There was a great picture this week of the nation’s media sitting on a lush green lawn at the feet of the former central bank governor, as he gave a press conference about his resignation.
“Don’t blame the scapegoat, I’m a good guy,” was the message.
And it seems that everyone, including the prime minister, has been rather impressed that such a prominent Bangladeshi official actually fell on his sword for the massive cyber heist of Bangladesh’s money from the New York Federal Reserve to casinos in the Philippines.
To be fair, most accounts say he had a generally good record, until, that is, he was caught out by the hackers, and dug a bigger hole by being slow to alert the government.
Even so, the atmosphere at the press briefing was quite the contrast to scenes in the Philippines senate this week -- a public hearing full of politicians and senior civil servants earnestly responding to press investigations and promising firm action to restore their country’s reputation.
Meanwhile. This is Bangladesh. We do things differently here.
Nobody is in the least bit surprised that investigators can easily point a lot of responsibility for negligence inside the doors of the Bangladesh Bank.
Or that our governments rarely see problems coming and can be slow to react after things go wrong.
All true enough.
But if we all have to live with Bangladesh’s international reputation for corruption and poor standards, the least that the government can do now is ask why the Fed wasn’t more careful then.
Or doesn’t duty of care apply even more when a customer has a poor reputation?
It’s a catch-22, I know.
Admit standards are low, and then you can’t complain if Bangladesh is put on a watch list, however offensive and unfair it is to the majority of law-abiding and hard-working people in the country.
Don’t admit it and the country may face the same consequences anyway, as we have seen in a different context, with the UK’s embargo on direct cargo flights because of Dhaka airport’s lax security. The same picture of problems being blissfully ignored, or actively swept under the carpet can be seen in many other areas.
Take the case of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover being built for left-hand driving because until a BUET team spotted the obvious error by the US consultant who designed it, nobody else apparently noticed or complained.
I can’t help asking: If any of the construction workers involved had spotted the problem, would they have been listened to? Sometimes, also, problems are not helped by a poor choice of priorities.
Authorities in Dhaka for instance, seem inordinately proud of the constant cycle of pavements being cleared of tea stalls, as if this will make the city cleaner, or ease the congestion caused by the dearth of good public transport.
You can say the problem is poor government or corruption.
But surely, there is a deeper and wider malaise caused by low expectations and acceptance of poor standards? People don’t demand or expect high standards enough. Or when they do, they don’t really believe they will be delivered. If part of the reason for this is poor management, a bigger cause must be the lack of aspiration and investment in training the nation’s workforce and improving public infrastructure.
Or maybe, when it comes to schools and hospitals, that the influential and wealthy are too at ease with going private or abroad?
Of course, it would be wrong to pretend there is a simple solution.
But the answer has to include aiming for best practice and high standards, doesn’t it?
We expect, or at least want, our cricket team to compete with the best, don’t we? And for our computers and phones to deliver the world to our fingertips.
Everybody deserves and wants the best international standards. It’s the reason why so many people are worried about the safety and environmental hazards posed by Rampal and Rooppur.
And after all, when the hackers stole the nation’s cash, they were looking for dollars.
