecting their own CEO.
   Imtiyaz Husain
   Gulshan, Dhak

Next on Quick Comments

a. Extortion charge pressed against Hasina: Sheikh Selim named prime accused, Rehana included (New Age, July 25) b. HC asks govt to shift children inmates to correction homes: 504 children still in jails (New Age, July 25) c. Lawmen asked to apply EPR to maintain law, order: DU teachers’ movement won’t affect the situation, says Mainul (New Age, July 25) d. Anti-war MP Galloway suspended from parliament (New Age, July 25)