Unheard Voices

How many DP readers have tried to walk into Sheraton/Sonargaon* fresh off a ricksha, wearing a plain lungi and a white cotton t-shirt (unless it’s for a performance)? Probably none. How many of us have gone to work in Dhaka that way? Probably the same number. How many of us have seen such a thing? I await the comments with much interest, and anticipate a few stories of 5-star hotel guards swearing at ricksha-pullers and beggars!

I apologise for raising these disturbing (and tasteless to some, I’m sure) questions because nothing highlights the differences between the formal and informal sectors of the economy more than the respective dress codes: trousers and whatever for the former, lungis and whatever for the latter. Why, even Dr. Yunus with all his Grameen checked clothing does not dare to wear a lungi for fear of offending some unspoken agreement made long ago on the fields of Polashi…. but I digress.

Asif Bhai’s post below raises concern that the self-proclaimed “bhodrolokes” are disconnected from the little people below. This does not necessarily mean - as is often repeated with much emotional bluster by critics of all governments - that they don’t know what it’s like to live among the “ordinary” people with ordinary incomes. They probably do: few in their generation were born with silver spoons in their mouth. Some probably even know poverty better than some of their critics do.

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As the CTG govt suffers in identity crisis, in stead of getting caught up in the label, if we look at the component in the government, something interesting will appear. A few months ago, we discussed this in the blog which resulted in an op-ed in Daily Star. One of the telling lines of the article was this:

Elitist politics of the top-down variety not only leads to bad governments, but more importantly, it could lead to populist backlashes that produce equally bad — if not worse — governments, since succeeding regimes have popular mandates but few institutions where the information flows from the bottom to the top. That is, we feel, a good description of the kind of governments we had for the last 16 years.

At the thread, Mahmud Farooque exploring the elite of the elites who are calling the shots had this to say:

…my frustration with the elite of the elites is that I have found them to be mostly followers and not leaders. Their education and training allows them to manage well only under steady state conditions. They generally come up with brilliant analysis only after the fact when anomalies, good and bad, occur. They are generally risk averse but power hungry. A Korean analyst once told me that had their leaders listened to the WB-types, they would still be counting on planting rice to grow out of poverty. In our case, contrast the performance of our garments sector, where WB had limited role, with the jute, energy or the IT sector, where it had been a major driver.
… taking my past frustrations into account, I try but cannot gather sufficient confidence in the abilities of the current group of “managers” to separate them from my generalized observations and believe that they will be able to master the creativity, imagination, and entrepreneurship necessary to dig us out of the hole we find ourselves in at the moment. In addition to the political crisis, we have a looming power and inflation crisis at hand that continues to inflict heavy toll on the most economically and socially vulnerable, about which the CTG still hasn’t been able to come up with an effective response.

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Man proposes….

Our present government is a national government, army-backed government. That means it is a collective government,” adviser Barrister Mainul Hossain (BaMo) said at a briefing after a meeting with the heads of news of different private television channels.

God disposes…

“I don’t think so. Government is here and it’s a caretaker government,” General Moeen said when reporters sought his comment on the law adviser’s remarks to chiefs of news sections of the electronic media on Monday.

General Moeen further said: “Army is always with the government like police and civil administration. It can’t remain isolated from any government. It will remain with the government as it had been in the past.”

“Bangladesh now has one of the fastest rates of poverty reduction in South Asia,” said Xian Zhu, country director of the World Bank.

In his speech, Zhu explained that 57 percent of the country’s population was living below the poverty line in 1991 and the rate of poverty came down to 49 percent in the year 2000.

Over the period of 2000 to 2005, the rate further declined and settled down to 40 percent as around 6 million people were helped out of poverty, he added.

However, some economists disagreed with the findings in the report, stating that the report only considered economic growth to claim reduction of poverty, but the issue of increasing social discrimination during the same period should also be considered.

Full Report.

All the economists out there, what’s your take on this report?

Asian Centre for Human Rights reports on the spiralling crisis in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, including the new High Court Ruling that seeks to dismantle the 1997 CHT Peace Treaty that brought an end to the 30 year guerilla war for autonomy in that region.

The direction of the High Court on 27 August 2007 to the government of Bangladesh to explain as to why the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord of 1997 signed with the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) should not be declared “illegal” has come as a shot in the arms of the military. The two-judge bench comprising Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury has already set aside certain provision of the Accord by directing the authorities to allow the illegal plain settlers who were implanted into the Chittagong Hill Tracts to register themselves in the voters’ list.

Full report here:
http://www.achrweb.org/Review/2007/182-07.htm

Recent UV blog entries has focused on Expatriate Disillusionments (mainly as it related to the potential to go back and work in Bangladesh), however it is probably also high time to look at disappointment by potential investors (NRB and foreign) also. For a country that desperately needs more investments (and not necessarily more aid, but that is a different topic altogether) it is beyond comprehension why the Board of Investmemt (BOI) in Bangladesh lacks the necessary funds and competent manpower to discharge its duties. (more…)

Lot of theories and counter-theories are flying by regarding the last week’s incidents. We have some news stories that have been shared by the commenters in the blog which points to a conspiracy by the students and teachers led by political parties. While there may certainly be meat to the allegation of conspiracy, we, however, have not seen any news report that did its own investigation and presented evidence to support the theories. Rather, we detect a trend of having a trial by media of the accused people. None of these reporters actually care to interview both the sides in the incident and do their own investigation and in stead quote unnamed sources and allegations without any references or evidence. Also some reports tend to quote goyenda (investigator) sources which are itself a party at the incident. Alarmingly several newspapers are publishing news stories which are exactly identical in nature. At this time of news censorship in Bangladesh, we understand the difficulty in publishing objective news. Without discounting the conspiracy theories put forward by these various reports, we hope we get a balanced picture and a thorough investigative report done by their own reporter by credible print media and at the same time we hope due process is followed in treating the accused. We await an objective report by the enquiry commission of what happened. In the mean time, foreign news reporters are covering this issue. One such report today came out in BBC which interviews all the sides and presents a good overview on the outcry that followed the publication of the much talked about picture.

Chotobelae ekta kotha chilo: Jotho Dosh/Nondo Ghosh. Nondo Ghosh is basically the poor sod that gets blamed every time something goes wrong (no, it’s not a communal reference)!

Bangladesh has emerged as the all-purpose bogey-bear/Nondo Ghosh for Indian intel. Attack on Parliament? Attack on train station? Defused Bombs? Attack on Hyderabad? It must be the ultra-efficient, tentacle-spreading specter known as “terrorist organizations based in Bangladesh” (more…)

After years of their services what good organizations like IMF and World Bank have done for Bangladesh? Venezuella recently asked the same question and found out that the answer was “not much”. Hence they were asked to pack up and leave their country.

Farid Bakht makes a strong case to say goodbye to these organizations from Bangladesh.

The rich countries do not take their advice. They certainly do not follow their guidelines when it comes to managing their own economies. The US and UK can run up huge trade deficits but ignore the tenets of orthodox Fund thinking. Yet, when it comes to the Third World, they come down hard on any wavering government. The Aid Consortium works in unison with the Bank and the Fund. It does not help that most of the poor governments are weak, lacking in principle, and happy to play ball in return for Western support.

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Subject: To the honored colleagues and loved students of my father Dr. M. Anwar Hossain who was recently arrested

Dear Sirs, Madams and Students of my father,

My name is is Sanjeeb Hossain. I am writing on behalf of my father Dr. M. Anwar Hossain who has been recently arrested at 12.20 am on August 24, 2007. I am aware that you had known him in different capacities. He is in urgent need of your help now.

The following account is a description of what happened when my father Dr. Anwar Hossain was taken away by the Military Intelligence of the Bangladesh Army:

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Dear UV readers and commenters,

The last few days have been trying for all of us. As we try to come to grips with what has happened, and as we begin to discuss where to from now, we should take some time to reflect on what we ourselves write in these pages.

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This was sent by “Jodi Kichu Mone na Koren”.

Prospect: Intel Corporation in Bangladesh - What can we learn from Vietnam?

By Abu Abdullah

Intel Corporation’s chairman Craig Barrett will visit Bangladesh during first week of September 2007. This could be viewed as an opportunity to develop partnership that brings a win-win platform. Craig made similar visit to Vietnam in 2002 which triggered the staggering investment afterward.

Intel Corporation entered the Vietnam market in 1997. Initial engagement was a sales office staffed by few employees and few thousand USD. Now in Vietnam Intel has Assembly and Test facility which will employ 4000 employee by 2009. Feb. 28, 2006 – Intel Corporation announced it will invest $300 million (US) to build a semiconductor assembly and test facility in Ho Chi Minh City. However, Nov. 10, 2006 – Intel Corporation raise its investment from the USD$300 million to USD$1 billion. The investment growth is phenomenon.
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Shahidul Alam’s take on the whole week deserves a special entry.

Take a look.

Shortly after 1/11, this post, “Democracy on the Biswa Road” was posted in UV. I am reposting this today pointing to the fact that those people who lived on Biswa Road are the the evil force whom we are pointing finger at now. For me or you, we have something to loose and we all are furious to protect our class asset. However, these people, who otherwise have been protected by local representatives as vote banks, are at the brink of anihilation now. For us, we do not want our country to be another Somalia or Haiti, for them, the country is already no better than Somalia or where ever you say. (more…)

Rezwan’s summary of Curphew Day 2 events are here.
BBC News has a very interesting overview by Sabir Mustafa:
Key Highlights:
Who was in these protests:

Many of these demonstrators were the dirt poor of the city - slum dwellers whose homes had been demolished by the authorities, and street vendors who had been evicted from the street.
“The army chief should resign. They are killing us to keep themselves in power. They think the public are idiots. But we are not idiots. They have come to organise elections, so they should just hold elections and leave”, said one irate street vendor.

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