The lack of honesty and integrity is hurting our nation. Bangladesh would have a stronger economy if we minimised corruption and became more honest. We could then increase our foreign investment. We could reach double digit GDP growth in five years.
It is not just the government’s responsibility, as citizens we have to play a role too. Integrity and honesty are essential principals for a nation’s economic and moral growth. Corruption, dishonesty, and lack of integrity not only lie within the government, they are also part of private sectors, and universities.
Integrity means wholeness, from being honest and truthful to oneself, to greater consistency of character. According to Transparency International, corruption in Bangladesh is a continuing problem, and we ranked as the most corrupt country in the year 2005.
Bangladesh ranked 120 and 144 in the years 2011 and 2012 respectively. When a foreign investor wants to invest in Bangladesh and looks at these numbers, think for a moment what goes through his or her mind. Do they get encouraged to invest in Bangladesh after looking at these numbers? I don’t think so. Some foreign investors are still investing here, and that can increase if the nation keeps corruption under control.
Why don’t we stop and think for a moment and ask ourselves where this vicious cycle is taking us. What are we leaving behind for our future generation? Is peer pressure forcing us to choose the wrong path? Our greed is stronger than our values.
Our country has tremendous potential, but we are not fully capitalising on it. We have a hard-working labour force. Our RMG sector is making a mark worldwide. After the Rana Plaza and Tazreen Garments incidents, this industry has been under tremendous pressure from around the world.
Rana Plaza was one of the biggest industrial disasters of the world. Because of labour and compliance issues, the RMG sector will have a bumpy ride ahead. These incidents should have taught us a lesson but I think it didn’t. It showed us again that we are very short-sighted, and we tend to want to become rich overnight.
Because of these incidents, our RMG sector is under pressure to increase the minimum wage. In the current situation, business owners have to be very cautious. They are responsible for a huge labour force under one roof. But they are probably thinking the opposite. They do not even think their poor decisions may cost so many lives. This disaster has been under scrutiny from European, and American buyers. Currently this sector is bringing in a huge amount of foreign currency every year, and creating jobs for so many people.
It is human nature to want to become rich overnight when we smell money. We tend to forget that higher investment yields higher returns. If something takes more money, time, and proper planning, it will last longer and yield more returns in the long run. It will ensure safety and security for others and earn everlasting good will for the organisation.
I cannot resist sharing a personal story here. Several months ago, I lost my pen drive and I thought I dropped it somewhere at work. A few weeks after losing the pen drive I got an email asking: “Did you lose your pen drive?”
As usual my pen drive had important data on it, so I replied right away with my phone number but didn’t get any reply for a few weeks. One fine evening, I got a phone call from an unknown number and at the beginning I was hesitant to answer the call. A few days after that phone call my pen drive was sent to me in an envelope with a business card in it. I was very happy to see that there were still honest and ethical people around in Bangladesh.
The person who found my pen drive found it on a rickshaw he was riding. He had a computer at home, but it was not working so he had to go to his aunt’s house to use their computer and find my email address from my pen drive to locate me.
That’s why it took him a while to call me back after I emailed him. I thank him for going through all the trouble to return my pen drive. The person who went through all this trouble is a 14-year-old boy name Rifat.
I hope one day individuals like Rifat will become leaders of our country in the political and business arena. Their honesty and integrity will make us proud, and they won’t just accept the corrupt system, they will change the system for the better. You might say that I am too optimistic, but I would call myself positive, because I know like you do too, that there are more Rifats throughout our nation. All we have to do is find and nurture them.