15-02-2019

EDITORIAL
FrIDAY,
FeBrUArY 15, 2019
4
They say democracy dies in darkness … so can idealism
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam
Telephone: +8802-9104683-84, Fax: 9127103
e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com
Friday, February 15, 2019
Whither Bangladesh ?
Since its independence, Bangladesh has surprised
many with the progress it has achieved despite the
manifold obstacles, calamities and problems it had to
face. Looking ahead, the over 160 million people of
Bangladesh, in particular the younger generation, are
entitled to ask, what kind of nation do we want to be? How
do we rekindle the spirit of 1971 in a way that contributes
significantly to the progress of the country and fulfills the
aspirations of the younger generation? Do we want to
become the next Singapore or South Korea or are we
content with the current rate of progress?
These answers can only come after some deep
introspection and a healthy discourse by all Bangladeshis,
including those living abroad. There is no certainty that
Bangladesh will become the next Singapore or South Korea
in 20 or 30 years, but there is the guarantee that it can at
least in large measure achieve its objective of meeting that
goal. It is understandable that a country like Bangladesh,
which still suffers from poverty, weak infrastructure, poor
governance, corruption, over-population, rapid
urbanisation, natural disasters and numerous other
challenges, cannot be expected to become an overnight
success.
But we must also be mindful of the position Singapore
and South Korea were in fifty years ago and where they are
today. There was no magic formula that propelled them to
their stellar political, economic and social success that they
experience today. It took years of hard work, dedication,
dynamism and desire to reach the point they have.
There has been enormous progress made in the socioeconomic
development arena since Bangladesh's
independence nearly 42 years ago, moreover the fact
remains that there is still a long way to go in terms of
concrete progress. For instance, between 1980 and 2010,
the UN Human Development Index (HDI) grew by 81%,
making Bangladesh one of the fastest growing developing
countries in the world. Putting that in perspective and
taking into consideration devastating natural disasters,
overpopulation, poor infrastructure and weak governance,
the growth in HDI is an incredible achievement. This
growth would not have been possible without the
combined efforts of the government, the vast NGO sector
and the assistance provided by our development partners.
In a recent article, The Economist news magazine was
glowing in its praise of Bangladesh's socio-economic
progress since its independence; it complimented
Bangladesh on being able to lift millions of people out of
poverty. It cited the remarkable progress in declining child
and maternal mortality. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen
remarked that Bangladesh had surpassed India in "every
parameter of human development" due largely to genderbased
equality.
Despite enormous strides in the social and economic
sphere, the central question still remains: where will
Bangladesh be in 2023 or 2033? Are we likely to see a
nation on the rise due to greater economic and social
growth and improved governance? Are we likely to see a
much better allocation of resources and better
infrastructure, with improved connectivity providing more
roads, highways, bridges, commuter trains and buses
enabling hassle-free and quick access across the country?
Will greater maturity and wisdom be exercised in politics?
Will a younger generation choose to put aside party
differences and ideologies for the real progress of the
country ?
One thing that has been contributing in remarkable
economic development is the rising sense of competition to
acquire wealth and affluence at any cost. It is no longer
confined to a few but have been permeating fast among the
entire population of the country. But unfortunately this
competition is solely focused on the economic front. That
is why while economic progress is clearly visible ,progress
in the domain of other fields of life is on the retreat. Love,
sympathy,fellow feeling, communal harmony, cooperation,
morality, ethics, human dignity etc that are essential to
achieve social cohesion and peace are seemingly under
stresses and strains. Bangladeshis need a real economical
freedom. It can be achieved if we have a fair and corruption
free administration that will engineer the new generation
and direct to a new path of economical development.
We need new bloods into our politics . Politicians, the
private sector, the armed forces, civil society, NGOs and
those members of society who are able to play a direct or
indirect role in making their country stronger and more
dynamic, must pause for a moment and question their
conscience, and ask themselves if they have that true sense
of patriotism and selflessness to commit themselves to
making things better for their country and its people.
At the end of the day, there has to be a collective and
whole-hearted wish to bring about change for the better. If
that inherent desire is missing and the aim is to gain power
and influence and make money unlawfully, Bangladesh
will be unable to reach new heights of prosperity. It will
continue to make slow progress and, in the end, it will fall
even further behind other developing countries which have
been successful in improving the quality of governance in
their respective countries. There should be no reason why
a country like Bangladesh, geographically situated at a
strategic point which links South and Southeast Asia,
cannot become a rising tiger economy.
Government figures state that there are about 8 million
Bangladeshi overseas workers in more than 155 countries,
who remitted over $14 billion in 2012. The remittance
figure has only grown higher and higher since that time.
Bangladesh has also become one of the world's leading
exporters of ready-made garments, ranking second in the
world after China. According to a recent McKinsey report,
its apparel exports could cross $36 billion by 2020.
Goldman Sachs branded Bangladesh as one of its Next 11
economies after the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China)
countries. In addition, JP Morgan identified Bangladesh as
a "Frontier Five" economy. Standard & Poor's and Moody's
have rated Bangladesh, apart from India, ahead of all the
other countries in South Asia.
The first requirement for Bangladesh, however, should
be to get its house in order. Positive thinking can beget
positive results. Even if one person in a thousand can
contribute constructively, that would have a tremendous
impact in a country of over 160 million nationals. One
must not underestimate the triumphant spirit of the people
of Bangladesh or their capacity to be decent and upright
citizens. In sum, the destiny of Bangladesh is in the hands
of its people.
Sixteen months ago, the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia announced that
women would have the right to
drive. Serendipitously, it also appointed
its first woman as a government
spokesperson, a post I proudly held for
the Saudi Embassy in Washington until
a few weeks ago.
As the Embassy Spokesperson, I
supported Ambassador Prince Khalid
bin Salman in a far more public-facing
approach towards engaging the
American public, particularly through
the press. As I transition back to my
previous work in socioeconomic
development, I wanted to share a raw
perspective about the roller coaster ride
I experienced. These are observations
government officials typically save for
memoirs, but I think we can all use a
dose of constructive feedback right
about now.
The perspective that I gained this year
is not just that of a Saudi, or a woman,
or a newly minted communications
expert, or a diplomat. I am a native
Mississippian. I'm human before any
gender designation. I'm not a career
diplomat, as my directness will attest.
And my background is in development
work. It was safe to say, I had a bit of a
learning curve taking on this job.
I'm an intellectual by default but also
a pragmatist. I realize this is why the
Ambassador hired me. I didn't fit the
mold, but he made a bet that someone
with my background could engage
across the spectrum of opinions that
exist on the Kingdom- which is what I
did. I met critics and supporters, people
with years of experience following
Saudi Arabia, and those with only the
most superficial prejudices. In each
engagement, I sought to help people
learn more about Saudi Arabia. In turn,
I sought to learn more about
Washington, about media, and about
how to advance Saudi-U.S. relations.
I never lost my idealism. It is what
shuffled me into my first day of work on
Sept. 26, 2017, bright-eyed and bushytailed,
ready to report for duty. The
truth is I was shaking in my boots. For
one, I wasn't sure how to act around
royalty, given my middle-class
background. And what did it mean to
be a diplomat? Would I have to sugar
coat everything? Did I have to say yes,
even if I didn't agree? How was I going
to handle the journalists?
Working with royalty proved
humbling, not for the reasons one
would imagine. My colleagues treated
me with more dignity and graciousness
than I've ever had the privilege of
Asian scriptures have always
influenced the West. Swiss
psychiatrist and psychotherapist
Carl Jung analyzed the I Ching (Book of
Changes - translated by Richard
Wilhelm into German), its hexagrams
and tai chi mandala when he was
developing his archetypes. Intellectuals
such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Georg
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur
Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche
studied Asian philosophical scriptures
and influenced Western thought, but
were shy of declaring their sources in
Asian thought because of the scientific
community's Western-centrism.
Even today the repercussions for the
West of the Chinese Empire's collapse in
1912 - after 2,100 years of imperial
dynasties - are underestimated. But an
interesting dimension unfolds when one
applies Jung's collective unconscious
perspective to group dynamics and
systems science.
When in 1900 German Emperor
Wilhelm II delegated a punitive
expedition to China in response to the
killing of his ambassador in the Boxer
War (the Chinese Empire's effort to
regain sovereignty from colonial
powers), the Chinese Empire
increasingly destabilized systemically,
leading to its 1912 collapse (after the
Xinhai Revolution) and a geopolitical
chain reaction of social change in
Europe.
In 1914 European aristocracies entered
World War I, resulting in the Russian
Empire crumbling in the 1917 October
Revolution (called the "November
Revolution" in Russia), and in 1918 the
German and Austro-Hungarian empires
collapsed, as China was descending into
disorder and turmoil, becoming
entangled in revolutionary
reorganization processes, resonating
and partaking in the collective
unconscious flux.
Then democratic, socialist/communist
movements took over in Germany and
Austria, but didn't fill the power vacuum.
So fascism took advantage of Europe's
economic and political malaise.
In 1912, president Sun Yat-sen
established the Republic of China. Then
in the 1940s Mao Zedong - backed by
Chinese society's disfranchised segments
- battled Chinese president Chiang Kaishek
and his conservatives for control of
experiencing. With the stress of the
role, I can't say I was always capable of
reciprocating to the same degree; hence
the humbling aspect. And, I was
treated as an equal - not only 'allowed'
to present an opposing view, but
expected to do so. On the day of my
appointment, I received as many
congratulatory messages as I did of
ones saying: 'I'm praying for you.' I
didn't understand the reasoning for any
prayers until several months into the
role. Turns out, I did in fact need those
prayers - for patience.
In the world of journalism, I thought
I would encounter editors, reporters,
anchors and hosts on a quest to
uncover the truth - and I did. But too
often, I met with media professionals
who mistakenly thought they were
policy makers or intelligence officials,
determined to advance a political
objective instead of providing accurate
information. I am not the expert on
journalistic ethics. So, I ask this
question sincerely: What is the press's
objective? Is it to be the first to publish,
sell, build the consumer base - and then
check veracity later? Is it opinion
convergence, whereby everyone agrees
on what is "truth"? Do journalists still
"report out" stories, or do they write
their accounts ahead of time and leave
room to add the facts as they learn them
later? People say: Heavy is the head
that wears the crown. I say: Heavy is the
conscience that holds the pen.
Saudi Arabia is not perfect. It never
was and never will be. We make
mistakes, sometimes horrifically tragic
ones, like that of Jamal Khashoggi's
murder, God rest his soul. But the
Kingdom holds itself to account. When
crimes are committed, we investigate
them. When we determine who is
responsible, we arrest and prosecute
them. When we find out our lack of
oversight allowed horrible things to
happen, we make fundamental
changes to ensure such a tragedy never
happens again. Many Saudis across
various facets of society are still
FATImAH BAeSHAn
processing Khashoggi's death. This is
the sort of thing people read about in
other countries, not our own.
Here is a news flash: no country is a
Utopia. This statement is not deflective,
apologetic or defensive. It is realist.
Saudi Arabia also has great stories to
tell. It is modernizing rapidly. In the last
few years, more has been done to
provide new economic opportunities,
cultural opportunities, educational
opportunities than in decades
previously. Not every media story about
Saudi Arabia should be negative.
I feel proud to be someone who
appreciates the best of both worlds - the
warmth, hospitality, traditions, and
society-focus of Saudi culture, and the
critical thinking, process-oriented,
outspokenness, and individualism
ingrained by an American education
system. Perhaps some of that is our
fault. For too many years, we did not tell
our own story and allowed others to
I'm an intellectual by default but also a pragmatist. I realize this is why
the Ambassador hired me. I didn't fit the mold, but he made a bet that
someone with my background could engage across the spectrum of
opinions that exist on the Kingdom- which is what I did. I met critics
and supporters, people with years of experience following Saudi
Arabia, and those with only the most superficial prejudices. In each
engagement, I sought to help people learn more about Saudi Arabia.
the country. In the 1930s the Austrian
socialist group Schutzbund skirmished
with the fascist Heimwehr, costing many
lives.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Adolf Hitler
ascended and expanded his power from
Munich to Berlin, taking over in 1933 in
democratic elections. Hitler and the
Nazis were obsessed with Friedrich
Nietzsche (1844-1900) because the
intellectual's sister, Elisabeth Förster-
Nietzsche (Nazi sympathizer, head of
The Nietzsche Archive), had rearranged
her late brother's texts, applying
Nietzsche's individualistic Übermensch
(enlightened Buddha-like being) to all
Germans collectively, tailoring it for the
Nazi ideology and reinterpreting the
German collective unconscious: German
Herrenmensch (master race) by
eugenics.
After two atomic bombs stopped the
Nazi ally Japan, the Japanese had to
experience their tenn? (emperor - a
living god, which was alien to the West)
being publicly denounced. General
Douglas MacArthur urged the tenn? to
abdicate from being a direct descendant
of Amaterasu (goddess of the sun) and
declare himself a human being as head
of Japan's modern democratic society.
This US dictate imposed on Japan
continues to undermine that country's
spiritual self-esteem and religious
identity, leaving the Japanese deprived
of their age-old spirituality, which has
been subliminally replaced by
Westernized technology and
consumerism.
A stark difference between Eastern
and Western thought is the mystical
presence of leaders as living gods (tenn?,
Dalai Lama, Chinese emperor), while
Western leaders, functionally adored as
emperors, die as normal human beings,
narrate on our behalf, irrespective of
truth, which became customary.
Another challenge is that Americans
often measure Saudi Arabia according
to U.S. history and through distinctly
American ideals rooted in theoretical
secularism and democracy. The
Kingdom has its own values and past,
anchored in Islam, tribalism and a
monarchy. Neither is right or wrong.
Each reflects its culture.
For over a year, I got a front-car view
of this roller coaster. I saw journalists,
averse to meeting with Saudi officials in
broad daylight, chum it up behind
closed dining-room doors at night, and
then make absurd comparisons of the
Kingdom's leadership to movies they
once watched. I've sat fuming in my
office after having spent hours on calls
with journalists, only to find my
commentary sliced and diced into a
pre-written story that included no
reflection of the facts I relayed. I've been
cornered with impossible deadlines
and quoted out of context - on and off
the record. I've seen pages of outright
lies substantiated with "anonymous
ImmAnUel FrUHmAnn
as sinners. Since Tenn? Hirohito's death
in 1989 - he had spent part of his life as a
living god - modern-day Japan has been
stagnating economically. It is as if the
death of Japan's last Shinto god had
deleterious effects on the Japanese
spiritual identity, its cultural core.
Hirohito's son Tenn? Akihito's accession
in 1989 cemented the US definition of
the tenn? as a normal human being with
a representative function - not the livinggod-like
spiritual center his father was.
Despite their belief in the tenn?'s godlike
power, the Japanese feared the
Soviets would invade in 1945 and do to
him what they did to the czar in 1917,
while in China internal forces pushed the
late-1911 Chinese Revolution,
overthrowing the Qing Dynasty in early
1912, after colonial powers had
compromised Chinese emperors'
spiritual authority and the Chinese
people had considered their imperial
family unable to protect them against
Western imperialists, given the 19th
century's British East Indian Company
and the Opium Wars. Considering
religion dangerous, later Mao even
erased all Confucian-Daoist structures,
replacing them with communist
ideology and personality cults for
Communist Party leaders. Whoever did
not surrender "vanished."
While in China, Mao's class warfare
raged against the Chinese Republic's
conservative president Chiang Kai-shek -
who emigrated with his supporters to
Taiwan (which the People's Republic of
China perpetually claims) - in Austria,
aristocracy was forbidden in 1919
according to the First Wave of Anti-
Elitism, following Russia. In Germany,
the Second Wave of Anti-Elitism peaked
in absorbing many aristocrats by Hitler's
Nazi regime directed against the Jews,
sources," written by people who could
not even point out Saudi Arabia on the
map, much less take the time to visit the
country. All to build a Twitter following
and base, fueled by false reporting on
what they touted as the hottest story in
town.
Does such behavior do honor to the
sacred institution of journalism and the
preservation of freedom of speech - a
right timelessly enshrined in the
Constitution? Has it always been this
way, and I just didn't get the memo on
my first day as Spokesperson? Is
journalism an institutional discipline,
or only a cat and mouse game, and
ultimately a business?
I cite the First Amendment because it
is the stick so many in this arena selfrighteously
use to beat Saudi Arabia,
without any context or space for
cultural differences. The reality is every
society draws a line when it comes to
free speech, and rightfully so, whether
by public opinion, congressional policy,
or royal order. The recent troubles of
Kathy Griffin, Facebook and the Saudi
royal who attacked a local soccer player
with a racist comment all serve as
examples. I feel proud to be someone
who appreciates the best of both worlds
- the warmth, hospitality, traditions,
and society-focus of Saudi culture, and
the critical thinking, process-oriented,
outspokenness, and individualism
ingrained by an American education
system. When juxtaposed, our societies
have far more similarities than
differences. As a by-product of the Deep
South, I can say we both deal with
segregation. We both have a mass
middle conservative base. We both
struggle to thwart terrorism, which is
defined by violence - whether
committed by an ISIS suicide bomber
or an American mass shooter or the
KKK - and not by the ideology, the skin
color, religion or geography of the
perpetrator.
The truth is we are more alike than
not. We both can do better as nations.
I know Saudi Arabia will do better. The
Kingdom is asking tough questions of
itself, so that it improves, but others
should make an effort to understand it.
That doesn't mean we need positive or
negative depictions - our aim is not a
perfect portrait; just an accurate one. As
I step off this ride, I remain idealistic.
And I hope those who hold the pen will
present a more objective portrayal of
the news. Far more than Saudi Arabia is
at stake.
Source : Gulf News
The systemic ripple effects of social change
Since Tenn? Hirohito's death in 1989 - he had spent part
of his life as a living god - modern-day Japan has been
stagnating economically. It is as if the death of Japan's last
Shinto god had deleterious effects on the Japanese spiritual
identity, its cultural core. Hirohito's son Tenn? Akihito's
accession in 1989 cemented the US definition of the tenn?
as a normal human being with a representative function -
not the living-god-like spiritual center his father was.
an age-old spiritual and educated elite
persecuted by Christians Europe-wide
over centuries and systematically
murdered in the millions under the
Nazis within 12 years.
It should be remembered that the term
"pogrom" (organized massacre) derives
from 1880s Russian riots against Jews.
After Vladimir Lenin's 1917 Communist
Revolution and dictatorship of the
proletariat, followed by civil war,
educated people were considered
dangerous for the revolution. Wearers of
spectacles were killed immediately; few
intelligentsia able to administer the
Soviet Union survived, resulting in
chaos, famines, and millions of deaths.
Later, Georgian communist Josef Stalin,
the party's general secretary, ruled the
Soviet Union with an iron fist and further
terror.
In the 1950s a Third Wave of Anti-
Elitism unfolded with Mao's urge to
erase all Confucianist traditions by killing
seniors considered knowledge bearers.
So already in its run-up to the Cultural
Revolution (1966-1976) - starting in a
Fire Horse year - China subliminally
stimulated the Western Youth Culture,
possibly via collective unconscious
impulse. The Western student/social
revolution of 1967-68 was pushed via
strongly in Chinese-influenced
California (ever since an origin of change
and trends subliminally driven by
resonating with China), with
repercussions on the civil-rights
movement, which mainland Chinese
still are waiting for and Britishinfluenced
Hongkongers fight to
preserve.
According to my narrative of crosscontinental
interdependence and
unconscious flux, I even see a Fourth
Wave of Anti-Elitism around Beijing's
Tiananmen Square Massacre (Chinese
authorities' crackdown on the
democracy movement - known among
Mainlanders as 1989's "June Fourth
Incident") peaking in the fall of the Berlin
Wall in November 1989 and the end of
the Iron Curtain.
Relevance for today? Eye-catchingly
soon after China quakes, the world
shakes.
Source : Asia Times