DHAKA, Bangladesh, Jan 8 (IPS) – As many of you know, I have been called in out of the blue to help the interim government led by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus stabilize the economy that is in ruins under the fallen autocratic-kleptocratic regime that looted the banks, stole public money and robbed small investors in the capital market to siphon billions of dollars out of the country. I had never served in government; nor did I ever expect this opportunity. However, my UN experience and insight into political economy have come in handy.
As I look back on the year we have just had, I trust that things have gone well for you as we wished each other the best of health and spirit at the beginning of 2025. Unfortunately, despite our sincere wishes, the world was not peaceful in 2025.
Hope and global disorder
The hope for justice for the Palestinians was briefly born when European powers, including Australia (a European settler colony) were forced to recognize the Palestinian state, and the narcissist Trump pushed for some peace in both Ukraine and Gaza in his mad desperation for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Yet Gaza continues to be bombarded with Israel’s genocidal intent, making fun of Trump’s insane rhetorical claim that he would “achieve peace in the Middle East for the first time in 3,000 years,” and the illegal occupation of the West Bank, along with settler violence, continues unabated with full immunity for blatant violations of international law.
Narcissist Trump has sanctioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in his desperate bid to save Israeli war criminals, including Benjamin Netanyahu, and justify Israel’s genocide and settler violence. Trump undermined his attack on the rules-based order with an arbitrary so-called “reciprocal tariff.”
Bangladesh
As far as post-fascist Hasina Bangladesh is concerned, the year 2025 started with high expectations. And as for me, the year 2025 was extraordinary.
Today I am pleased to say that we have averted a full-blown crisis. Many thanks to our ‘remittance fighters’ who had full confidence in the various reform initiatives of the interim government. Expatriates from Bangladesh sent a record $30.04 billion in remittances in the 2024-25 fiscal year, the highest amount ever received in a single fiscal year in the country’s history. Foreign exchange reserves rose to $33 billion, reaching a three-year high as remittances surpassed $3 billion in December. You can have one report card by Finance Advisor, Dr. Salehuddin and myself, published in the Daily Star on August 18, 2025.
Of course, not everything has been rosy. The long-awaited systemic transition remains full of uncertainty. I see systemic transition as the process of total transformation from a caterpillar into a cocoon. We still don’t know whether the ‘caterpillar in the cocoon’ will become a butterfly or a moth. People are genuinely concerned that the systemic transition opportunities of the past have been wasted.
Personally, I found roadblocks at every turn. Bureaucratic inertia and resistance have frustrated my efforts for real reform. It was a real-life experience of the classic British political satire ‘Yes, Minister’. Like Sir Humphrey Appleby, bureaucrats will outwardly display extraordinary humility but will politely defy the rules of business. Bureaucratic resistance is the main stumbling block to achieving coordination, coherence and integration in policy making and implementation, causing wasteful duplication, inefficiency and lack of effectiveness.
Still, I have had some success. One of these is the agreement to expand the Bangladesh National Cadet Corps voluntary program to ALL youth (18 years) between the ages of 10 and 12, so that we can have a disciplined workforce that can be deployed immediately during any national emergency. Needless to say, this is absolutely necessary to realize a demographic dividend. We hope to roll out the program from July 2026, on the occasion of the anniversary of the July Revolution.
Despite frustrations and uncertainties, I am hopeful because I can see a seismic shift in the country’s political dynamics. This coincides with the demographic shift – young people (15-30 years) represent almost 30% of the population. These young people have a different political vocabulary; they want justice, inclusivity, self-respect and dignity – they are fiercely nationalistic.
The recently tortured Hadi is their embodiment. The establishment is understandably threatened and tries to silence the youth by killing Hadi; But they failed to extinguish the flame. Instead, everyone has become a Hadi, remaining steadfast in their commitment to carrying out Hadi’s mission: building a just nation where citizens can live with dignity, free from fear, subjugation and oppression. Hadi rebuilt our national conscience Insaf: justice, dignity and fairness, not as rhetorical slogans, but as non-negotiable ethical foundations of the state and society.
In an age of moral drift, Hadi reminded the nation that no political order can survive without justice at its core. He instilled a generation with civic courage and moral responsibility. Free from fear, patronage or transactional politics, young people saw in Hadi a new model of leadership: ethical, principled and responsible. In doing so, he reshaped the future political character of Bangladesh and shifted national thinking beyond entrenched power structures to people-centered, principled governance. He challenged the inevitability of corruption and coercion, emphasizing instead that politics could be reclaimed as a moral calling. His life poses an enduring question to those who seek power: Do you want to serve justice, or merely rule?
Let me conclude this year-end message with my personal tribute to Khaleda Zia, who recently passed away after a long illness imposed on her by the vengeful Hasina regime, during which she was wrongly convicted and imprisoned in a substandard cell. Like her husband, Shaheed President Zia, she was plunged into the vortex of history. They never sought power; but when the responsibility fell on their shoulders, they discharged their duties towards the nation wholeheartedly and unselfishly; Thus they became a true statesman (woman), winning the hearts and minds of their people.
Perhaps Khaleda Zia’s most lasting legacy lies in her extraordinary restraint and dignified character, even in the face of severe and prolonged adversity. Her self-control, rooted in grace rather than weakness, set her apart from many of her contemporaries and offers a powerful lesson for today’s often abrasive and confrontational political culture.
Kind regards and best wishes for the new year
IPS UN Office
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