Referring to the existing crisis in Rakhine State of Myanmar, Nobel Peace laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus has said all people have the right to live in peace and security wherever they live.
He made the remark at a conference in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of Myanmar, on Monday after receiving a question from a Myanmar parliament member.
U Win Htein, NLD, MP from Meiktila constituency and a close associate of Aung San Suu Kyi raised the question that Myanmar has problems along its borders with Bangladesh while there are clashes between the people who originate from Bangladesh and those who are from other groups in the state seeking Prof Yunus’ view on the problem.
Prof Yunus said the relationship between the people of these two neighbouring countries with centuries of historical relationship should be one of deep friendship.
He applauded the MP and his party for upholding the human rights of all people living within the boundaries of his country.
As Myanmar opened up, Prof Yunus said, it had the opportunity to pursue the right track of development avoiding the mistakes of other countries.
“A lot of investment capital and donors’ money were coming into Myanmar and the country had the opportunity to make it work for the people at the bottom rather than have all the surplus taken away, from extractive industries and other sectors, to foreign lands or to benefit just a few people at the top.”
In this context, he recounted the experience in Bangladesh with micro-credit and social business and especially talked about the importance of creating selfless businesses where profits of successful business are ploughed back into the local communities.
The Nobel laureate said social business was a non-dividend company to solve human problems and gave examples of effective social businesses and social business funds being implemented in Bangladesh and around the world.
He urged the Myanmar government representatives to allow the young people to lead the way in the creation of a new Myanmar.
The meeting was attended by ministers, MPs and more than 100 senior representatives of different ministries of Myanmar.
On the final day of his three-day visit to Myanmar on Monday, Prof Yunus traveled to Nay Pyi Taw to address ministers, senior government officials, and members of parliament about the role of social business in the development of Myanmar.
Source: UNB
