Late Dec, 2017: A chance encounter with the Bangladesh State Minister of Finance and Planning; Hon. Muhammad Abdul Mannan was orchestrated by the Bangladesh Embassy in Bahrain. Yet another CHAT-ette with more on the way. ‘Who Does What’ has excellent relations with the same and since they are attempting to ‘get with it’ as such, with Social Media platforms and people actually working on it, we thought we’d chip in.
There is nothing spectacular or revealing within this interview, but do yourself a favour and listen to it a couple of times. Hon. Mannan actually makes his point well. We had to listen three times to fully catch all the nuances.
Who Does What is not into creating sensation and putting those we interview on the spot, plus we are in the wrong part of the world to be so confrontational anyway. Unlike say the majors such as CNN et al, it is not our ego we are displaying, more the person we interview. Of course, if it was Donald Trump then we’d have so much more to delve into, but it has no doubt all been done before a million times. Basically, whodoeswhat.tv are cuddly teddy bears ……..generally.
It has to be said that of all the Bangladeshi politicians we’ve had the opportunity to speak with or interview and there are a good few, they all seem so remarkably direct and even honest. They hold nothing back, not tainted with ridiculous, bloated PC and an ego bigger than a Hollywood star. OK, sure their culture is different to western politicians but politicians are politicians right? We hear such a lot of twaddle and ego pouring out of western politicians, it is refreshing to get another perspective. Of course, not all Bangladeshi might agree with this assessment and indeed opinions welcome, but we find nothing false about this man. He seems devoted to his party and his country. You can make your own assessment and delve into the psychology, but he comes out well from this side.
There is another side to politicians in the sub-continental region; they do the talk, but do they actually do the walk? Maybe, or maybe not and just sit in their bureaucratic offices behind big brown desks enjoying the status. Only the people of the country can assess that.
As a third party observation, a bloody and devastating war of independence from Pakistan is still an open wound and just about the only focus of any politician or government bodies. You just cannot get away from it, it is everywhere, on embassy web sites, tourist’s sites, tourist routes, you tube, exhibitions, talks, you name it. It is a very sore wound at that and the people of Bangladesh fought so hard and this must never be trivialized or mocked in any way, just as any of the two world wars must never be. Unfortunately, for the latter, we have moved on and moved on so far that the new generations or Millennials are so cruelly and rudely ignorant of the death, suffering and devastation, but moved on we have and this is what we call ‘progress’ one assumes. With Bangladesh, one often wonders if the fight for independence is not printed on the carton of cornflakes so that every day, each and every citizen is never allowed to move on. Acceptably proud, never to be forgotten, the sacrifice and death which resulted is constantly brought up and included in any speech or media visit. It is as if a politician, broadcaster, government body and so on is afraid ‘NOT’ to bring it up, yet we never hear the man or women in the street ever mention it. Odd! To suggest that the people ‘move on’, never forget but always mark the sacrifice with honour, but ‘move on’ nonetheless and get down to living today, is met with some trepidation when suggested. With great solace, a wince or two is witnessed by these politicians when upward and onward is mentioned, but the beauty of the general passiveness of the Bangladeshi, they do not attack back defensively. So maybe the time is right to actually ‘move on’ and get the politics balanced and keep up with the very obvious advances this great little country is making, often under such arduous circumstances.
To understand the politics a little better, maybe you might like to read this. But don’t leave it there, take a good look at ‘all sides’, Bangladesh is certainly NOT the ‘basket case’ Henry Kissinger labelled it to be way back.
