The New Nation - Internet Edition

Production of plastic goods

SINCE its invention in the fifties of the past century by German scientists, the production and marketing of plastic goods has increased. The use of plastic goods has grown in domestic and industrial plus commercial sectors of the economy. It is so, due to the fact that plastic products have turned quite safe for producers and ultimate users. Plastic products have become competitive against natural fibre products, including jute, hessians and bags used for carrying goods from production centres to ultimate markets. Of late, plastic is used for producing boxes, utensils, doors and other commercial items.

The Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association has taken steps for projection of plastic products through fairs at home and abroad. The fifth International Plastic Packaging and Printing Industrial Fair has been opened at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre in the city. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the fair, the Adviser of the Ministry of Commerce underscored the need for projecting plastic products in local and international markets. Since plastic is a non-conventional product, efforts have to be made for ensuring their quality and multiple use thereof.

The use of plastic for bags, cover pages of books and even utensils has been increased in recent years. Good quality plastic sheets are now used for doors of rooms as well as public vehicles. Some house-hold appliances including cups, plates, tiffin boxes are now made with plastic inputs. The prospect of augmenting the production and marketing of diverse plastic goods has increased. As it is, the local entrepreneurs have invested their resources for production of sacks and sheets plus the ribbons and ropes of plastic. These are marketed at home and abroad.

The increased use of plastic to produce furniture and their popularity among users is a good news is so far as they would help in reduce the felling of trees and help accelerate the afforestation programme. The environmental situation would improve to a great extent if tree resources increase due to reduction of tree cutting and plantation of new trees all over the country. However, the plastic industry is faced with some problems. The prevailing practice of banks to insist upon advance bank draft for import of plastic inputs has caused problems to some investors in the plastic industry. The sooner measures are taken to address the problem the better may be effects thereof on the sector. The end of augmenting production and increasing market deals with both local and foreign buyers should be kept upper most by all concerned.

Record FDI in China

AS reported recently by AFP news agency from Beijing, foreign companies invested a record US $ 82.7 billion in China last year. The 2007 figure for foreign direct investment was up 13.8 per cent from a year earlier, the commerce ministry of the Chinese government said in a statement with analysts adding the tide of money had undermined efforts to slow economic growth. China has been striving to cool its economy over concerns that it could overheat and shudder into a sharp slowdown, but analysts said the nation's still-explosive growth continued to lure foreign companies. Inbound FDI is in no way helping the government's efforts to cool the economy, it is actually doing the opposite, the report quoted a Shanghai-based analyst with Oriental Securities. Experts, in fact, estimate China's economy probably grew about 11.5 per cent in 2007 - the fifth consecutive year of double-digit percentage growth. With many forecasters optimistic that China will grow reasonably strongly this year too despite the prospect of a sharp economic slowdown in the United States.

Foreign investment may continue to rise at a fast pace in 2008 due to the rising value of China's currency, Yuan. FDI growth may remain at the level of 10 per cent or above because in order to build a factory, for example, it will take more foreign investment now than before due to further appreciation of the Chinese currency unit, according to the analyst as quoted by the news report. Total foreign direct investment excluding that in the financial sector amounted to US $ 74.8 billion last year, 13.6 per cent year-on-year as showed by commerce ministry statement. China drew a then record US $ 69.46 billion in FDI in 2006.

The Chinese government has been trying to channel the money away from real estate, resources and export-linked sectors in the interests of economic stability. China's politically-sensitive and growing trade surplus has led to foreign demands for the government to allow Yuan to rise more quickly. Analysts expect Yuan to continue its rise in 2008 luring likely even more foreign investors. Though the Chinese government wants the economy to slow down as, one analyst predicts, more hot money will come into China. The main reason is the Yuan appreciation and the other economies around the world are slowing down. China had to take steps to curb the inflows and stimulate capital outflows because the economy still faced linked problems, such as rapid growth in asset prices and a severely skewed balance of payments as explained by analysts. Booming exports and foreign direct investment are the top factors behind the huge build-up in China's foreign exchange reserve, the world's largest. The reserve hit US $ 1.53 trillion by the end of 2007, up more than 40 per cent. 'China's economy is still going good' as noted by an economist.

Bishwa Ijtema could be a world forum on human rights

Maswood Alam Khan

Saint Jibrail used to come in contact with Hazrat Muhammad (SM), our last prophet, once every year to reveal to him our Holy Quran, but in the year 632 he came twice. Our last prophet sensed his time was coming to an end that year, and advised his close associates to call as many people as possible from various places to join him in his final pilgrimage to Mecca. More than one hundred thousand Muslims had participated in that unforgettable pilgrimage.

Hazrat Muhammad (SM) led the pilgrims from Mecca up to the Mountain of Arafat where at the foot of the mountain a sea of people stood in front of him silently as he sat on his camel and delivered a monumental speech of historical significance---a speech that in short described Islam as the complete code of life, a speech that transmitted the most eloquent message on human rights.

Before conveying teachings on unflinching faith in oneness of Allah, rights and equality of humans especially of women, fraternity of mankind irrespective of their color and creed, honest living, forbidding usury, five daily prayers, keeping out of Satan's mischief, fasting during the month of Ramadan, giving wealth in Zakat to the poor and performing Hajj (for one who can afford) Hazrat Muhammad (SM) prefaced his address with a poignant preamble: "Oh my people, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year I shall ever be amongst you again. So, listen to what I am saying very carefully and take my words to those who could not be present here today."

"Take my words to those who could not be present here today"----is the order of our last prophet Muslims have since our prophet had passed away been carrying out in different parts and corners of the world. One of those corners of the world is a vast swathe of landscape (190 acres) open to sky on the bank of the River Turag at Tongi, ten miles away from the capital city of Dhaka where three-day long Bishwa Ijtema (World Conference on Teachings of Islam) is held every year during winter for the last 44 years with 2 to 3 million attendees, all Muslims, from home and abroad---a mammoth gathering which some people describe as the second largest gathering of Muslims next to Hajj, though in fact the number of attendees in Bishwa Ijtema at times exceeded that of pilgrims during hajj in Mecca.

We the mortals with a sense of rationality gradually realize that we have but to bid adieu to this world day after tomorrow, if not today; before breathing our last, therefore, we want to be reassured of some peace in the other world. Religious faith is our solace that we would live in comfort in our afterlife if only the Providence is not unhappy with our deeds in this temporal life. We drown in our prayers to God our fears of afterlife.

Notwithstanding our errant, sinning and aberrant life in our office and home we believe that our last minute joining in with millions in Akheri Munajat at the end of Bishwa Ijtema without having to comply with other must prayers in our bygone days would surely absolve us from all our sins. Some of us even fancy calling Bishwa Ijtema "a Hajj for the poor."!! We immerse our bodies in the River Ganges to purify our past life from anathemas and sins. So, we gather in great number whenever we come to know there is a shortcut to haven, such as the weekly Jumma Prayer, nightlong prayer on Shab-e-Barat or Akheri Munajat at Tongi to bypass the longer route of everyday prayers---heightening God's displeasure with our double standard to cheat at our religious obligations.

A gathering---however mammoth---must not be compared with Hajj. Hajj is a compulsory rite for each Muslim to perform at least once in his/her life while nowhere in Quran or Hadith has it been made compulsory for a Muslim to attend an Islamic gathering other than in Mecca. Bishwa Ijtema, like any gathering of Tablig Jamaat, is meant for scholars to disseminate in clear terms the 'boyaans': the messages of Allah as enunciated in Quran and sayings of our last prophet. Anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim, should participate in such gatherings for the sake of his/her own quest for knowledge.

We should solicit presence of non-Muslims in Bishwa Ijtema because our last prophet wished to illuminate the whole mankind with the radiance of Islam. Advice of Hazrat Muhammad (SM) in his farewell sermon that "Take my words to those who could not be present here today" should be construed as enlightening people who were still in the dark about Islam and its beneficence: people who are Muslims only by their names and just the opposite by their deeds or non-Muslims who are yet to know the true meaning of Islam.

Fifteen hundred years back when women and slaves as commodities were transacted in the open markets, when nobody could dream of equal rights and status of all humans Hazrat Muhammad (SM) led crusades for the liberty of slaves and women. He helped obliterate the borderline between masters and servants and unleashed those who were sinking under the weight of usury. Hazrat Muhammad (SM) was in fact the first trailblazer of human rights in the human history.

If Tablig Jamaat's primary goal is what Hazrat Muhammad (SM) in his last message on farewell pilgrimage exhorted his followers to do---"Take my words to those who could not be present here today"---proponents of all Tablig gatherings, big or small, should invite non-Muslims first and focus on human rights as the cardinal duty of Muslims to ensure as our last prophet all his life repeatedly pointed at equality between men & women, between masters & servants and between haves & have-nots for our harmonious life on earth.

After suicide attacks reportedly by al-Qaeda that crashed the World Trade Centre in New York City on September 11, 2001 and subsequent invasion of Iraq by USA many westerners started wondering why Muslims are so desperate for their religion! Are Muslims by nature aggressive?

Does Islam teach Muslims to kill innocent people? After delving deep into Islamic Studies and Islamic history as curious readers they, to their awful revelation, found out that the fact was just to the contrary. Overwhelmed by Islam's philosophy for the sake of humanity Americans, especially after 9/11, embraced Islam as their religion in greater numbers.

Curiosity is the capital of tourism. Commerce hovers on the edge of curious crowds. 3 million pilgrims during Eid-ul-Azha and 2 million pilgrims during the month of Ramadan & another 4 million during the rest of the year for performing umrah constitute a gigantic volume of business in terms of income from travel and tourism fetched by a total of 9 million pilgrims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia throughout the year. Businesses worth millions of Indian Rupees are transacted on a single day by big and small traders during Ardh Kumbh Mela in the Indian city of Prayaga (also known as Allahabad) where 70 million pilgrims from around the world gathered in January, 2007---the largest gathering in history. Thousands of our village fairs grew up at sites where religious festivities have traditionally been held. In our country, traders on clothes and apparels and traders on sacrificial cattle do their 70 percent business on the eves of Eid-ul-Fitre and Eid-ul-Azha respectively.

Given the kind of enthusiasm already generated by Bishwa Ijtema, commerce worth multibillion dollars may also grow on the bank of the River Turag where hordes of curious tourists interested in humanistic philosophy may pour in if we can make the Ijtema an annual event on Islam's appeal to humanity targeting people of different religions, colors, creeds and scholastic backgrounds. Bishwa Ijtema, as has been developed today as a gathering of multimillion people, should be deemed Bangladesh's multidimensional goldmine from the religious and economic points of view, provided our religious leaders and members of our think-tanks consider how the three-day long Ijtema may be retailored where world class scholars can deliberate on Islam's roles in human rights to attract more tourists from various corners of the world. The Ijtema will then be an annual event of global importance where, for instance, one scientist will deliver his erudite lecture on climate change, one economist on interest-free microfinance, some political scientists on human rights and mainly some Islamic scholars on "how Islam is a complete code of life" as has been enunciated in Quran and Sunnah.

But people from any developed country would never spend money to travel all the way to Tongi if we cannot make their sojourns in and around Dhaka city interesting, safe and exhilarating with a lot of amenities and facilities tourists and travelers care about.

A tourist who had planned to visit Bangladesh for sightseeing (not necessarily for participating in a Tablig Jamaat) may tailor his/her itinerary in a way so that s/he may just pay a cursory visit to Tongi during Bishwa Ijtema with a view to passing by the largest gathering of Muslims. Who knows, a tourist from Norway while window-shopping in a nearby mall on the bank of the River Turag during Bishwa Ijtema may hear from the Public Address System an excerpt from the Holy Quran in English that may by happenstance help her dig a brand new meaning of life!

A President like my father

Caroline Kennedy

OVER the years, I've been deeply moved by the people who've told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.

My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.

Sometimes it takes a while to recognise that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.

We Americans have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn't that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country - just as we did in 1960.

Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates' goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.

Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people - known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics - to become engaged in the political process.

I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents' grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.

Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.

I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president - not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.

(International Herald Tribune)

No wall is high enough

Aijaz Zaka Syed

MR Gorbachev, tear this wall down." Visiting West Berlin and the Wall that separated the West and East Germany, and the West from the Eastern bloc, US president Ronald Reagan looked eastwards and threw that famous challenge at Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader.

Of course, it was another two years before Reagan's vision became a reality. But the Berlin wall did come down on November 11, 1989. And with it came tumbling down the mighty Soviet empire and the entire socialist bloc. Watching the Palestinians trample the Gaza border wall at Rafah crossing this week, I was reminded of Reagan's historic words. No wall is high enough to imprison a free people. As a breathless Jacky Rowland of Al Jazeera, standing over the remains of the corrugated metal wall that the Rafah crossing was, put it, if Gaza was the biggest prison on the planet, this was undoubtedly the biggest prison break in history.

In less than an hour, hundreds of thousands of besieged and starving Palestinians had fled this prison to flood into Egypt. Men and women, young and old streamed into Egypt for freedom. And for more mundane things. As English classical poet Richard Lovelace warned:

Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage;

You cannot imprison a whole nation. Especially a people as free-spirited and irrepressible as the Palestinians. Even if the oppressor happens to be the most ruthless and racist regime on the planet. You cannot arrest a people's fierce desire to remain free, even if you happen to have the most fearsome weapons the Man has known at your disposal.

The sheer joy and boundless delight of ordinary Palestinians on breaking out of the prison that Gaza has been for years was exhilarating and infectious even to distant spectators like us.

The tidal wave of humanity stampeded towards Egypt from across the Gaza Strip, almost emptying the northern cities of taxis, as news of the breach spread by radio, television and word of mouth.

The United Nations estimates that nearly 350,000 people, a quarter of Gaza's population, may have crossed the border by afternoon on day one of the border collapse. And all Palestinians did was buy, buy and buy with whatever they had! It was easily the biggest shopping spree in shortest time in history.

The grown ups went about picking up essentials like fuel, flour and groceries, broadly smiling and enjoying themselves as if they were indulging themselves on high street fashion accessories and luxuries. Children were having a great time too, just being themselves. I wish every one of us could listen to those peels of laughter and shrieks of utter, helpless joy on this rare freedom to chill out with their elders without worrying about regulation Israeli rocket and tanks.

And if you happened to watch that rare spectacle at Rafah crossing this week, you would know what a great crime it is to enslave those free-spirited souls; making them prisoners in their own land. While those checkpoints at every possible strategic location on Israeli side don't let them get out of this narrow strip of land, the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt is the only access to outside world. But Egypt keeps it shut. Why? Because Egypt's friend and ally Israel says so.

As a result, nearly two million people cooped in a narrow territory are literally fighting for things that we all take for granted; essentials like food, water, electricity, fuel and medicines etc.

Israel switches off Gaza's power and water supply, just as it has over the past week, whenever it pleases. The same water, electricity and gas it buys and steals from Arab neighbours like Jordan and Egypt. Who gives a damn if critical patients in ICU and babies in incubators are vitally dependent on uninterrupted supply of electricity? This is besides the regulation air strikes and attacks that the Palestinians are subjected to almost on a daily basis. A friend this week e-mailed pictures of such a campaign. Mutilated bodies of children, blown up homes and charred remains of cars interspersed with human body parts. But Israel, the US tells us, has the right to defend itself. The Middle East's most powerful military with a nuclear arsenal has to defend itself by targeting a defenceless population including helpless women and children.

Who knows how many innocents may have died as a result of Israel's long siege of Gaza? Who cares? The civilized world - if there's such a thing as the civilized world - doesn't.

Even those token, whimpering protests that the so-called international community used to register by way of that wonderfully ineffectual angel called United Nations aren't heard any more.

Truth is, we have all become used to the endless, perpetual tragedy that the wretched existence of the Palestinians is.

Even hopeless idealists like us - who pretend to care for vague and ephemeral things like human rights, freedom and justice etc. - have grown weary of going on and on about the woes of the Palestinian people. But just imagine the predicament of those who are condemned to living under the world's most oppressive occupation forever. In fact, the life in occupied territories is worse than a life behind the bars.

For in a typical prison, you are at least assured regular supply of food, water and electricity. Besides, you are set free after you serve your sentence. But in the gulag called Palestine, the inmates have no way of knowing when and if their sentence will ever end.

What is their crime? Being born in the land that the Zionists have usurped and stolen from their parents and great grand parents? Looking at those young children at Rafah crossing, who are as innocent and sweet as your kids and mine, I wonder what have they done to deserve this? What's their sin? They are so young, they don't even know what sin is.

The only crime they can be accused of is being born to Palestinian parents and in the land that is sacred to three great religions and their followers. Is that a sin, being born a Palestinian, Mr Olmert and Mr Bush?

Ironically, instead of being ashamed of what their Israeli friends have been doing to a helpless, besieged people, the US says it is CONCERNED over the Gaza wall break. Concerned over what, Ms Rice? The liberation of a people from the clutches of tyranny? I wonder what America's founding fathers would have said on this interesting reaction by Condi Rice, someone whose own people had to fight long and hard for their freedom.