M. Serajul Islam
It is encouraging for the nation that Noble Laureate Dr. Mohammad Yunus is finally standing up for himself and the Grameen Bank. He allowed himself to be humiliated and belittled far too long by his adversaries. He watched silently the institution he built from scratch into one recognized worldwide that brought it and him the Noble Prize and the country great pride and the rare opportunity to revamp its very poor international image. It has been the latest insensitive news that the Government is going to implement the decision of the Commission on Grameen Bank to divide the world famous institution into 19 parts to place it under its control that has perhaps ended his patience.
In the short time after the Government made its intention public, Dr. Yunus has shown the intention to take the fight to those who for reasons they alone can explain have been belittling and humiliating him and his achievements when some of the greatest leaders of our time like Nelson Mandela, President Barak Obama and others have expressed their support for him and the Grameen Bank as his friends and admirers. The Grameen Bank is today being replicated around the world for poverty alleviation. He is one of seven individuals who have won three of the greatest awards in current times, namely the Noble Peace Prize, the US President’s Gold Medal and the Congressional Medal of Honour. These are not all his international achievements; there are far too many to easily make him the most honoured personality in today’s world. His current preoccupation with Social Business has earned him even more recognition and many think that another Nobel Prize, this time in Economics, may be awaiting him.
With the Noble Laureate deciding enough is enough and vowing that he would not allow the Government to dismantle the Grameen Bank, there is now a bee line of politicians who have suddenly felt the need to show that they are no longer afraid to be seen in public with him. The Finance Minister (FM), no doubt surprised to find Dr. Yunus suddenly showing the intent to fight and no longer willing to play the role of the sparring partner for the Government, expressed both contempt and sarcasm when he said he knew too well all the time that the Noble Laureate is a “politician”, as if being a politician is bad forgetting that he too, a lifetime bureaucrat, has turned into a politician. Dr. Yunus should take no offense. Perhaps like the FM, the Noble Laureate had also been having negative impression of a politician. The FM’s sarcastic comment should however encourage Dr. Yunus to look into whether being a politician is a bad thing after all. Over two millenniums ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle had said unequivocally that “man is by nature a political animal.” Many brilliant minds after the great philosopher have likewise upheld the indispensability of politics for civilized existence.
These philosophers have stressed that it is crucial for human societies to channel this natural instinct present in all humans for good of all. Some societies have succeeded in doing this by ensuring that those upon whom the task of channeling political instincts has been given the politicians are those who can rise over their personal needs and interests to serve the common good. Others have failed in organizing the natural political instinct because the politicians upon whom the task has been given have used the trust to serve their own interests and needs. It is the latter societies that have given politics and politicians the bad name.
Nevertheless, politics is the only way for any country to move to a higher level through conflict resolution and decision making for common good. The objective for any society is thus to organize its politics for common good and ensure that people with intent to serve the common good go into politics. From this perspective, Bangladesh is struggling because its politics is disorganized and most of those who have entered politics are not bothered to work for the people though they publicly profess it all the time. When the FM was calling Dr. Yunus a politician, he was saying that the Noble Laureate, like the Bangladeshi politician only interested in his own good while professing differently and that he is a hypocrite. The Prime Minister in her latest comments about Yunus has said exactly what the FM alluded in his comment; she has called Dr. Yunus “selfish” together with a host of other attributes that except the inner circles of the power establishment, very few outside believe.
When history reflects on the period we are now passing, we will have to answer as a nation what made us belittle such a great man in his country of birth!
Many great individuals have won the Noble Peace Prize but when one considers the history of all Noble Peace Laureates, Dr. Yunus stands out in a class by himself. Yet, it has been alleged that a Noble Peace Prize can be won by being in the right company, sipping white wine and cheese to humiliate him. He has most recently been charged of wining the Noble Prize with the help of the Clinton Foundation that lobbied for him with the Noble Peace Prize Committee with funds provided by Norwagian telecom firm Telenor. Accusations include many other ‘corruption’ that the Yunus Centre has repudiated point by point in a widely published statement. In fact, a commission set by up the government found the charge’s untenable though that did not deter it from hounding and pursuing him.
In choosing to belittle Yunus, the government has missed a God-given opportunity to further its foreign policy goals in which are embedded its own future and that of the country. Dr. Yunus could have opened Bangladesh’s doors to the powerful countries, institutions and individuals to further the country’s interests. The government is now reaping the harvest of its own folly.
The withdrawal of GSP by USA is a case in point. It has been withdrawn for problems of the RMG sector though the US does not provide GSP facilities to this sector while the sectors that receive them have no problems to warrant the withdrawal. Likewise, the World Bank would have very well found out ways to accommodate Bangladesh on the Padma bridge loan had the government not upset those who have overriding influence over the WB on the Yunus issue. Yunus’s treatment by the government has not only hampered the nation’s interests; it has harmed the ruling party’s political fortunes within the country itself. The latest goofing between the Finance Minister and the Communications Minister over the Chinese offer to fund the Padma Bridge construction should remind the ruling party what a mess it has made for itself on one of its major electoral commitments when the time to answer starts with the next elections just round the corner.
The above notwithstanding, the importance of Yunus to Bangladesh has not diminished. In fact, it has enhanced for it has now been established that had the government not messed with him, its own fortune and that of the country would have been better served. Looking into the future, a dark cloud of uncertainty is lurking over the country because its politics and politicians are becoming more confrontational. At this critical time, the country needs help to avoid this at any cost otherwise the country would slide into disaster. It is in this context that Dr. Yunus should consider the FM’s comment about being a politician. It is also in this context that he should consider the bee line of politicians and political parties now coming to his doors and consider that the country today sees in him an answer to their prayers to come into politics and straighten it.
In reflecting on his future, Dr. Yunus should consider that his future and that of the country are coming to a convergence as it had done once before when the army officers had gone to him to take charge of the last caretaker government. Had he not declined the offer, perhaps the country’s future would have taken a different course. With another opportunity knocking at his door, he should now seriously consider entering politics to be a positive influence for politics and politicians. He does not have to join any of the political parties nor does he have to form his own political party either. As he has said himself, he has 8.4 million GB subscribers and 20,000 workers who can be his cadre not for assuming political power but to remind the politicians that there is a viable third force which is unwilling to let politicians mess up the lives of the people for their selfish interests.
He should also consider that the large civil society so far leaderless is also yearning for a sense of direction. If he enters politics and decides to give leadership to the civil society, he could give the mainstream political parties a challenge that in future they just cannot do as they please. Our recent experiences have shown that the two mainstream parties the AL and the BNP-are not following the right path and with their self-centred politics they are capable of harming the country’s interest. A strong unified civil society that we do not have now, but under his leadership could largely influence the political process positively and ensure against the country’s take over by the extra constitutional forces. Under the current uncertain situation, any such attempt would perhaps have the people’s support.
At the time of writing this article, there is more bad news for Dr. Yunus’s adversaries in Bangladesh. Wall Street Journal has just named him as one of the world’s most influential economists/business thinkers together with Joseph Stiglitz, Bill Gates, Michael Porter, Thomas Friedman, Eric Schmidt, Richard Branson, Malcolm Gladwell, Robert Reich, Jack Welch, Niall Ferguson, Michael Dell, Howard Gardner and Jimmy Wales. Perhaps those opposing and humiliating him will now spare a moment and think whether a man in such company can be the same man they are hounding.
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The writer is a retired career Ambassador.
Source: Weekly Holiday
Excellent analysis.But the question is: will the ruling party take any lesson while they are in power?. Yunus without doibt is the greatest Bengalee muslim of all time there is no one even within hundreds of miles; .I would say Rabindranath Tagore as the greatest Bengalee of all time, Yunus is the second greatest Bengalee after Tagore in our history.By humiliating the great man the ruling party and their group of illiterate villains are only drawing the contempt and disdain of the civilized world.When time comes those responsible for the destruction of Grameen and hounding its great founder must be taken to justice.
Millions came out on the street and celebrated when Yunus got his Nobel. Where are those millions now when Yunus is humiliated in the vilest of manners.
There must be something fundamentally wrong with us, the Bangladeshis – we are quite happy to bask from the glory of this person but not take risks to show solidarity when he is attacked, relentlessly and unjustifiably. Seems to me that we are truly a nation of “Circuses”.
Poor Yunus who gave us so much has now to fight his own fight. I hope that we do gather some courage and come out in millions on the street again to support Yunus and his fight and remove the veil of cowardice and moral impotency that have restrained us since.