I started reading your front page news ‘government prefers political appointment in key missions’ (May 24) with interest and ended with disgust. After nearly five months during which key missions have been left without a head of mission (Germany has been without one for over a year and half!), this government has finally laid the ‘theoretical’ foundation of how it would establish diplomatic missions. As expounded by Mostafa Farooq Mohammad, a former diplomat and a Member of Parliament now, the government will henceforth send to key missions individuals who ‘must act as alter egos of the head of government’. I am afraid not many of us understood what he meant by this. Does it mean that the prime minister will choose for these posts those she knows personally and who in turn know her personally, like the name proposed to be the ambassador to Kuwait happens to be a friend of Sheikh Kamal?
   I was disgusted that such an idea has been given by a professional diplomat. The journalist who interviewed this gentleman should have asked him whether he would have subscribed to such a view when he was serving as a professional diplomat. There is no question that he would not for that would have meant acknowledging that he is incompetent. The ‘theoretical’ base that this government is laying for appointment of ambassadors/high commissioners is being laid by openly telling the professionals of the ministry of foreign affairs that they are incompetent.
   On the issue of being alter egos, how do former diplomats who have left the country to become citizens of another country become better alter egos of our prime minister? As alter egos, would they have an access to the prime minister of a regular basis? What would then happen to our poor Dipu Moni? Most importantly, does it mean that in the past 37 years when people like Mostafa Farooq Mohammad as professional diplomats headed missions had been worthless? I am told that this gentleman was a good professional diplomat but I am afraid in his eagerness to sell an un-sellable agenda of the government, he has proven himself no better no worse than a sycophant.
   At a time when we are trying to create a digital Bangladesh with emphasis on professionalism, we are doing the reverse by posting in our key missions individuals in place of professional diplomats. These political ambassadors would no doubt be placed in their positions over career diplomats who would be manning the ministry of foreign affairs. Does logic say that they would cooperate with these ‘outsiders’ in implementing the policies of the government? Or does Farooq Mohammad think that foreign policy and its implementation begins and ends in ambassadors being the alter egos of the prime minister? At this stage, I am not sure whether I should be laughing over it or be disgusted and say ‘God help Bangladesh!’
   The appointment of an expatriate in Russia as the country’s next ambassador to Moscow takes the cake! So does the appointment of the individual named for Saudi Arabia who happens to be a brother of the finance minister. People who know the foreign ministry better however know too well that no theory or anything is behind these appointments. These have been made on purely personal interests.
   All told, I am astounded how a former career diplomat comes out to make a statement denigrating his juniors in a service that I am sure he was proud to serve. This is betrayal to say the least.
   Rashed Ahmed
   Gulshan, Dhaka

Human capital is a common asset in China, India and Bangladesh. How can we turn this asset into a revenue-generation machine?
   Compared to Bangladesh, India pays more attention to education. Education has helped the overwhelming manpower resources of India to capitalise on the Internet revolution. India has now become the wholesale nation of outsourcing and IT support. To satisfy the basic rule of economics, a nation has to do what it can do most cost-effectively compared to the countries around the world. In order to secure India’s position in the global outsourcing market and to empower the next generation of Indians, India has to provide its citizen easy access to the Internet. What is the alternative of guaranteed Internet access other than providing it free? Free, as it is like air and the sky, accessible to every citizen.
   In Bangladesh, we have one thing in abundance, people, too many of them. We do not have natural resources for this highly dense country; however, we can turn our population into resources. I am not proposing anything radical or outrageous here. We have example in our next door. Look at China. They are turning their people into resources. China is the foundry of (almost everything or anything) the globe. They import all the natural recourses such as iron ore and turn into a finished product like steel. Today they are one of the world’s biggest producers of steel. They are also one of the world’s biggest consumers of metal to make other finished product. If you just compare the product made in China in shopping malls and hardware markets around Bangladesh for the last 10-15 years, you will be amazed by the improvement they have made ensuring the quality of any specific product. Along with the quality, they are climbing the value chain, demanding higher prices for their quality products.
   Look at India. They are getting the highest return on investment per IT professional. Outsourcing and data entry are just becoming cash cow for India. In economic sense, I would compare them with the service provided by our garment industry. Garment industry receives an order, processes it and sends it back to the originating country which needed the service. Similarly, any back office, payroll, IT service request from the developed world like the USA, the UK send to India. Indian IT professionals analyse and solve the problem and then send the requested service with a resolution. The only difference is that the IT professional receives a big buck for his services. Well they deserve it. They prudently invested on human resources development and this human capital delivers high margin products. Exploration, planning, development and production are the four steps to make a product. India’s IT industry is now in production mode and I am sure the expatriates and the private sector are the main driving force in this stage of production. However the exploration, planning and development phases are done prudently by the consortium of government, dedicated technocrats, visionary and influential leaders of various cadres including professionals, educators and political leaders. The IITs, technical colleges and institutes and comprehensive academic curricula practised by the universities and schools around India contributed to the development phase. The government helped them by eliminating road blocks from their path of progress. Government encouragement continues as of today. All telecom operators in India have to contribute five per cent of their revenue to a special fund called ‘Universal Service Obligation Fund’ (USOF). USOF will pay for the free broadband connectivity at a speed of 2MB per second across the country.
   Abu Abdullah Sohel
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