The New Nation - Internet Edition

Facing global economic crisis

DESPITE forecasts of a global economic slowdown and its likely impacts on Bangladesh, the government has not yet taken any significant move to face the challenges leaving the task for the elected political government. Of late a number of international institutions have predicted that due to impacts of the global financial crisis on emerging markets, the average economic growth in South Asia slowed down to 5.4 per cent. Bangladesh's prospective growth is yet to be reassessed, given the spillover effects of the global recession as news reports appeared in the national media recently. The government is yet to make any assessment of the probable impacts on the country's economy as a whole.

A leading expert of a global think-tank, International Food Policy Research Institute, warns the stage is set for the next international food crisis. In Bangladesh only a technical committee headed by the finance secretary has been formed, although civil society leaders as well as some political leaders have assured their support for constituting a crisis taskforce to address the challenges. The global slump hits developing countries as credit squeeze impedes trade and growth, a new World Bank report on 'Global Economic Prospects-2009' said following examination of the impacts of the financial crisis on gross domestic product growth across the world.

Growth already in South Asia, meanwhile, has eased to 6.3 per cent in 2008 from 8.4 per cent in 2007. High food and fuel prices, tighter credit conditions, and weaker foreign demand have led to worsening external accounts and a slower investment growth. Economists however, suggest that constant monitoring of the situation and taking measures on the basis of necessary intellectual exercise by the relevant authorities and experts should be made to face the challenges.

Sustaining macro stability

THE foreign exchange reserve reportedly stood at US$5.85 billion last week. This has been possible due to pragmatic policy measures pursued since the beginning of the new millennium. The reserve is likely to increase further. According to Bangladesh Bank statistics, remittance flow in 2008 reached as high as $8.22 billion marking an increase of more than 25 percent. Based on the remittance trends of 2007 and 2008, the central bank hopes that it would cross $10 billion by the end of the current fiscal year despite the likely impact of global recession. Export earnings also add to the growth of the reserve.

The robust reserve indicates a stable macro-economic situation. Subject to political stability and appropriate policies, this stable situation is likely to lead to further growth of the national economy both at macro and micro levels. According to a central bank projection, the GDP growth may reach 6.5 percent this fiscal year to 7.0 percent in 2009-10 and 7.2 in 2010-11. The businesses had made almost a similar prediction before the general election.

The new managers of the national economy who have taken charge have declared a vision. While macro-economic situation is sound, the economy at the micro level has been suffering from inadequacy of investment and infrastructural support. Only the agricultural sector has been performing well. Based on the healthy foreign exchange reserve, the new government can plan proper use of the same in productive sectors and attract investment to different industrial sub-sectors with a view to creating jobs and increasing production. While making prudent use of resources, the government should ensure that the policies and measures that led to the comfortable macro stability are sustained.

Biased mass media may be deadly

Maswood Alam Khan

Suppose all the millions of viewers of dozens of television channels and all the innumerable readers of hundreds of newspapers are all batsmen and all the media people are bowlers in an elaborate cricket game. If you are an experienced and learned batsman you know how to face a slow bowler who, by placing a spin on the ball he bowls, causes the ball to deviate left or right from the grassed pitch. But not all batsmen---I mean, not all Bangladeshi television viewers and newspaper readers---are as intelligent and dexterous as you are.

There was a time in the ancient era when social and religious leaders, like magicians, did influence people, who would not easily believe words of mouth, by showing their hitherto supernatural powers that were actually derived from scientific inventions and discoveries. A page full of printed words was a supernatural message to ancient people. Leaders reinforced their words of mouth in prints pressed on pages. Within a few years of the invention of the printing press people who relied on only hearsays started relying on a different medium: the famous print medium. Newspapers, magazines, and books thus became magic wands and leaders whose messages were printed on those print media became wizards, chiefs and holy men.

Coins made of gold and silver were reliable media for transacting goods and services. Materials printed on pages became so trustworthy that people didn't object to replacing metallic coins with paper currencies which were neatly printed by pressmen. Till today people don't trust a government's order duly signed unless the order is printed on the gazette that comes out from a government-controlled printing press. A handwritten divine book like the Holy Koran will not be accepted by a devout Muslim as reliable as one that comes in a precisely printed format with embroidered pages ensconced in a leather-bound cover. "Pressmen cannot print anything false" is a conviction cemented in our psyche. Pressmen have thus traditionally become the most trustworthy people in our society.

There is no denying the fact that our entire system of governance has been corrupted by our greed, lack of ethics, intellectual dishonesty and above all by the attitude of our past leaders. We clap our eyes on an organisation, public or private, and we find only corrupt people busy seeking their fortune through iniquitous practices. Corruption has become an industry in our society. Tentacles of the corrupt have spread so widely and have coiled around every vital institution so tightly that a democratically elected government's law enforcement machinery in spite of putting Herculean labors and efforts cannot alone free our society from the curse unless our pressmen remain vigilant as watchdogs and our citizens are fairly educated by fearless and unbiased pressmen.

Our nation a few years back first in 2000 earned the championship as 'the corrupt nation number one' in the whole world. In the global race of corruption we have gradually lagged behind not for the reason that voluntarily we have gradually chosen righteous livelihood shunning the corrupt paths. I believe, the main reason behind our being gradually lesser corrupt is our fear of getting exposed to the press.

Corrupt people in our country are not so much afraid of law enforcement agencies as they are scared of the community of pressmen who are also known as journalists. Starting from adulteration down to terrorism whatever scourged our society would have been more rampant to make our life unimaginably hellish had there been no vigil press to guard us. Whatever improvements we have achieved in the governance of Bangladesh would not have been accomplished only by clamour of our politicians or screams of our reformists if their screaming and clamour were not made louder by our journalists.

In desperation we rush first to a police station to lodge a complaint. When police don't answer we rush to a court of law. When a court of law doesn't respond promptly we go to a press club---our last resort---to ventilate our frustrations. Journalists hear our story and flash our disappointments in their media. Solaced by the coverage of our plights in the press we smile with relief even though our plights don't disappear immediately.

But there are questions that are gnawing our conscience! Are the members of our press clubs steadfast in not printing anything false or prejudiced? Are the journalists nonpartisan? Are the present laws framed sufficiently powerful to punish an intellectual who will be found indulging in a pursuit that may directly or indirectly corrupt a learner's mind? Is press freedom in our country unbridled?

Are journalists dependable educators of the masses who form their opinions about the state of affairs only through reading the printed words in newspapers? Are our intellectually powerful journalists our watchdogs to sniff out injustices being perpetuated on the weak and the poor? Is there any watchdog overseeing our intellectual watchdogs?

Have we ever found a single intellectually famous journalist or an author who was ever awarded by a court of law a heavy punishment for his fabricating news or views with a biased political goal in view? If yes, was the sentence of the heavy punishment kept upheld by the highest court of law?

In the civilian sector in Bangladesh both print and electronic media now enjoy the highest esteem. Journalists in our society are deemed most respectful, and also powerful. A traffic police constable on duty doesn't care much if a car carrying a justice with a supreme court ensign fluttering passes by; but he becomes frantic to help a car pass by if there is a genuine (or fake) sticker with the word "Shangbadik" pasted on the car's windowpane.

Media hold the absolute power to mould our public opinion. But buoyed by power, prestige, and respect not all journalists do really exhibit a measure of humility people expect from a commanding person. Excessive power and prestige seem to have corrupted a few of our pressmen, if not many, when we find some of them frequenting corridors of power not for any journalistic pursuit but for lobbying for something else.

Absolute power seems to have corrupted some of them quite absolutely when we find their strokes of pen painting something absolutely white into a diametrically opposite thing absolutely black. We cannot expect a fair guardianship from these errant pressmen.

English historian and moralist Lord Acton rightly said: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Paraphrasing Lord Acton another English politician William Pitt said: "Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it."

Mass media may become deadlier than street terrorists if media people launch intellectual viral attacks on the readers and viewers. Intellectual viruses are not legible in print media nor are they visible in electronic media. There are a hundred and one ways intellectual viruses may be unleashed by media to penetrate into cerebrums of gullible readers and viewers. General masses who are deeply wedded to their traditional ways of believing what they see in prints and in videos will never realize how the media barons-or in other words the intellectual terrorists---using their super-fast digital methodology have impregnated into their minds seeds of falsity.

There is in fact no effective organisation in our country which can really whip a journalist if s/he deviates from his/her ideal pathway.

Neither are many very brave people in our society who can pluck enough courage to fight with a journalist in a court of law. Nor are there smart intellectuals in our society who are endeavouring to devise out an effective intellectual antivirus pill that we the gullible readers and viewers can gulp before unfurling a newspaper or tuning in to a television channel.

Tragically 99 percent of the so-called literate people, who can simply read a newspaper, and 90 percent of the educated people, who got some college or university degrees, are simpletons; they believe what is printed on a newspaper and they trust all the words heard in a television talk-show that is intelligently organized with two sets of people expressing views from two opposing platforms. They can't imagine that intellectuals participating in a talk-show and pressmen conducting those shows may also be critically biased. These simpletons, who are sometimes ridiculed as clods or dolts, can easily be tricked by any biased journalism if the media guy or any big brother behind the screen is smart.

"Taakey chokhey dekhini, taar baashi shonesi" (I haven't seen him yet; I have only heard the tone of the flutist) is the opening line of a Tagore song which is true to describe a simpleton's conviction about a fact he develops through rumors or hearsays. But when he reads about the same hearsays on the front page of a popular newspaper or when he views the same story in a television channel his perceived conviction is permanently cemented; he will never know the real fact if the story were rumor-based and if the story is later proven fabricated in a court of law or in a subsequent television talk-show. He may not notice the correction if the story is regretted through a corrigendum printed in very small fonts and in a very remote corner on an inner page of the newspaper that first flashed the story in bold fonts on its front page under a banner headline.

God saved that most of our journalists are honest in discharging their professional duties though I am not pretty sure whether at this moment I am eulogizing their intellectual honesty out of fear or with a view to flattering them as I am soliciting their kind consideration to publish in their esteemed newspapers this write-up ventilating my reservations against some of their colleagues.

But it is a fact that before sending a write-up to a particular newspaper a writer has to modulate his article in accordance with what political philosophy the newspaper subscribes to. Very famous newspapers of our country may not publish your words if you are extraordinarily brave to 'call a spade a spade'; but the same newspapers will splash their prime pages with your ideas that tune in to their philosophy even if you prevaricate and 'call a shovel an e-tool'.

Disarm Israel to stop terrorism

Dr.Abdul Ruff

West inspired and controlled contemporary world has carefully generated a lot of their media agents to defame Islam, propagate Israeli fascism, terrorism and genocide strategies and criticise and oppose those who defend Muslims. The whole excericise is to promote glboal fascism-cumstate terriorism. But what is tragic for humanity - and not just for Islam- is the fact some Muslim names are also utilized by the anti-Islamic agencies to slam Islam and insult Muslims and promote the torture of Muslims globally. It is also possible this nasty network of global fanatics have also roped in a few Muslim miscreants on payment basis to do their job equally "efficiently".

Paid agents belong to one special category of suspected fascists. USA, Israel and India also have so many of them to their credit. Taking the anti-Islamic terrorist trends set by the USA, fascist countries like Israel and India have killed and tortured Muslims in their vicinities. As per a plan by both USA and Israel, the Jewish terroirst shave invaded Gaza once again and killed as many Mulims as they oculd with suppport form western powers and their media.

It was not immediately clear whether Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, against whom Israel fought a 2006 war or the Palestinians, fired the rockets into Israel (so as to end Israeli terrism in Gaza) in an attack that presented a new challenge to Israeli terrorists waging a 13-day-old Gaza campaign, but now the Jewish state is worried and Israel and Lebanon trade fire. However, not reveal its wickedness and weakness to the world, Israel has launched shells into Lebanon in response to rockets fired into its territory. Israel aimed "a pinpoint response at the source of fire" in Lebanon. An Israeli security source said Israel had fired five artillery shells.

The Lebanese action took the Israeli terror forces by shock. Israel aided by powerful global terrorist nations like USA is attacking and killing innocent Palestinians in Gaza and the Gazans are not as well equipped as Israeli terrorists are. Hence the Islamic world should assist the Hamas with necessary weapons and other goods so that Israeli terrorists don't kill more Palestinians and occupy their lands. Rice who blamed Hamas for Israeli terrorism, met into the night with counterparts from key Arab and European nations over the Security Council's next step. Israeli representatives were expected to arrive in Cairo on Thursday for Egyptian-brokered talks on a cease-fire proposal after the U.N. Security Council failed to agree on action to end the escalating crisis in Gaza. Egypt's top diplomats said Wednesday that the "technical" talks would be held separately with representatives of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on the Egyptian-French cease-fire initiative.

It is believed the attack is linked to Israel's 13-day-old offensive against Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip, presenting a new challenge to Israeli leaders. The four rockets fired from Lebanon hit the Israeli resort town of Nahariya and three other locations, wounding two people, Israeli police and medics said.. It was not clear whether Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas - against whom Israel fought a war in 2006 - or Palestinians fired the rockets. Israeli forces have been on high alert in the north fearing that Hezbollah could send rocket salvoes into northern Israel as they did in the 2006 conflict and lend support to Hamas and the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million inhabitants.

Israeli officials were noncommittal on the truce or peace plan because they want to occupy the lands of Palestinians. A Hamas representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said only that the group was considering the proposal, along with other ideas presented by Turkey and by Arab states. Arab ministers said one reason they are pushing for a Security Council resolution is Israel's refusal to give outright support the Egyptian-French initiative. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the 22-nation organization didn't want "a statement to express views, but a decision on a resolution that calls for a cease-fire that has the weight of the Security Council."

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes have continued to bomb targets across the Gaza Strip and tanks have advanced on Palestinian guerrillas. Residents in Gaza described the overnight bombardments to the east of the city as among the heaviest in the offensive. In the south of the territory a column of tanks has advanced closer to the town of Khan Younis, witnesses said. It was the first break in the nearly two-week offensive in which medics say 658 Palestinians have been, officially, killed, although the number exceeds 3000 with several more seriously wounded. At least 20 people were killed on Wednesday, including three children in an air strike on a car.

Talks to end the bloodshed are taking place later between Israelis, Palestinians and other Arab leaders in Egypt. Although Israel pressed on with the offensive, it said it accepted the "principles" of a European-Egyptian ceasefire proposal. And US backing for a truce proposal raised expectations of an end to the offensive. "We believe a ceasefire is necessary," said US Secretary of State Rice. US Secretary of State for a few more days, Condoleezza Rice applauded the Egyptian-French cease-fire proposal and said she had talked with both the Israelis and Arab envoys about "the importance of moving that initiative forward." Egypt will be asking Israel and Hamas for a temporary cease-fire "that would lead to a consolidated permanent cease-fire." Then, he said, negotiations would take place with the European Union and the Palestinian Authority, which lost control of Gaza, on how to open the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian-Gaza border. Arab ministers said one reason they are pushing for a Security Council resolution is Israel's refusal to give outright support the Egyptian-French initiative.

Israel has been pounding the Palestinian territories as their wont because of the encouragement and support it receives form US-led nations and anti-Islamic media smear campaign against Islam. As a weapons depot in the Mideast for supply for the developing world, including India, Israel plays important destructive role in the region. Close terror associates with hidden agendas in Mideast, Israel and the USA are demanding that border monitors destroy tunnels that Hamas has used to smuggle arms into Gaza from Egypt. But before that Israel should be totally disarmed and each and every weapon it has amzed over decades should be destroyed from there.

Even with small amount of arms Israel Hamas is fearied by Israel and so if Gaza is reinforced with more sophisticated arms form Islamic nations, Israeli terrorists would flee Palestine and vacate the stolen lands of Palestinians and so the divided Palestinian groups will come together to form a unity government. Israel should be made to realize the explosive situation it would create in the region by continuing its destructive air-cum-ground strikes. State terrorism is worse than non-state ones.