Supporting CRP
Thank you New Age for reporting the conspiracy surrounding the CRP. Dear Valerie Taylor, do not lose hope. The people of Bangladesh love you and they are with you. Why worry about a few petty bureaucrats who are trying to create problems in your organisation? In the long run, the honest and true always win.
Samira Akhand
Dhaka
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Shame on Shafi Sami! God bless Valerie Taylor.
Azmat Khandokar
Mohammadpur, Dhaka
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I was dumbfounded to read how the so-called ‘honourable’ Shafi Sami and gong are trying to ruin the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed and take its control from Valerie Taylor, our very own Mother Teresa.
Valerie Taylor has built this organisation from the scratch and has treated its patients with love and devotion. She has never thought of her own welfare. If she did, she could have earned a lot more than ‘Mr Greedy’ Shafi Sami, for she has been with the organisation from day one and she is far more qualified than Shafi Sami or Lina Alam in her respective field. If the donor organisation did not mind paying Shafi Sami £22,000 for his ‘professional services in bringing the CRP into an institutional framework, for tackling corruption at the centre, for infusing accountability and transparency into its operations, and for making its management process more professional’, then just imagine how much Valerie could earn if she wanted to! Instead, she has drawn a monthly salary of only Tk 7,500! Because there are people who do not care about their own selfish interest, and more concerned about taking care of the sick and the deprived — a concept, I am sure, not known or should I say, ignored by people like Shafi Sami.
Abu Jaffar
New York, USA
Teaching of secularism
As appeared in The Daily Star dated May 19, 2007, in a seminar held in Chittagong, the Indian envoy in Bangladesh advised us to learn real secularism from India. Is he advising us to learn secularism from the incidents, namely, demolition of ancient Babri Mosque of Ayodhya, Muslim mass killing in Gujarat or from Muslim genocide in Kashmir in the name of war against terrorism? Can he quote a single such incident against the minorities in Bangladesh? So who should learn from whom?
Of course, democracy is strong in India, which is being practised there since 1947, whereas ours is fragile and also not practised for a very long time. But in case of secularism, definitely the picture is the reverse and we could claim better adherence to the principle of secularism. It is not that some stray incidents of clash between people of two different communities don’t happen in Bangladesh, but those are caused mostly from personal/family litigation.
Fakhrul Alam
Siddeshwari Lane, Dhaka
Torment of Bangladeshi workers
When I had watched the news on the sufferings of the Bangladeshi workers at KL airport, three questions appeared in my mind. Who should respond to this crisis? Why does this situation occur again and again? How to prevent the happening of this misery in future?
It was 23 July 2000, my colleague and I were in transit at KL airport on the way back from Johannesburg. I saw a group of Bangladeshi noticeably stressed and tired at the arrival lounge while I was waiting for my colleague who went to collect the hotel coupons and shuttle tickets. One from the group walked to me and asked if I am from Bangladesh and if I can give him a few ringgits as he was desperate to make a phone call to Bangladesh. I talked to him a few minutes and came to know that they had been waiting for someone to pick them up since they had arrived at KL one day ago. Unfortunately, none showed up until then. They neither had money nor words beyond Bangla.
Undoubtedly, the same pathetic scene is recurring at the KL airport and at the other airports in Singapore and Middle East. It brings miseries for them and it is a disgrace for the whole nation. There is nothing wrong to admit that this is our problem, but who is to respond to this crisis? Why does it take days solving this problem? It is hard to believe that none from KL immigration contacted Bangladesh embassy in Malaysia when hundreds of workers were stuck at the airport.
We should not forget the amount of remittance earned from the expatriates working in foreign countries. The government should address this issue seriously and immediately to preclude the recurrence of such incidents in future. The Ministry of Labour and Manpower and the Department of Immigration could jointly arrange a two-day-long pre-immigration workshop in a ‘Janashakti Raftani Camp’ (manpower export camp) before their departure to the foreign countries. It could be similar to Haji camp. The workshop could include lessons on legal ways of fund transfer, general practices of the destination countries, travel security, awareness about HIV and STD etc.
So far no government did anything for the welfare of the workers while they leave the country or live abroad. Moreover, they are treated very badly in our foreign embassies. Sometimes, the embassies even cheated them – for example, Bangladesh embassy in South Korea issued thousands of fake passports to the workers there. This corruption by the diplomats caused the workers to leave the country in a short notice by the Korean government. A government sensible to its people must come with appropriate and permanent measures for the welfare of the workers immediately.
Faruk Ahmed
Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
Amazing letter of 13 US Senators
It is amazing that 15 US senators signed a letter to chief adviser of the Government of Bangladesh. One of them is a defeated presidential candidate; another is a prospective presidential candidate. I am surprised to see so many very important US officials taking it so importantly to point the finger at the 4-month-old government of Bangladesh! They talked about a roadmap. 3/4 years have elapsed but they/their own government could not yet set a roadmap for the withdrawal of their forces from Iraq. But they are asking for a roadmap from our government which is, virtually, swimming in the ocean of problems. Please, senators have a heart!
Mohammed Didarul Alam, Bir Pratik
Dhanmodi, Dhaka
Alone in the breach
Khaleda Zia’s predicament makes me remember the late Winston Churchill’s position in the early days of the last World War, when the UK was all alone against the marauding might of the German armies. Then in an emotional speech to the House of Commons he said that Britain was ‘alone in the breach’!
However that was a totally different scenario and Churchill’s position was noble; defending his country against armed invasion by another country.
In Khaleda Zia’s case, it is diametrically opposite. The rats are running away from the sinking ship of the BNP.
She is now all alone with Tarique in jail and Arafat maybe soon following suite.
The captain had to abandon the voyage to Singapore at the last minute, and is more or less alone. How much can the ex-PM take? This is a cruel case of the kettle calling the pot black; audacity indeed!
A citizen
Dhaka
To the CEC
I congratulate the CEC [chief election commissioner] for his vision. The progress made so far is very commendable. I, however, point out only one thing.
It is reported that the Election Commission (EC) is thinking to introduce the system of registration for all political parties with the EC. From this it is obvious that the EC will have a guideline for minimum requirements in a party’s own constitution/by-laws.
Bangladesh was created with the ideals of Gonotontro, Somajtontro, Jatiyatabad and Dhormoniropekhkhota (Democracy, Socialism, Nationalism and Secularism). These ideals should be the basis of all activities until, through a referendum, one or more of these ideals are omitted or modified or a new one is introduced.
Accordingly, all the political parties contesting elections must adhere to the basic ideals of Bangladesh.
No political party should be registered with a manifesto or agenda or any clause in its constitution/by-laws stating that it will deviate from the secular principle. This is a must for Bangladesh.
Mohammad Sirajullah
Palmdale, California, USA
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