Saturday, August 12, 2006

My Love Affair With Dr. Yunus

Nope, no Brokeback Mountain here!

As many who have read a lot of my writings have pointed out, I seem to be making it a habit of attacking Doc Yunus! What has the good Professor done that has irked me? Nothing much! And precisely that is what bugs me.

You see I have very very low expectations from our political leaders. But Dr Yunus I look up to. And I believe so does a lot of us Bangladeshis. Yes he might have done far more than any for my nation. Unfortunately for him that means he has a bigger burden to carry! A lot more responsibility on his shoulders. He does not have the luxury of getting a much-deserved rest after the superb work he has done. He needs to do more. He (and other like him) needs to be more assertive. They need to take charge and provide leadership. It is simply not good enough to suggest remedy. You need to follow it through. Otherwise the job is half done.

When those who you rely on the most, fail to live up to expectations, the hurt is more.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

something tells me that the likes of prof yunus don't really much care what others expect of them and they are pretty good at doing things their own ways and mind you that's why they are where you see them now...i read somewhere that if you are a smart ass it is not too good an idea to do things just because such and such people expect you to play a certain role...anyways, this time i bought your argument on the fact that those who matter should shoulder more responsibilities...ciao..

Anonymous said...

Hey Boss: You going very strong I see. Keep up the good work. Am linking you back from my blogroll. Do drop by mine and comment on ;-)Btw, how are you associated with somewhereindhaka.net?

Nazim Farhan Choudhury said...

Thanks Tasneem!

No connections with somewhereindhaka! Just that too many people tell me there is nothing to do in this city of ours - so here's the guide!

Anonymous said...

And the reason that others can't take up Dr. Yunus' suggestions and implement them is....?

That they would end up being Dr. Yunus and then later won't dare making any suggestions?

You see where this shoulder of leadership issue could get to Atlas Shrugged?

BTW, I will be in Bangladesh soon again. Likely August 24. But then you'd know that since one o the things on the agenda is a Campaign Planning Workshop for Ad Cub Dhaka.

Anonymous said...

Oh another thing.

This is the observation of an optimist :-)

I wonder what a pessimist might have to say!

Salam Dhaka said...

When I talk to regular people in Bangladesh, they dont like the Yunus myster. How come?

Nazim Farhan Choudhury said...

Well don't even get the Pessimists going, Sumit!

Interesting point about why should Dr Y need to take the responsibility of implementing his ideas. Well the prime reason I want him to lead from the front is that he has the credibility and respect to see the work through. Unfortunately our political leadership has not matured enough to take up on suggestions made by him.

Moreover he has been making such suggestions without giving in-depth workings of how it should happen. His “Clean Candidate” theory is quite politically naïve. It talks about how we should vote for candidates who are not morally (and financially) corrupt. But does not put together a mechanism of doing so. The CPD lead Daily Star/ Prothom Alo/ Channel i endeavour will not achieve much other than a lot of chatter. What needs to be done is Dr. Yunus (and such “civil” society) members saying “here are 600 people in 300 constituencies who we believe are clean! Now many the best man / woman win”.

I too am being politically naïve here to prove a point. But I hope you understand the general direction I am pointing at!

Incidentally you might want to read my article “Repentance of a Sinner” (available on the side bar on the home page) where I follow up on a Dr Yunus suggestion of a “civil” society run Anti Corruption agency.

Nazim Farhan Choudhury said...

Salam Dhaka: Thanks for the comment.

Most people in Bangladesh (including me) do like and admire Dr. Yunus. We believe his micro-credit scheme has revolutionised why that the country can work itself out of poverty. I actually believe he should be given a Nobel Prize for Economics! (some suggest Peace)

However I think there are faults in the Grameen system and we might need to look at the micro credit system from a macro level and re-evaluate its "next big leap"! I'll soon do a post explaining what I mean!

So folks stay tuned....

BTW do check out Salam Dhaka's blog site as well. {http://salamdhaka.blogspot.com} I thought it was very interesting!