Interview with the Ambassador of Bangladesh

Interview with the Ambassador of Bangladesh

Bangladeshi Ambassador to Indonesia Dr. M. Afsarul Qader sat
down with The Jakarta Post to discuss his country's bilateral
relations with Indonesia as Bangladesh marks the 28th anniversary
of its National and Independence Day.

JP: Please trace the history of relations between Bangladesh
and Indonesia.

Ambassador Qader: The Indonesian people and government have
always shown great sensitivity and deep understanding to the
aspirations and suffering of the people of Bangladesh, right from
the beginning of our liberation struggle. A concrete example was
the prompt recognition of Bangladesh as a distinct country on
December 20, 1971, four days after our country was physically
liberated on December 16, 1971. While celebrating our 28th
anniversary of National and Independence Day on the friendly soil
of Indonesia, we recall that event with special appreciation and
a sense of gratitude. That was the beginning of the formal
relationship between our nations.

JP: Much has changed in Indonesia in the past year. In what ways
has this affected Bangladesh's relationship with the Indonesian
government and people?

Ambassador Qader: Our histories as South Asian and Southeast
Asian nations go back deep into the past. Separately, we almost
followed and went through similar phases of political and
religiocultural experience. Like Indonesians, Bangladeshis have
past connections first to Hinduism, then Buddhism and followed by
Islamic civilizations. In this century, like Indonesians, we fought
hard for our freedom and liberty to overcome centuries of colonial
rule.

Today, Bangladesh is the third largest Muslim country with a
very strong sense of interreligious culture. Bangladesh and
Indonesia enjoy a cordial and flourishing relationship based on
historical bonds and shared views on international issues. As
active members of the Non-Aligned Movement, G-77, OIC, D-8 and
the United Nations, together we look forward to a future of rapid
socioeconomic development in a world which acknowledges common
but differentiated responsibilities for its members to deal with
attendant problems.

JP: Are there concrete ways Bangladesh and Indonesia are working
together in overcoming the economic crisis?

Ambassador Qader: Based on these historic commonalities and
shared experiences of anticolonial struggle and suffering,
Bangladesh and Indonesia, within the limits of their respective
capacities, are collaborating and cooperating whenever possible in
the fields of exchange of ideas, skills and know-how in our quest
for modernization and economic development with a human face.

Our leaders are maintaining close personal contacts and our
field workers, officials and leaders are learning from Indonesia
through its successful experiences in areas such as population
control. We, in turn, share our innovativeness on poverty
alleviation through the microcredit program pioneered by the
Grameen Bank of Prof. Yunus.

This has also helped us to empower women and remove gender
discrimination and backwardness. Being primarily an agrarian
country, we are taking concrete steps in putting the integrated
rural development concept into practical schemes.

The recent economic and financial difficulties faced by
Indonesians recently convinced Bangladeshis to assist the
friendly people and country of Indonesia in any manner possible
to us and also to learn from the Indonesian experience. Although
there is a huge gap in favor of Indonesia in trade with
Bangladesh, we are even buying more and selling less to
Indonesia. We would like to see Indonesia recover from the
financial trauma speedily. And after the respective chambers of
the two countries signed a cooperation agreement in September
1997, we hope we can all sit down and put the entire commercial
relationship on a broader and more sustainable basis for mutual
benefit.

Aside from cooperation in economic, social and trade sectors,
the two countries need to cooperate in cultural and educational
fields as this will help foster genuine people-to-people
cooperation. So far, resource constraints and different
linguistic backgrounds have not allowed us to develop a
satisfactory pace and level of cooperation, but we are optimistic
that these road bumps can be smoothened out sooner rather than
later.

And Bangladesh's transition only a decade ago from an
authoritarian form of government to a democratic system with a
completely free press and strong independent judiciary may come
handy as a recent case history for other countries in a similar
situation. As Bangladesh's Ambassador to Indonesia, I feel
privileged to witness the historic transition of this largest
Muslim nation into a genuine democracy. I wish it all success.

The 120 million people of Bangladesh have an abiding sense of
hope and faith in the ability and capacity of 200 million
Indonesians for speedy renewal of their country, and in
overcoming all adversity they may encounter in their legitimate
quest for a due role under the sun. May God help us all!