"For a country of 150 million people, what has Bangladesh really offered to the world?” a European friend of mine commented recently at a dinner party in Berlin. I felt my face flush as I struggled to find a good retort, but nothing I could think of seemed adequate.
This is not the first time that I’ve come across such questions, although perhaps never as directly articulated. The people I count as my friends are well-traveled and worldly, and a lot of them work in international development, so it’s difficult to dismiss them as ignorant or uninformed.
The questions are not meant to offend either; rather, they come from the genuine incomprehension outsiders feel when considering Bangladesh, especially in the current context of South Asia.
At least from the outside, the trajectory of South Asia is upwards.
India is part of the BRICS, the emerging global powerhouses. It is the home of a booming high-tech industry. Yoga pilgrimages bring thousands from around the world there every year and Hollywood has been eyeing Bollywood with a lot of interest. Similarly, beautiful beaches and resorts put Sri Lanka and the Maldives at the top of many a globe-trotter’s list of desired destinations. Even Burma’s image is benefiting from recent political reforms, and people are now more likely to speak of the beautiful Buddhist temples and unspoiled natural beauty of the country, rather than the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Things look even better when the larger Asian context is considered. The story of economic boom in Southeast and East Asia is well known.
I have lived in Europe and North America for the last 15 years and my first trip back to Asia (Thailand) two years ago took my breath away. Walking down the streets of Bangkok, you can almost feel the engine of economic growth humming under the concrete jungle. This is particularly impressive when you consider the economic downturn in Europe and the United States.
However, when I visited Bangladesh on that same trip, it was a very different story. To outsiders, Bangladesh conjures up images of disasters, both natural and man-made. It is known for supplying the world with cheap, disposable fashion and for the terrible abuse of the people (mostly women) who make these clothes. To my dismay, I discovered that these impressions are largely rooted in reality.
I was taken aback by the poor state of the infrastructure: terrible traffic jams, regular power outages, lack of proper sewage facilities. These all of which seemed almost deliberately designed to shackle the productive powers of its citizens.
The obstacles in day-to-day life seemed too numerous to count and I wondered how anyone managed to get anything done. Bangladesh to me seemed like a country that was isolated, cut-off from the rest of the world, out of place in the narrative of Asian progress.
But of course, that’s not the whole story. In spite of the precarious political condition, I am told that the country has experienced solid, positive economic growth, and the trend continues upwards.
I was surprised by the amount of mobile phone usage among people of all socio-economic classes. The resilience of ordinary people is truly heroic.
I met exceptionally intelligent young people who were eager for a different future, for themselves and for the country. Thanks to the internet, they are much more aware of and connected to a globalised world than their elders. These people are starting to ask hard questions about why (and whether) they are doomed to be trapped by the mistakes and misfortunes of the past.
As a follower and fan of technology, I know that we live in a time of great possibility. Tools are available to us now that allow us to leverage small resources to do big things.
A computer, an internet connection and a good idea can transform societies, as we have already seen happen in many places around the world. We are now able, more than ever before, to draw from the innovative ideas and potential of large groups of people. In today’s world, an energetic, intelligent and passionate population is the greatest natural resource any country could hope to have.
This is precisely the reason that I decided to come back. I believe that Bangladesh is on the verge of a great transformation, led by a new generation of Bangladeshis who are not only knowledgable about the world, but also eager to make their own contribution to the global conversation.
They have much more to offer to the world than cheap labour. Their unique brand of ingenuity will create a new narrative for Bangladesh, as a place of entrepreneurship in innovation in technology, commerce, literature and the arts. I look forward to writing these stories.
Farzana Nawaz is a freelance contributor.
