[republished from archive ]

Recently a reader lamented about Scholastica principal Yasmin Murshid’s role in creating the top English medium school for the elites and lambasted her for not doing much for the shattered education system in Bangladesh. This is a dangerous track he was heading to. I wouldn’t blame the entrepreneurs for their successes in a free market. It’s self righteous to say that they are evil simply because our education system is in shambles and they didn’t do anything for the industry. Even providing good education for one single student is a contribution of hers in the society. So there is nothing to criticize about why she didn’t do more. Can we say that I hate Doctor Yunus because he could have done more to stop this political madness in our country, but he didn’t? May be we can have our abhiman about him, but certainly it is not up to a few individuals to fix the malaise of the society.

However, what the reader expressed in his comment is really the abhiman against the privileged few in our country. To their credit every basic services in our country now has become class based. For example, look at our education system — only the rich can afford good schools and private or foreign universities, the education in which leads to guaranteed highly paid jobs. Whereas a certain Abdul Karim from Kaliganj can never even dream of getting that dream job in Standard Chartered Bank with his broken English that he learnt at Kaliganj Shorkari High School. So what does he do to break the shackle of unemployment? He sells the his vita mati for a lakh to two to make his way to Malaysia to do slave labour, change his fortune and break the invisible glass ceiling — only to be cheated by the Adam Bapari and return penniless. If he is lucky to return alive, then the only remaining options require him to choose between becoming a professional mastan or a bomber for the cause of Allah. You might say that such class struggle is there in every country. But what is different in Bangladesh is that more and more every passing year the gap between what’s offered for the rich and what’s offered for the middle class is becoming wider – and let’s not even talk about the poor.

When Piya described the medical system in BD at the time she went to look for her father, it described a health care system which doesn’t even pass the very basic standard. What’s scary is that if this is the state in our capital city, then imagine what is happening in the rest of the country. Well, guess what? That’s the kind of system or worse, 99% of our population are forced to use.

Now here is the million dollar question — why is nothing being done about it?

Simply put, it’s because our policy makers, our industrialists, the rich and the beautiful in our society don’t have to deal with this joke of a system. They either go abroad or they go to Apollo Hospital for their physical check ups. The all encompassing bubble of Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara enables them to completely ignore the system (whether its education, medical or transportation) that the 99% of our population has to use day in and day out. As a result, they never feel the need to change anything about it.

I will give you a small example of one such bubble boy. The head of BKMEA, a hotshot arrogant garments owner, Fazlul Huq, in a recent meeting on compliance with his garment clients was making fun of how the hotel he was staying in London had such small rooms that Mr. Blair should be ashamed of it. Then he went on to brag about how great the hotels are in Dhaka. While this business leader brags about Bashundhara city mall in Dhaka, he doesn’t realise that 99% the population can’t afford to touch anything in there. He takes pride in the superficial surroundings of Dhaka because the world of this other 99% is completely unknown to him. In his distorted reality from inside the green zone, he sees Dhaka as a place where children get top notch education in the international schools and where top class medical services are available in Apollo Hospital and where the best restaurants with their ever elongating buffet lines are the pride of the city. If you talk about the rest of the 99% who have no access to these things, you are not helping in “image building” of our country. I happened to be present in that meeting to present the side of the garment workers and he was furious at me for this betrayal and “image termination” of Bangladesh. Of course, from London, where he was explaining to the Bideshi client that £8 is actually a lot of money in Bangladeshi taka, soon after he flew back to his zone and headed to the negotiation table to resist the “unjust” demand of raising the monthly minimum wage from £8 to £24 (pays for 5 scoops of ice cream at MoveNPick for his kid).

Now let’s move the focus from this bubble boy to the rest of the populace of the heavily fortified green zone of Dhaka. Yes I am talking about the crowd in Gulshan and Baridhara and my abhiman (not accusation) about them. How socially aware are they? How socially responsible are they? Do they care about what’s happening outside the green zone? Do they think they have any social responsibility? Do they realise how much impact they can have in the country if they come forward and start tackling on the real issues from their position of privilege. Sameen, a fellow DP colleague from Toronto and I, often lament that how come we see so many rich people but so few donors in social causes in Bangladesh. Please disregard donating to your “Desher Bari” or donating for the local mosque or Zakat or the occasional Rotary or Lions club work. I am talking about seriously working and helping the social headline causes in Bangladesh that helps the other 99%. Why don’t we see rich people in Dhaka coming out in droves to help pay for education for Madhabi, the tortured housemaid, who was headline news a few weeks ago? Why don’t we see celebrities come out and talk about how ridiculous the wage of the garments workers are? Why don’t we see them donating money to rebuild villages in an Annadaprasad or pay for the entire medical bill of a journalist Tipu Sultan or a Mithu? Why don’t I hear about a rich guy donating for an income generating activity for the affected family in Kansat? Of course, I am generalizing. But stereotyping happens for a reason.

While Bill Gates, Warren Buffet in the rest of the world are opening up their wallets giving billions in philanthropy, I can’t name a single rich person in Bangladesh whom I can proudly say has become the number one philanthropist in the country. However, I do hear stories about them. I do know that they can shed 1000 taka (equal to one month salary of a garments worker) for a couple of scoops of ice-cream. I do know they don’t mind paying 300% tax to drive their Hummer Jeep in the dodgy streets of Dhaka. Then what am I missing? Are we Bangladeshis in general just so small hearted, that we can’t think beyond our own material benefit?

Not true. We did fundraising for Drishtipat abroad for 5 years. I can take tell countless stories of Bangladeshis going beyond their means to donate. One student paid $10 every month for 6 months saving from his McDonald job for the women of 71; one cab driver paid his entire week’s income for Tipu Sultan with a note saying “beshi dite parlam na”; one couple literally emptyed their wallets for the hindu victims of Annada Prasad. So what am I missing?

Can anyone give me the answer? Can anyone tell me why the privileged few in Bangladesh are so reluctant to think beyond themselves? Why they never think of “the others” — the 99%? This is my abhiman — not accusation. I know there are exceptions. There are some angels in the Green zone as well. Let’s hear more about their inspirational stories and multiply their numbers.