Bangladeshis living abroad typically have rather skewed views about the state of their homeland. Some have a rather rosy picture, particularly when there is a new government. Thus in the first of 2007, many euphoric NRBs hailed the coup of that year to be the best thing since Liberation. But these optimists are few, and their optimism often don’t last long. That’s why one hears nothing will happen in this country, it is doomed to fail because … (enter some complaint here, ‘the innately corrupt nature of the people’ is a perennial favourite of the naysayers).
The truth is obviously somewhere in the middle. Yes, Bangladesh has many problem – inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy, politics of confrontation, ambitious generals, lack of trust in any sphere of life, the list can be very long indeed. And yet, it is possible to achieve positive change in Bangladesh, working in its corrupt and inefficient government no less. Engineer Quamrul Islam Siddique is a person who demonstrated this over the past three decades. He passed away on September 1.
May he rest in peace.
