<!-- Place this tag where you want the +1 button to render. -->
<div class="g-plusone" data-annotation="inline" data-width="300"></div>
<!-- Place this tag after the last +1 button tag. -->
<script type="text/javascript">
  (function() {
    var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true;
    po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s);
  })();
</script>

Hope you are happy as well as gay!

Never mind the traditional British stiff upper lip - Britain is a land of happy
people. Or perhaps it was until the parliament "approved" that we are not only
a happy nation we are gay too.

Thank you parliamentarians!

Middle East Syndrome: Come tomorrow!
L-A-Z-Y spells LAZY

 

Syed Neaz Ahmad who has spent many years teaching in the Middle East takes a look back at the practice 'don't do anything today if you can delay it until tomorrow'!

EVERY week my cluttered desk, my bursting-at-seams shoulder bag and my over worked laptop presents a sad state - a reflection perhaps of the time of the year. The sheer volume of committee meetings, preparation of reports, checking term papers, planning for the next semesterr and a thousand other things leave you little to think of an interesting topic to write about.
Then came the biggest of all surprises - construction of a new flyover where we live. Every construction brings in some destruction and dust. I miss my favorite shwarmah joint, the bakery, the baqalah, the pharmacy and not forgetting the friendly neighborhood bank.

But before the bulldozers hit the bank I had rushed to pay some utility bills and leave some instruction for the autumn break. Through a strange coincidence it was not only the last working day at this branch but also the last 'working day' of the month so you can imagine the rush. Most of us know that Wednesday is the day of the week when bank queues are longer, people are in a rush and tellers are away on long weekends. Post office, bank or the STC we all have a story to tell - mostly sad. Alexander Graham Bell's first hello into his invention had set the ball rolling but nobody knew then that his contraption will end up at a bank counter.

You spend half-an-hour in the queue and finally reach the cash counter. You straighten your face, adjust your glasses and wet your lips and get ready to present your credentials to the teller when you learn the that computers are down . What do I do now? The teller tells you with a chuckle: Come tomorrow! You collect your papers and senses and prepare yourself to make an honorable exit when you realize that tomorrow is Thursday and this branch of the bank doesn't operate on Thursdays.
In fact this branch won't operate at all for sometime - and if it does you don t know when, you don t know where.

Frustrated you try to catch the teller's eyes but you realize he 's in no such mood. He puts his tea finjan down, stretches his arms as far as they can go, lights up a cigarette and is lost in Marloboro country! You cough discreetly and ask him if he could cash your check. I told you the computer is down, he waves you away as he argues with his friend if Al-Ahli are a better team than Al-Ittihad. You can rest assure that he doesn t have the Bank on his mind!
Last Wednesday's experience is a point that most columnists have made many times but like the summer heat and dust we have learnt to live with it. The approach why bother to be punctual when you can afford to be late is not just an attitude but a way of life for many. You visit someone for a minor work but be assured that it won t be ignored as something unimportant. What s the hurry? Sit down and relax. What would you like to drink: Tea, coffee or some cold drink. You protest politely: I am in a kind of hurry and would appreciate to have this job done. I have a number of bases to touch. But your host insists that you suffer his hospitality.

Misplaced hospitality costs you time and an important appointment at the hospital. Someone's attitude costs you time, money and a loss of face somewhere. But why bother? Your protestations earn you nothing but a higher blood pressure count. So why bother - say your well wishers. Maa'lish.

Tracing our steps back to the dusty road of time and expectations I remember two anecdotes that Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein narrated in his memoirs. Einstein's housemaid intrigued by the publicity that the theory of relativity had brought her employer - asked him what it was all about? You work here five days a week, right? The five days seem like infinity, right? But when you are away for the weekend, Saturday and Sunday seem to go very fast, right? With your background that's the nearest you can get to this complex theory. I wonder if the confused housemaid was given a long weekend to ponder over the problem

Traveling on a New York bus Einstein met his match. Going for a leisurely ride the scientist asked the bus conductor: How far are you going? The bus conductor sized him up and replied: That depends on your sense of time and space! Doesn t it make you wonder if all the people you meet - even those you meet on Wednesdays - had the same sense of time and space. But if wishes had wings men would fly and women would drive.
This brings us to an important question of time and space raised by a reader. Not that concerned citizens have not asked similar questions before but it s the timing of the question that is important. With Muslims being discriminated here and there a worried reader asks: Where is the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC)? Mr reader if yours is a question of space then the answer is: It's an organization of no fixed address. If it's a question of time then the answer is : the OIC is still there where it was years ago. It s a matter of Oh I see or perhaps Oh I don't!

 

  Dhaka  Daily New Age

Chaos, congestion and violence in Bangladesh

By Syed Neaz Ahmad

The wrecked microbus after the accident that left noted film maker Tareque Masud and ATN News CEO Mishuk Munier dead, among others, in August 2011. — Focus Bangla photo

The young South Asian democracy is a good example of how people wishing to progress towards achieving ‘a government of the people’ can at least claim we are on the road to democracy. But for democracy to function properly in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh one thing that must be realised, upheld and practised is the concern for human life, writes Syed Neaz Ahmad

BANGLADESH is one of the world’s poorest, least developed and most densely populated countries. Political chaos, rampant corruption, strikes, inadequate power supplies and a high unemployment rate — some 35 per cent — make it hard for the economy to prosper. The economy, which cannot absorb the rising labour population, is largely agricultural and depends heavily on the cultivation of rice. Tea and jute are the main cash crops. Bangladesh supplies about 90 per cent of the world’s raw jute but production of both jute and tea has dipped in recent years, largely due to weather. The gross domestic product is comprised of agriculture (30%), industry (18%), and services (52%).
Water pollution, waterborne diseases, water shortages, monsoon flooding, soil degradation and erosion, deforestation, overpopulation and severe pollution are the largest environmental concerns in Bangladesh. Political infighting, corruption, and opposition from interest groups, the bureaucracy and public sector unions stall economic reform. Some ‘interest groups’ somewhere might find the above hard to chew but before we start disputing the facts and figures it will be helpful to note that it was picked up from the US government’s website.
Now after that little detour let’s get our feet back on the road to Bangladesh. Floods and cyclones are natural occurrences that humans, governments and technology cannot stop. But one can definitely minimise human tragedy by preparing oneself through better warning systems, evacuation, and security and safety arrangements. The recent typhoons in the Americas are examples where best of arrangements failed but human lives were saved to a great extent.
The young South Asian democracy is a good example of how people wishing to progress towards achieving ‘a government of the people’ can at least claim we are on the road to democracy. But for democracy to function properly in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh one thing that must be realised, upheld and practised is the concern for human life. A nonchalant attitude towards human tragedies — man-made or natural — is not a civilised attitude.
Road accidents, boats capsizing and train accidents are a matter of routine. Dozens of lives are lost every day: a finance minister died in a road accident, a promising filmmaker lost his life in a head-on collision. As a result of public uproar, the communications minister was given a different portfolio.
Unfortunately, things haven’t changed and it’s deaths as usual on roads, rail-tracks and rivers.
The recent well-publicised and well-denounced death of a journalist couple, the disappearance of former member of parliament Ilias Ali, a prominent leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the involvement of now former railways minister Suranjit Sengupta in an alleged bribery case haven’t helped improve the image of the administration and particularly that of the home minister Sahara Khatun. Political observers in Dhaka have expressed their concern over Suranjit’s fast-track clearance by anti-corruption officials — and his rapid reinstatement by Sheikh Hasina.
Another thorn in the side of the ruling party Awami League seems to be former mayor of Dhaka Sadeque Hossain Khoka. Khoka until recently was the uncontested mayor of Dhaka. Not sure if the Awami League could win the next mayoral election it was delayed and postponed for years. However, a ‘better’ alternative has been found: Dhaka will now have two municipal corporations run by two mayors — one for south and one for north Dhaka. The lines have been drawn in the sand. The mayoral election — and its expected results — is likely to divide the people rather than facilitate the administration.
The exploitation of students by politicians is the main reason for campus chaos. Obviously, such sponsorship of young offenders does not help increase political awareness, peace, tranquillity and the literacy rate.
Modern democratic ideas stem from 18th century utilitarianism and current debate centres on the elitist theory of democracy — that government is by political elite, which though voted into power invites little participation by the electorate. This is where the good concept of democracy and its erratic practice receive a hit below the belt. It’s obvious despite its evolution through the centuries democracy has to be adopted and adapted to suit local circumstances.
The misadventure of democracy witnessed in many impoverished countries over the past several decades has proved beyond doubt that for a democracy to succeed certain criteria must be met. Let’s ask ourselves a few questions. Do we have the prerequisites in place that will ensure its smooth running and eventual success? Are the people educationally, politically and emotionally mature enough to distinguish between jackal and jackasses? Walter Lipmann in ‘A Preface to Politics’ observes that ‘no amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make democracy out of an illiterate people.’
My conception of literacy is not being able to scribble your name. It’s the development of mental faculty, political maturity, the ability to understand what is good not only for me but for the community and the country, and to be able to listen, to understand and accommodate an opinion which is not to ones liking. This attitude will help establish an atmosphere where law is respected and order is maintained which in turn will encourage peace, tranquillity and prosperity.
Any attempt to kill or kidnap political leaders is fraught with danger. Violence begets violence and we have seen that there is no end to that. Despite Interpol and US state agencies being roped in to solve the mystery this ‘whodunit’ continues to intrigue the masses. Bangladesh watchers are amused at this feet-dragging by the powers that are. Not many days ago a Saudi diplomat was killed in Dhaka.
But who will establish a peaceful order? At the last mayoral elections in Bangladesh 32 wanted men — wanted by the police not the masses — were elected as deputies to the Dhaka City Corporation. Five similar other characters were elected in the south-western city of Khulna.
This is perhaps an illustration of what Henry Miller once described: ‘When blind lead the blind, it’s the democratic way.’ Aren’t we being naïve to expect better performance from ‘wanted men’?
The leaders owe it to the innocent masses — never mind the 47 per cent literacy rate — in whose name they have been ‘elected’ to create an atmosphere of trust and understanding. However, the only democratic understanding in vogue is how best to ‘help’ oneself — for you never know what happens at the next polls.
Syed Neaz Ahmad is a London-based writer, critic and TV chat-show anchor. neazahmad@hotmail.com.

                       



               Conservative Member of the European Parliament Dr Charles Tannock
               at NTV studios with Talking Point Anchor Syed Neaz Ahmad

                                         

      
               



              With the living legend Abdul Ghaffar Choudhury - Bangladeshi intellectual and author
              of Ekushey February Amra Ki Bholitay Pari at his home in Edgware, a London suburb.