Time to act
Since its birth in 1971 Bangladesh has passed through many a tumultuous year to reach today's stage where we are set to see a “reasonably free and fair “election”. I say this because the main data from which the voters exercise their right of franchise--the voter list-- is for the first time a “genuine” one. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the personnel of the armed forces and the Election Commission and their focused approach.
If we recall, in 1970, the per capita income of Bangladesh and Korea was at par, down the road after a gap of 38 years the per capita income of Bangladesh rose but not 20,000 times as that of Korea, which now ranks as a developed country. This big disparity is mainly attributed to the activities of the politicians which obviously is credible but the general public (us) should also be blamed for such a state of affairs.
It is a common perception that to be a developed country it needs time but this is not correct as we can see from the examples of Egypt and India which are more than 2,000 years old. Countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand are only 150 years old and can boast to be rich and developed. The other perception of a developed country is to have available natural resources which could be exploited; this again is also another fallacy- if we look at Japan which has only a tiny piece of land with mountainous demography which is not suitable for any kind of use like agriculture but yet it is the second strongest economy in the world the way they achieved that was being ingenious about methods of manufacturing where they imported raw materials and exported top quality manufactured goods. The other example is Switzerland where they don't grow cocoa but are the best chocolate manufacturers and exporters.
Moving on to the quality of human resources we notice that the executives from developed countries who interact with their counterparts coming from non developed/poor countries do not have significant intellectual difference and race and colour are also not a factor as has been illustrated by the millions of immigrants who have migrated and enriched their host countries with wealth by serving in those countries- this then brings us to the fundamental question of “What is the difference then”?
The difference is the ATTITUDE of the people, framed along the years by education and culture. If we analyse the behaviour of the people in rich and developed countries we find that the great majority follow the following principles in their lives: 1. Ethics as a basic principle.
2. Integrity.
3. Patriotism.
4. Responsibility.
5.Respect for the law/rules framed by the state.
6. Respect for the rights of the other citizens.
In Bangladesh and similar under-developed countries only a minority follows the above principles in their daily lives and the overall impact is therefore very negligible. Hence, we are still struggling as an under developed country. So, if we are patriotic and love our country let us reflect about this and take a solemn oath to CHANGE AND ACT.
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