Let’s stop the bashing

“Where in the world is a ruling government working so hard to build a negative image for the country?” asked my Swedish friend. I didn’t realise he was referring to Bangladesh.

The current government and its stalwarts and supporters are not keeping any stones unturned to show Bangladesh in a bad light. They don’t like the United States or Great Britain treating Bangladesh as a moderate Muslim country. Alexander the Great once told his comrade Seleucus how surprising this region was. My teacher wrote me a letter from Delhi, India in 1987 saying: “In the non-resident Bangladeshi circle, we are happier to be bashing Bangladesh rather than branding Bangladesh.”

Nobody seems to be asking the Bangladesh government why they don’t arrest the militants or take them to task. The US ambassador and his friends at Washington DC think the peace-loving people in Bangladesh will never resort to terrorism.

Some newspaper editors, ministers, and self-proclaimed civil society members think Bangladesh is full of religious fundamentalists, and that mosques are the hub of training in terrorism. At the same time, they want foreigners to invest in Bangladesh or take cognisance of Bangladesh’s growth story. What a joke.

This will surely have a negative ripple effect. When one is constantly hearing only the bad things about a country, the next generations are affected, and there prevails an overall feel of negativity.

I read an article by the esteemed president of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, where he shared his three visions for India. He dwelt upon different aspects of society, depicting where he foresaw scope for improvement, and explaining why India was still not a part of the developed nations’ club.

And I was thinking, each word, each sentence of that article is just as true for Bangladesh as it is for India.

We brand ourselves negatively as individuals, and the whole nation gets dragged in. Do we care? No. We are just happy that we bashed the opposition, branded the country as a terrorist one, and earned some popularity in the television talk shows, even by telling some blatant lies.

Besides the negatives, which every country has, there are many good things happening in Bangladesh, but somehow, we just forget to look or take note. If we can’t take credit for any good job, we don’t like it or talk further about it. When some good is spearheaded by an opposition leader, we decide to keep mum even if the whole world is talking about it.

It’s high time this culture of negative branding was halted. It’s time the world saw Bangladesh for all the glory she possesses. The media is already playing a strong role in shaping the opinions of people. They may play a stronger role yet – maybe as ambassadors of public relations for our country?

Having worked in many developing countries in the world, and many of those in no way doing much better than us, I dream of a positive portrayal of Bangladesh, of showing the land of hope to the world. I dream of conveying the story of a small town housewife, Shamima Khatun, receiving an award from Chelsea Clinton for her success in microcredit, or of Nilufar Yasmin making cricket bats in an unknown, unfamiliar part of the country. These are real-life heroines who are larger than life, who have fought with courage to challenge the clutches of poverty to march towards prosperity.

No matter what anyone says, Bangladeshis are peace-loving, hard working, and will get things done for a simple pat on the back. God-fearing does not mean fundamentalist. Bangladeshis are a fantastic example of drawing a balance between religious stipulations and cultural heritage.

I dream that a lot of tycoons will visit Bangladesh to watch our team’s super performance in cricket and whole-heartedly accept the success of our micro-finance institutions in bringing out a lot of people from the clutches of poverty, our political leaders joining in debates, joking with each other, yet remaining firm on serving the country’s interests together.

I often wonder what we gain out of negatively publicising our own country. Has it ever occurred to us that negative criticism by individuals collectively forms a negative image of the country?

We take pride in other countries’ achievements, but shy away from being proud of our own. It’s almost as if we are embarrassed to call ourselves Bangladeshis.

By degrading your own country, do we gain respect in the eyes of others? Does it make us eligible for citizenship in another country? What makes other countries stronger than us is their patriotism, and their pride in being who they are.