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Friday, April 4, 2008

[chottala.com] Ending Corruption: Towards a collaborative strategy


Ending Corruption: Towards a collaborative strategy

Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam*

          E-mail: goodgovernancebd@gmail.com

Corruption in its all shades and color is the illegal tool of accumulating illegal wealth depriving a person which creates inequality and social injustice. Corruption destroys social order, rule of law and all good governance efforts. Corruption and the corrupts are the enemies of the people and the society in any country. That is why fighting corruption and installing honesty is a pre condition for good governance for ensuring human rights, human dignity, equality and social justice and better business environment.

Holding the first position in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 5 consecutive years has tarnished the image of Bangladesh, and in such a situation majority of the citizens did not know what to do and how to start a fight against this man made tool of exploitation called corruption. Under the previous oppressive corrupt governance and social system conscious citizens attempted to raise voice against this evil through the media or different civil societies organizations. Today everybody including the Chairman Anti-Corruption Commission emphasizes on the reality of designing a collaborative strategy to limit this evil call corruption. The following nonviolent silent strategies may be used to curve down corrupt practices in every sector of Bangladesh.

 

Ending Corruption: Naming and shaming strategy

Naming and shaming can be a very effective tactic to eradicate corruption in any country. Even in developing countries, where corruption is accepted as a necessary evil, naming and shaming tactic has been effective in recent years.  In India, high profile cases uncovered and actively reported by the citizen action group have led to disgraceful dismissals of high level government officials and even criminal action against public figures. No such example has been set by the political governments in Bangladesh in the past.  But citizen action groups or the media demonstrated ability to generate outrage among the public that can be channeled productively to control and eradicate corruption. Nobody can undermine the role and power of media in the society for establishing good governance.

 

Ending Corruption: Creating awareness strategy among the Stakeholders

Everyday policy makers, professionals, business leaders, sociologist, economists and others independently generate amazing number of ideas and thoughts. The reasons that these ideas don't come to fruition is because like-minded reformers do seldom collaborate to bring changes.  There are a lot of international and domestic organizations, NGOs, government agencies, opinion leaders and others – that are all individually working on tackling corruption in a piece-meal fashion.  A more comprehensive approach to address corruption will be more fruitful.  Corruption can be marginalized if not eliminated if all stakeholders work together in a coordinated manner against corruption. 

Ideas and thoughts are ineffective if not put to actions. Unless what is thought is acted upon, such thought has no value.  What is important is the commitment of all the citizens – leaders of respective fields– to take on the challenge of ending corruption and to do one's own part to address it in a collaborative manner.  Corruption, as in all affairs in society may be viewed from the two sides: a demand side and a supply side.  The demand side can only be curbed by reforms of institutions, strengthened enforcement of law by a transparent judiciary.  As the owner of the country all citizens are affected by corruption everyday, and as such they should insist reforms of the legislative, executive and judicial organ of the country. The stake holders of a corruption free society should get united to raise voice against corruption to curve the supply side. Thus the citizens will have to participate in the battle against corruption and only moral support to the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) is not enough to eliminate corruption.

 

Ending Corruption: Creating awareness among the Civil Society

Citizens face potential corruption practically at every level and every sector of life. It could be the local police, T.N.T, electricity and water authority, Municipal Corporation or the tax department. Government alone cannot succeed in combating corruption without the active participation of civil society and citizen action groups. Civil society is in the best position to articulate the grievances of the citizen and highlight priorities of action on corruption to governments. Civil society can serve many important roles–as observer, critic, analyst, campaigner, or protestor. It can create public awareness against corruption and mobilize citizens to fight against corruption in ways that governments cannot. Civil society can also play a strong role to organize campaigns against corruption. Center For Good Governance is working with many civic organizations for capacity building of such organization.

 

Ending Corruption: Creating awareness among Chambers and Trade Bodies

As Civil society organizations, Citizens' action groups, NGOs, media, and Chambers–can play the largest role in improving governance both in the public and private sector.  Similarly Chambers can be more active by organizing seminars, workshops, round tables to generate awareness against corruption and unethical business practice. Chambers can establish anti corruption cell headed by a vice president with adequate funds to establish liaison with media, anti corruption commission (ACC) and other government agencies to combat corruption and protect its members from extortion and corrupt claims. Mega chambers should formulate code of conduct for their members and put pressure on the members for compliance.  Awareness regarding code of conduct for members of chambers would have trickle down effect on smaller business enterprises and so on. 

 

Ending Corruption: Creating awareness among Private Sector

The private sector can play a more active role in rooting out the supply side of corruption.  It is painful that most businessman and citizens looks at corrupt practice as a system.  According to unofficial estimates many business house just account for it on their books – as much as 10% – adding to the cost of doing business.  Business leaders as well as the government should take initiatives so that local and foreign investors can set up business enterprise and function in Bangladesh without resorting to corruption and extortion.  After 1/11/07 the present Anti corruption commission (ACC) visibly started a crusade against corruption which may be looked upon as a proactive move towards corruption free governance.

For eradicating corruptions the private sector must emphasize on internal controls and auditing mechanisms.  Corporate bodies and business houses needs to set clear and enforceable policies against corrupt or unethical business practices.  Business house need to periodically train middle and senior management on business ethics to ensure that standards are institutionalized throughout the organization.  Business houses should change their mind-set to prefer managers having comprehensive business education with emphasis on ethics.  Any business managers can not afford to be unaware of global ethical standards for doing business in Bangladesh.

 

Conclusion

In a developing country for good governance the fight against corruption is not easy. Bangladesh recently started drive against corruption. It is expected the present caretaker government, patriot citizens and other stakeholders will be able to address the most difficult challenge – fighting corruption. Corruption is a tremendous deterrent to good governance and development, and its burden falls heaviest on the shoulders of the poor people. An effective Anti-Corruption Commission – with strong political backing, can become a credible tool to deter corruption. All concerned should help the ACC to be fully operative. If Bangladesh wants to establish corruption free business friendly environment, wants to  become a country free of poverty and economically strong, where every citizen will enjoy his or her rights and a better quality life, ending corruption is the most important need. It is the responsibility of every stakeholder to respond to this need towards corruption free, transparent, participatory good governance ensuring equity and social justice.

No body will deny that, in Bangladesh the past governance mechanism was far less then satisfactory. Many issues and problems were the barriers to ensure good governance, equity and social justice.  Weak watchdog institutions corruption, political interference in administration, nepotism, misuse of power, absence of rule of law, non-accountable and non-transparent governments etc. are the common features of our governance which needs to be addressed on urgent basis.

 

 

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Author Syed Ahsanul Alam is an Associate Professor of marketing at the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh and Chairman, Center for Good Governance. His recent administrative post includes vice rector IIBT (Premier University), Director, Sadharon Bima Corp., Treasurer. USTC (SWC), Representative of the President,USTC.He lactured widely at various business schools including University of Science and Technology, Open University, ABAC Thailand and also in Singapore. Rotarian Syed Ahsanul Alam is a well known Academician, Institution Building Personality and Activist for Good Governance.The Author may be reached at  Fax : 880-31-2550872,

 E-mail: goodgovernancebd@gmail.com

 Web-site: www.goodgovernancebd.org

 


--- On Fri, 4/4/08, mahathir of bd <wouldbemahathirofbd@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: mahathir of bd <wouldbemahathirofbd@yahoo.com>
Subject: [chottala.com] For everydeath
To: tritiomatra@yahoogroups.com, chottala@yahoogroups.com, khabor@yahoogroups.com, diagnose@yahoogroups.com, notun_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com, vinnomot@yahoogroups.com, alochona@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, 4 April, 2008, 10:39 PM

দ্রব্যমূল্যের ঊর্ধ্বগতি : কয়েকটি মৃত্যু এবং ঘুরপাক খাওয়া প্রশ্ন
 
 
অনাহারে প্রতিটি মৃত্যূর জন্য ফখরুদ্দিন আর মঈনের বিরুদ্ধে একটি করে খুনের মামলা করতে হবে ।




কারণ সিডর আর বন্যার কথা মাথায় রেখেও বলা যায়, তাদের অদক্ষতা,অযোগ্যতা ,অব্যবস্হাপনা আর বাড়াবাড়ির জন্যই( অবৈধভাবে ক্ষমতা আকঁড়ে থাকা) দেশ আজ দুর্ভিক্ষের মুখোমুখি ।


Is this CTG better than Ershad  in case of political party reform and anti corruption drive and dealings with teachers and Students ?
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ------
Sobhan Allah-  Only Allah flawless 
           Alhamdulillah - All praise to be of Allah 
                   Allah hu Akbar - Allah, the Greatest
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------Would Be Mahathir of BD
 


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Re: [chottala.com] For everydeath

For controlling market price CTG needs to taking action against the nonsense works & to increase production by utilizing the man power for doing productive acrtivities & also needs to control the money circulation & money inflation in the market by taking action for supply demand ratio.

mahathir of bd <wouldbemahathirofbd@yahoo.com> wrote:
দ্রব্যমূল্যের ঊর্ধ্বগতি : কয়েকটি মৃত্যু এবং ঘুরপাক খাওয়া প্রশ্ন
 
 
অনাহারে প্রতিটি মৃত্যূর জন্য ফখরুদ্দিন আর মঈনের বিরুদ্ধে একটি করে খুনের মামলা করতে হবে ।




কারণ সিডর আর বন্যার কথা মাথায় রেখেও বলা যায়, তাদের অদক্ষতা,অযোগ্যতা ,অব্যবস্হাপনা আর বাড়াবাড়ির জন্যই( অবৈধভাবে ক্ষমতা আকঁড়ে থাকা) দেশ আজ দুর্ভিক্ষের মুখোমুখি ।


Is this CTG better than Ershad  in case of political party reform and anti corruption drive and dealings with teachers and Students ?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sobhan Allah-  Only Allah flawless 
           Alhamdulillah - All praise to be of Allah 
                   Allah hu Akbar - Allah, the Greatest
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Would Be Mahathir of BD
 

You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.

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[chottala.com] A lost opportunity that can be turnaround to benefit the economy

A lost opportunity that can be turnaround to benefit the economy
The government should solve the housing problem of the hard-working young couples. Its not rocket sciences, just average capability with goodwill is enough to turn things around.

Government wanted to use the growth of the housing sector to spur the economy. Unlike the developed world which is now spiraling down because of the sub-prime loans mostly in the housing sectors, the market in Bangladesh was mature to use this sector as a strategy to boost the domestic growth. To aid the market forces in the right direction, Bangladesh Bank created a 300 crores fund over three years to underwrite the long-term loans to the middle class. There was also promise to increase the funding if things go well. There were some conditions attached - which was probably too stringent resulting from being too focused on demand side but ignoring the readiness of the demand side. Our initial thought was that if BB relaxed some of the the stringent conditions, market could consume at least 1000 crore per year. However, with the stringent conditions, absorbing 100 crores should not be a problem - if the stakeholders play by the rules.

That was before the two floods, one Sidr, international food crisis that hit Bangladesh badly during 2007. With all these challenges, government did not have time to focus on one of the major projects that it initiated.

So, it exactly happened what is usually the case if the market is left with proper regulatory oversight.

The market forces (businessmen in control of the politics of yesterday) decided that its not the time for middle class Bangladeshis to become homeowners. So they did their job.

They changed the cost equation of building a house or an apartment. The nexus decided to push the prices of one of the major building material up; i.e. so the prices of rod that is absolutely necessary to build high-rise apartments went up. And this all happened without any significant changes in the international prices of the materials. Moreover, there have been newspaper reports of under-utilized capacity.

With that upward trend of rod, the hope for middle class Bangladeshis to become homeowners went down. So, did the governments goodwill gesture for the working class young couples whose household earning is less than 30,000 taka per month.

So far, this is all conspiracy theory. What the government can do? Or should the government do anything?

Government could do several things.

It could ignore this article and do nothing.

It could react hastily and take some more businessman into custody to examine whether the conspiracy theory is correct.

It could actually relax some of the restrictions (such as remove the salary cap and let the market players start at the top and go down sequentially) so that the real estate sector can grow within the high cost situation. At the same time, government should use this allegation of conspiracy (which happened during an emergency period and during a dire situation of the entire economy) as an opportunity to examine whether there were actually anything that could be proved in the court of law and also, if there is anything like that found, issue an arrest warrant from the court first before showing up to catch someone - thats a practice that law enforcement should get used to (It is not to say that the news of arrest warrant issuance has to be published in newspaper giving the alleged culprits a chance to flee!). The real investigators like to keep the alleged culprits out in the open for sometime, that often gives the investigators with evidence to move in.

If you thought some of the ideas are worth of your reading time, please forward it to others. If you have an ear to the columinsts in regular traditional media, please forward it to them. If you have an ear to the journalists and news editors of the electronic media, discuss it with them. Hope they would look at the suggestions and give due diligence. 
 
Thanks for your time,
Innovation Line
 
==============================
==============================

======================================
Note: This is a freelance column, published mainly in different internet based forums. This column is open for contribution by the members of new generation, sometimes referred to as Gen 71. If you identify yourself as someone from that age-group and want to contribute to this column, please feel free to contact. Thanks to the group moderator for publishing the article.
 
Dear readers, also, if you thought the article was important enough so it should come under attention of the head of the government please forward the message to them. Email address for the Chief Advisor: feeedback@pmo.gov.bd_ or at http://www.cao.gov.bd/feedback/comments.php . The more of you forward it to them, the less will be the need to go back to street agitation. Use ICT to practice democracy. It is already proven that this government responds to the feedback.

You can also send it to Bangladesh Bank at this email:  gm2combb@bangla.net_

Don't forget to send it to the NBR man himself (most important):    bdnbr@mail.com_

And to the Ministry of Finance  info@mof.gov.bd_
OR
http://www.mof.gov.bd/contact/email.html
===================================================================================================

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[chottala.com] For everydeath

দ্রব্যমূল্যের ঊর্ধ্বগতি : কয়েকটি মৃত্যু এবং ঘুরপাক খাওয়া প্রশ্ন
 
 
অনাহারে প্রতিটি মৃত্যূর জন্য ফখরুদ্দিন আর মঈনের বিরুদ্ধে একটি করে খুনের মামলা করতে হবে ।




কারণ সিডর আর বন্যার কথা মাথায় রেখেও বলা যায়, তাদের অদক্ষতা,অযোগ্যতা ,অব্যবস্হাপনা আর বাড়াবাড়ির জন্যই( অবৈধভাবে ক্ষমতা আকঁড়ে থাকা) দেশ আজ দুর্ভিক্ষের মুখোমুখি ।


Is this CTG better than Ershad  in case of political party reform and anti corruption drive and dealings with teachers and Students ?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sobhan Allah-  Only Allah flawless 
           Alhamdulillah - All praise to be of Allah 
                   Allah hu Akbar - Allah, the Greatest
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Would Be Mahathir of BD
 


You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. __._,_.___

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[chottala.com] SBIA Family Night (April 4, 2008)

SBIA FAMILY NIGHT
"My Family is at the Masjid"

You are cordially invited with your family and friends along with all the Community members to the monthly SBIA Family Night Educational & Social program and dinner as per the following:

Date:  April 4, 2008,  Friday, Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Downtown San Jose Masjid, 325 N. 3rd Street,  San Jose, CA 95112, USA.

SBIA website: www.sbia.info
 
AGENDA:
6:30 PM: Dinner, 7:40 PM: Magrib Prayer,
8:00 PM to 9:30 PM: Presentations. 9:30 PM: Isha Prayer.

 

 

PRESENTATIONS  DETAILS:
 

 

TOPIC – 1:

 

"Education Is a Human Right'

 

Speaker:  Khalil Demir

Director of Zakat Foundation

 

Abstract:  Millions of Children do not have access to education. We all agree that education is only way to develop a country and to change society toward better; How do we do that? You experience  example of Rumi International School Haripur, Pakistan and FuXing High School in China as two project of ZF.

 

 

TOPIC-2:  

 

Aging Muslims in our Community

 

Speaker:  Br. Sohail Akhter

 President, South Valley Islamic Community (San Martin, CA)

 

Abstract:  An estimated 33% of Muslims in America will reach their retirement age in the next 5-10 years. There are no planned retirement communities or skilled nursing care facilities to serve the needs of this fast growing segment of our community. The Cordoba Center is a proposed Master Planned project in the South Santa Clara County that effectively addresses the long term needs of this group.

 

=============================================================

 

Please attend this monthly SBIA Family Night program. You do not have to buy any tickets to attend this Community gathering, educational and social program and dinner. Donations are welcome. Please come to this program with your whole family including your spouse, children & friends, and have dinner & socialize with other community members. This SBIA Family Night program is held on the first Friday evening of every month. So, please mark your calendar ahead of time, and please make genuine efforts to attend. Contact person: Mahbub Khan, E-mail: mahbubkhan@ieee.org  E-mail: mahbubkhan35@hotmail.com Phone: 408-942-0256, SBIA website: www.sbia.info, Phone:408-947-9389. Please visit the SBIA Family Night Presentation Archives at: http://www.sbia.info/mambo/content/category/6/37/33/

==============================================================

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