Dr. Yunus's Personal Letter to YOU

[Jubok]

Attached is the letter (click the down arrow in Onirbaan Media Player) that Dr. Yunus wrote keeping you in mind. He would like to hear your thoughts. Please take a minute of your time to read the letter and drop a few lines to one of the brightest mind of the country letting him know whether you would like him to step up and take control of Bangladesh's political wreck.

Don’t forget….every idea… every opinion counts.

This can lead to the birth of an ideal country that we have always wanted.

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Please use this thread to share your thought on this open letter to all Bangladeshis.

Also, if you decide to send an email or letter to Dr. Yunus, we would appreciate it if you post a copy of that letter or email in these thread. We have plans to send a consolidated letter to Mr. Yunus reflecting all our concerns about the political and social situation of Bangladesh.

The letter, which will contain summaries of all our members email/letter, will be sent on behalf of all 2300+ Onirbaanites and their family.

[Jubok]

The following is an ariticle/report published by a Chinese newspaper regarding Dr. Yunus's open letter:

Bangladesh's Nobel peace winner seeks people's opinion in joining politics

Bangladesh's Nobel peace laureate Mohammad Yunus on Sunday in an open letter sought people's opinion about his joining the politics.
"If people want I will join politics. This is the prime time for joining. But I must need people's opinion about my joining politics," Yunus, founder of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank told reporters at the airport before leaving for India to receive the prize of Best Bangli given by private television channel of West Bengal, the northeastern state of India.
He said the current caretaker government has taken many steps, which have brought changes in politics. He said if the people give opinion in his favor, he will form a political party.
He said people will be able to give their opinion through letter, phone or fax. He said he will do politics with honest people, but will not do it with those persons who polluted the politics.
"The time to do politics has become rife," he said, "We could not see much success from the politics of past. Everybody should try to go ahead covering the loss by past politics."
Last week for the first time the Nobel laureate said he was mentally ready to do politics and float a political party if people wanted.
"If the people and civil society want, I shall enter politics and float a party. I am mentally ready to do it," Yunus said.
He said: "People will determine the propitious moment of my entering politics. If they do not want my entering politics I am ready to accept that situation also. I always keep myself ready to respond to the challenge of doing a new thing."
Under Bangladesh's constitution, a caretaker government organizes the country's general elections. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led four-party government ended its five-year tenure on Oct. 27 last year, and handed over power to the caretaker government led by President Iajuddin Ahmed.
As the two major parties of BNP and Awami League could not make consensus on a number of issues, and the political crisis deteriorated in the country, President Iajuddin Ahmed had to declare state of emergency on Jan. 11. He resigned from the post of chief of caretaker government on the same day.
The new caretaker government headed by Fakhruddin Ahmed was sworn in on Jan. 12.

Source: Xinhua

[asems]

Assalamu Alaikum,

Amader bhaggo eta j DR. Yunus er moto manush nobel prize bijoyi amader desher shontan. Amra tar kache kritoggo j unar karone amader desh k shobai chine aj. But apnar rajnitite ashar kotha shune keno jeno bhalo laglo na. Karon Apni nijei bolechilen je Bangladesher rajnitik netara Tk. er jonno rajniti kore so.. apni jodi rajnitite ashen tobe apnar ei rajnititao ki tk. er jonno hoye jaina apnar kotha hisshebei bollam. Tarporo amra shustho rajnitite apnar moto lokke asha kori. Apnar bortomane onek dol e gothito hoyeche sustho rajniti'r kotha bole Tar modde LDP kei dhora jak na keno.. Kintu kisu din age LDP neta dhora khawar por dekha gelo tader modheo Durniti baj ghor kore niyechilo. Sutorang ekhon sustho dharar rajniti'r kotha sunleo Bhoi lage r sei apni o edhoroner sustho dharar rajniti'r kotha bolchen. R kisu din ager apnar dewa boktobbo jei khane apni bolechilen j Bangladesher rajniti biddra shobai tk.'r jonno rajniti kore.. Ami mone korina eta thik karon shobai je kharap r shobai j bhalo eta kintu noi... shob rajniti biddrai shadhu ta bolchina kintu kisu rajniti bid achen chilo jara shob shomoi desher jonno shompod.

Amar ei khudro geyan diye jottoku lekha shombhob chilo r jottuku bojhano shombhob chilo bujhate chesta korechi... bhul truti'r jonno khoma prarthona korlam.. Tarpor o apnar rajnitite asha k.. keno jeno shomorthon korte parlam na...

MD. Faisal Azad Asem.

[Jubok]

Faisal, Apnake oshonkho dhonnobad apnar motamoter jonno.

I am posting a reply to Dr. Yunus by Taj Hashmi of Canada. Onirbaan has received Mr. Hashmi's consent to post his letter in our forum. Feel free to post your comments for the author.

Dr Yunus’s Open Letter: My Response

Taj Hashmi

taj_hashmi@hotmail.com

Since Dr Muhammad Yunus has written an open letter to all Bangladeshi nationals, I assume both at home and abroad, I am writing this responding to his letter seeking our opinion if he should join politics and float his own political party. It would be an audacity on my part to dissuade him from joining politics or organizing his own political party. Not only is he entitled to do so but also because of his enviable credentials. He is most definitely a very competent person, a wonderful organizer, entrepreneur par excellence, and above all, renowned and influential both within and outside Bangladesh.


Despite my serious reservations about micro-credit, the honest professor’s pet project, being glorified and touted as “microfinance” by mega agents of finance capital as the panacea for poverty, I would have welcomed Dr Yunus in the arena of Bangladesh politics as the country badly needs honest and sincere people at the helm of the statecraft. I have absolutely no reservations about his lack of political experience. He would be most definitely a million times better than both the experienced and inexperienced crooked ones running the polity since1971. My only reservation is about his would be political associates.


I am sure immediately after his joining politics and floating his own political party, scores of politicians, intellectuals, retired civil and military bureaucrats and members of the civil society would be joining him, apparently with a view to creating a corruption free Bangladesh. I am, however, very skeptical about the intrinsic quality of most politicians and retired bureaucrats, who would outnumber intellectuals and members of the civil society in your political party. You will have to be extremely lucky to get even ten percent honest, sincere and patriotic elements in the politician-(civil-military) bureaucrat nexus. And as you know, due to various socio-economic reasons, intellectuals and so-called civil society members no longer represent people with impeccable character, honesty and integrity. Many (if not most) of them represent and support this or that political parties, mainly out of the wrong reasons.


So, what I apprehend would happen is that within a few months of floating your political party, mainly with politicians and retired bureaucrats (at least 90 percent of them are corrupt or potentially corrupt); your party would not be any different from party X or party Y. And you would lose your popularity, tarnish your image and would soon be turned into another member of the club run by people with insatiable greed and desire to rob the country through the game of politics.


If you believe that free and fair elections and democracy can get rid of corruption, inefficiency and the perpetual state of chaos, which often drags the country to the verge of total anarchy, I have nothing to advise you. Personally, I do not believe that democratically elected governments run by corrupt and inefficient politicians who would always remain dominant in any elected government would bring peace, progress and prosperity to Bangladesh. As we are witnessing today, even an unelected, non-political Caretaker Government under Dr Fakhruddin cannot contain corruption despite all its efforts and good intentions, you would simply be another failure in this regard if you try to right the wrong through so-called democracy or by floating a political party.


Since the bulk of the population are not averse to electing thieves, robbers, murderers and godfathers and have no qualms about selling their votes to them, how do you think you would ever win elections to form a government with honest and efficient people? Eventually, I am afraid Dr Yunus, you would have to accommodate known criminals, bank defaulters, murderers, smugglers and godfathers (too many and too risky to name them) in your party.


I have got two suggestions for you: a) create a pressure group with intellectuals, students and working class people so that the present Caretaker Government take drastic action against all the corrupt elements, arrest hundreds of Raghab Boals and Rui-Katla, beyond this paltry number of twenty-odd politicians; and b) ask the government to appoint you as the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission.


You once envied Justice Sultanuddin on his becoming the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2005. You thought containing and eliminating corruption in Bangladesh was the easiest job on earth. I still remember your figurative expression that “one needs to lie down under the tree and corrupt elements like ripe fruits would drop into one’s mouth”. Please takeover as the Chairman of the ACC. If you want I can write an open letter to President Iajuddin Ahmed and Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed to appoint you as the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission. If you can eliminate corruption at every level, Bangladesh does not need a government by a Nobel Laureate like yourself for prosperity, growth and development.

[Jubok]

Following message regarding Dr. Yunus's letter was sent to us by Onirbaan Adda member Lora:

Amra chai Dr. Yunus khomota nea amader deshtake
shantite boshobasher joggo koren, durniti mukto koren,
protita nagoriker odhikar nishchinto koren. Jemonta
dr. Mahathir korechhen. Amader purno support achhe
onar shathe.

And folloing is an interesting article/response that was forwarded to us by Taj Hashmi:
--------------------
New Age, February 15, 2007

An Open Letter to Muhammad Yunus

Before starting the Grameen Bank, Yunus did not go for people’s ‘mandate’, nor did he do it before accepting the Nobel. Why is he doing it now?

asks Mohiuddin Ahmad

 

Professor Muhammad Yunus has informed us through a khola chithi (open letter) in the mainstream media of his intention to join politics. He also invited opinion and suggestion from all. As this is an open invitation, I would like to seize this opportunity to expound my perceptions and views. Instead of directly writing to him, I opted to express my views through the print media, because it will enable many others to understand my perspective and, I assume, there will be some commonality of perceptions.

Yunus made his intention clear soon after he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Now he says his intention to join politics has nothing to do with the Nobel. But the timing of his declaration, the media attention he has received and the implicit facilitation of the establishment that has been showered on him despite the emergency provides me with a simple equation: two plus two is four. Had there been no Nobel, he would not have made this move. He did not do it before getting the Nobel. Now he thinks that the time is ripe.

Joining politics or not to join is a basic right of an individual under democratic norms. Anybody including Yunus is free to exercise this right. This does not necessarily demand any ‘mandate’ from the ‘people’. Who are the ‘people’? This reminds me of the birth of a political party.
The Bangladesh Chhatra League (anti-establishment group) organised a public meeting at Paltan Maidan on September 17, 1972. The main speaker was the immediate past vice-president of the Dhaka University Central Students Union, ASM Abdur Rob. At one point of the speech, Rob asked the audience, ‘Do you want a new political party? If so, please raise your hand.’ Immediately all the people raised their both hands and Rob concluded, ‘We got the mandate of the people.’ This is one way, and a very traditional way, of informing the people and getting people’s consent on certain proposal. We observe it in almost all public meetings.
Now the time has changed and so has the technology. Yunus has decided to use cell phone, SMS and e-mail as techniques of receiving people’s opinion. Recently we have seen how people, particularly the youth, stand on their feet to lend their support in favour of their beloved ones. Nolok Babu got several lakhs of vote through SMS. Very recently, Salma, a teenaged girl from Kushtia, got about four million SMSs. We have to see how many responses Yunus gets. If he gets less response than Salma, it may not necessarily mean that he is less popular. This reminds me of another incident back in the mid-1990s.

I was attending the UN Social Summit in Copenhagen in March 1995 together with many other Bangladeshis. One morning, Taslima Nasrin spoke. The auditorium was full. Even many more were waiting outside, as there was no space inside the auditorium. Taslima was mainly addressing issues of gender and religious bigotry. I was sitting inside the auditorium and listening to her. In the same afternoon and in the same auditorium, Yunus spoke on micro-credit. Half of the auditorium was empty. This does not necessarily mean that Yunus was less attractive or micro-finance was a minor issue. There are several other factors that determine how big the crowd would be. So if he gets much less response than Nolok Babu or Salma, it doesn’t matter. They are not comparable. My question is very simple.

Before starting the Grameen Bank, Yunus did not go for people’s ‘mandate’, nor did he do it before accepting the Nobel. Why is he doing it now? To me he is just trying to sensitise the issue. So, I conclude that he is a pucca player in the political arena and knows well how to sensitise an issue with the support of the mass media largely owned by the big business.


Three issues

Yunus has mentioned three points very clearly. Time has come to start the politics of notun dhara (new trend). He wants to initiate it. Secondly, He wants to do clean politics. He won’t associate with people who are not clean. Thirdly, he will quit the Grameen Bank if he decides to engage in politics, as he cannot do the both. I like to limit my response to these three issues.

I don’t agree with Yunus that it is the time for politics of notun dhara. The time was always there. Some people tried it in the late-1940s and early-1950s that culminated in the burial of the Muslim League and its communal politics in the general election of 1954. The victory could not be sustained. Why? This could be a subject of research.

In the 1960s also, there were attempts to introduce the politics of notun dhara. When Sheikh Mujib expounded his Six-Point programme for regional autonomy, that spearheaded a new brand of politics and a new generation of activists that made the 1969 mass upsurge happen and buried the politics of Ayub-Monem gang. Then came the fateful year of 1971. It is not true that the War of Independence started on March 26 and ended on December 16. Many activists proactively took part to prepare for it. The war was not just a reaction to the military crackdown of March 25. It was a well-planned war of independence. Those who complain about unpreparedness, destruction and death of many innocent people had always been on the other side of the table, who wanted to maintain the staus quo, pursue their career in education or civil service or business. So they were caught unaware.

After the independence of Bangladesh, we got another opportunity for the politics of notun dhara. This was ultimately epitomised through Colonel Abu Taher, who proved the hypothesis that nothing positive and tangible can be achieved without supreme sacrifice. He was hanged by a kangaroo court.
Whenever we see the men in uniform at the helm of affairs, we hear crusade against corruption and a cry for the politics of notun dhara. This time, we are hearing it again. We are hearing it again from an eminent citizen like Yunus whom we have never seen in any period of crisis that haunted our people since the 1950s.

The second proposition is that Yunus wants a clean politics with clean people. When I (also many like me, but not too many) was fighting a war of independence with a carbine taking all the risks, passing sleepless nights, I also observed that many more people were busy in pursuing their career in universities as students or teachers or researchers, so that a session is not ‘wasted’. Many of them are now shining as stars in our civil society. While searching clean people, I would request Yunus to consider this point and also to search his own soul what he had been doing in those days. The present Bangladesh is actually a fruit of the valiant freedom fighters and supreme sacrifice of many of them along with many more innocent civilians. They created a state where we can talk about clean politics. In Pakistan, they cannot talk about it till today.

I will also urge Yunus to prove his integrity by expressing the truth. He has been managing the Grameen Bank since its inception in 1983. My own experience with micro-credit while working with BRAC in the late-1970s is not at all positive. I am sorry to say this.

The Grameen Bank and some national NGOs have been able to keep their recovery rate high. But there is scepticism about their claim. In the backdrop of low rate of return on labour, high degree of uncertainty and natural disasters, a high rate of repayment to the tune of 99-100 per cent on a regular basis seems to be a miracle. What makes such a high rate possible? The following have been observed in this respect.

.Many borrowers have access to multiple sources of credit;
. Borrowers are assured of repeat loans. Defaulters’ loan is adjusted with fresh loan and shown as ‘recovered’. Staffs are at a race to show their performance.
. Borrowers have multiple sources of income.
. Borrowers have to sell assets to clear themselves when in trouble.
. Borrowers are intimidated to repay loan.
. NGOs incur high staff cost to keep vigilance and thereby charge high rate of interest.
. Hardcore poor are left out.

Findings of the Household Expenditure Survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics show that neither the government nor the NGO programmes are well-targeted. The NGO outreach is often regarded as limited and fragmented, which largely excludes the extreme poor. There is a growing concern that targeted programmes of both the government and the non-government sectors have excluded the hardcore poor.

For example, about four-fifths of the Grameen Bank loans are disbursed against schemes on agriculture, livestock, processing and manufacturing, etc., with certain gestation period (several months or more). These activities do not fit with the conditions that require repayment of the principal and the interest in weekly instalment. Similarly, about half of the NGO credit is disbursed to activities with long gestation and is probably used by the ‘better-off poor’. This is evident from the micro-credit programme of BRAC where only 15 per cent of total credit disbursed in 1996-2000 went to the extreme poor. I would request Yunus to clarify his position on this issue and make it more transparent.

Yunus will quit Grameen Bank if he decides to join politics. But he is doing politics now in that same manner the former cabinet secretary did it. Yunus is currently managing director of the Grameen Bank appointed by the government of Bangladesh. He is abusing his position. I am not sure whether this is legal or not; but certainly it is unethical. Kazi Faruq of Proshika was accused of a similar sin. It is not fair that one holding a position that uses public resources indulges in politics. When we talk about level playing field, we should ensure it for all. I request Yunus to immediately resign from the Grameen Bank or stop talking politics with immediate effect.

I am personally grateful to Yunus as he got the Nobel and helped to some extent to restore our pride as a nation. Also I like to state that the Nobel is not the end of the world. Under current circumstances, I don’t expect Hugo Chavez or Noam Chomsky will get the Nobel. We also know that Jean Paul Sartre refused the Nobel Prize in the 1980s. Badruddin Omar refused the Bangla Academy Award in the early 1970s. Yunus also received several medals before from the heads of the government in Bangladesh who are infamous for corruption and autocracy. He didn’t have the guts to say: ‘Look, you are corrupt; I won’t take the medal from you.’ But he talks about clean politics and corruption-free society.

Now the country is under emergency. Civil society is shining under the patronage of the so-called Tuesday Group. They want to discipline our democracy with lenders’ prescription. The chief adviser to the caretaker government is a former employee of the World Bank, which is the most corrupt institution of the world. The sell-out of the critical assets and the resources of the people to global big business by the dictum of the global power brokers is just a matter of time. I wish Yunus Godspeed.

Mohiuddin Ahmad is a writer and a researcher. He is the chairperson of the CDL and chair of the Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development. He can be reached at: mohi2005@gmail.com

[masum]

Dear Sir,
U r welcome !!!!
Change evrything except u.

[rial]

HE got the nobel prize but he did not buy our head... thats all . we dont want him in politics.. be in your own place and be happy.

[bruisee75]

What I mean is that it isn't your judgement if you are a true believer or not who also handles acordingly, it's Gods.

If you think your a believer and think he can sit on his but cause he or she will be zaped out of here somehow anyways, your WRONG


Only he who can help himself can help others properly.



So Remember God only helps those who help themselves.

[Shotmasterz]

Been working, installing new speakers in my car, and trying to actually get some sleep for once. That guy who was on last night, you know, Benny? He was actually my friend who was playing on my computer while I relaxed... Hehe. I bet he looked like he hadnt played an FPS in his life, right?

[RepLicaGibson]

ß äóìàþ, ÷òî åñëè åñòü èìåéë êîìó íàïèñàòü - ñòÎèò íàïèñàòü Thank You Letter, âåäü ôèçè÷åñêè ðàáîòàòü áóäåøü ó íåãî à ÷åðåç ðåêðóò¸ðà ïðîñòî áóäóò áàáêè èäòè, äà è îêîí÷àòåëüíîå ðåøåíèå ïðèíèìàåò òîò, êòî èíåðâüþèðîâàë, à ñëåäîâàòåëüíî, íå ïîìåøàåò ÷åðåç íåñêîëüêî äíåé íàïîìíèòü î ñåáå è êðîìå áëàãîäàðíîñòðè çà ïîòðà÷åííîå íà òåáÿ âðåìÿ äàòü çíàòü, ÷òî òû âñ¸ åù¸ çàèíòåðåñîâàíà â ïîçèöèè.

[Bascifs]

One of my mates asked a girl this on holiday.We had been chatting to her at the bar for a bit, giving her good banter until he came over and asked this.Cue us walking away in embarassment.

[neuznana]

Íóæíî ëè ïèñàòü Thank you Letter, åñëè òåáÿ íàïðàâèë íà èíòåðâüþ ðåêðóò¸ð è âñå ïåðåãîâîðû èäóò ÷åðåç íåãî?

[SoormbomJully]

So when youre doneWith leaving it all behindLook up the purple skyAnd pretend its allrightTry to seeWhat I already haveAnd try to imagenWhat it would beIf..Youve got left aloneBefore darkIn a lonesome roomWith all the light that you seeIs comingWhen you watch your cigaretteSlowly burns upto the filterAs you smoke it upAnd studyThe smoke that leaves your mouthIn circlesHigherAbove your headWhat if...You could have only imagenedWhat you have done to meToday?

[Chernayakoshka]

Franchement tu ne dois pas tinquieter, tas un trГЁs trГЁs bon niveau. Est-ce que tu vises 20/20? Mes modifs ci-dessous sont jusque pour raffiner. Dear Daddy, Its been a while since Ive seen you around. Last time you came, it was rather fast and you didnt talk that much. You only told me that you were doing fine and that I should stop worrying about you. It was a relief to hear from you. However, it was not enough as I felt upset that you didnt answer all of my questions. I really expected you to tell me about your new life "in the sky". No its not curiosity... oh all right it is, but its more about you and what youve been doing lately. So whats up? Have you met new people? Joined grandfather? Do you have fun over there? I remember that once you told me that you were afraid of what would happen next wondering if you could still eat and do some gardening. Well, about that... Im really sorry but I couldnt handle this "gardening business". I didnt even try, its so boring.I also wanted you to know that I passed my exams so dont forget to send me a gift a car will be just perfect. Well, as you can see, everythings turned out well for me. And for Mum. Im not much of a letter-writer but I hope you enjoyed getting some news about your loving daughter and Im looking forward to hearing from you as well. Please, be polite Anyway, Mum and I will be calling you. And also, next time you show up, please stay longer. With love, LiyahMom est amГ©ricainAnyways est trГЁs argotique Г  mes oreillesJe suppose que tu vuolait dire loving

[teererodo]

I have:A chanterA few knivesA few remotesA big, metal poleA big sharp metal poleScissorsMy homemade catapult My turret the one I sent you a pic of shiggyAnd anything else I find that can hurt things.