Now Is the Time to Recognise Citizens’ National Contributions
Bangladesh stands today at an important turning point of development. We are opening new doors in the economy, infrastructure, education, technology, human resources, diplomacy and international cooperation. Yet one basic question still shakes our conscience. Does the state truly know its silent patriots? Some people have worked for the country for decades without political fame, publicity or hope of personal gain. Does the state have any lasting system to identify, verify, assess and keep their contributions?
This question does not belong to one person. It is about a nation’s identity, its thinking about the state and the way it builds its future. A mature state does not only keep the history of presidents, prime ministers, judges, generals, ministers and famous people. It also keeps the life struggles and work of silent people. The nation moves forward on their labour, honesty, knowledge and sacrifice.
A teacher can shape the future of thousands of students. A doctor in a remote area can save countless lives. A researcher can open the door to new knowledge. An agricultural scientist can strengthen the base of food security. An engineer can help build the country’s infrastructure. A language teacher can open international job chances for thousands of young people. A retired government officer can still serve the state with his experience, knowledge and time. The contribution of each of them is a national asset.
The reality, however, is that many such valuable contributions slowly fade from memory. The state has still not built one joint system to search for, study, verify, assess and keep them as national records. So I humbly propose that Bangladesh form an independent, neutral and professional body. It would be called the National Citizens Contribution Review Board (NCCRB), or in Bangla, the Jatiya Nagorik Obodan Mulyayon Board.
The aim of this board is not to reward any person or give any special benefit. Its goal is to assess, study, document and keep the long term, silent and extraordinary contributions of citizens in many fields. It would do so on the basis of facts and proof, and keep them as part of the national memory. This idea is not for any person, family, institution or profession. It is for Bangladesh. A state that learns to know its silent builders can give the strongest inspiration to future generations.
A policy proposal becomes meaningful only when real experience supports it. So at this point I share some experiences from my own life. This is not self praise. It reflects a larger national reality.
I am a retired officer of the Bangladesh Army. I had the good fortune to serve the country for 25 long years. I held many important duties, and I was part of an institution where discipline, honesty, responsibility and patriotism are daily practice, not just words. After retirement, I saw two paths before me. One was to stay busy with my personal life. The other was to start serving the country anew as an ordinary citizen. I chose the second path.
I understand that in the world of the 21st century, language, knowledge, skills and international contact are the base of a country’s human resource growth. With this understanding, I have tried for many years to stay busy with Chinese language teaching and Bangladesh China relations. I have also worked on research, writing, seminars, human resource development and job skills for young people.
Thousands of students have learned Chinese and found jobs, business, higher studies and international careers. The full credit for this success goes to their own hard work, talent and effort. I only played a small part in their journey as a teacher, and that is my reward.
I have also tried to research and write about the tourism potential of Bangladesh. I have joined policy talks on different sides of Bangladesh China relations. I have worked on social development and rural welfare through personal effort. In my own village, I set up a welfare trust that gives loans without interest. I also opened a library and started education based social projects, and all this came from the same belief.
On this long journey, I never took any government grant. I never took any personal money benefit from a foreign agency or any Chinese institution. I taught Chinese as a teacher and took normal fees from students. But for the extra time, labour, research and social work I gave to the country, I never expected any personal gain.
In my career, I also served as an interpreter at many levels for Bangladesh China relations. I worked as an interpreter at several programmes of former Prime Minister Ms. Khaleda Zia. She personally encouraged me to become better at Chinese and to study China in depth. That encouragement still drives my research, study and work today.
Still, the most important lesson from my personal experience lies elsewhere. I have seen that many people in our country do extraordinary work in silence. Some work in education, some in health, some in agriculture, some in research, some in culture, some in technology and some in international relations. But we have no organised system to learn about their work, verify it or keep it as a national record.
This experience led me to one more realisation. Many retired military and civil officers in Bangladesh still make important contributions after retirement. They work in education, research, social welfare, human resource development, the environment, health care and international cooperation. But the country has still not built a national structure to assess, study and record their lives and work in a steady way.
My own family also helped me understand this reality more deeply. In our family, serving the state was never just a job. It was a value. Five brothers from the same family served for a long time in all three forces of Bangladesh, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. Four more members of the second generation now serve in the Bangladesh Army. So nine members of one family have had the rare chance to serve in the armed forces at different times.
I do not mention this to claim any special honour. I want to say that many other families in Bangladesh have given generations to the service of the state. Their contributions also deserve study, assessment and a place in the national memory.
I firmly believe that no person or family has the right to give the final opinion on their own contribution. That duty belongs to the state, researchers, historians and society. So I never want my contribution, or anyone else’s, to be accepted on personal claim. If there is an assessment, it should come through an independent, neutral, professional and evidence based process.
This belief led me to put forward a larger national proposal. The institution would assess contribution, not the person. It would look at impact, not identity, and follow truth and proof, not publicity. The NCCRB I propose is not a board that gives awards. It is not a political or administrative recommending body either. It would be an independent, neutral, research based and evidence based national body. Its only aim would be to assess the work of silent but extraordinary citizens of Bangladesh, document it and keep it for future generations.
The history of a state is not only a history of political events, elections, wars or building works. The true history of a state is written by the labour, knowledge, honesty and sacrifice of people who enrich society and the state in silence for a long time. But the work of many of them never enters the national records. So a priceless national asset fades with time. With this in mind, I believe the time has come to set up a lasting, independent and lawful national institution in Bangladesh.
The main tasks of the board would be as follows. It would identify long term and public welfare contributions of citizens in many fields. It would verify facts and proof on its own. It would prepare research based assessment reports and keep valuable contributions in a national archive. It would also build records of lives and work worth following for future generations. And it would give policymakers, researchers, educational institutions and the state a reliable store of information.
To win public trust, the board must be varied, independent and balanced in its skills. A retired judge or a representative named by the judiciary could serve as chair. Other members could include a senior government representative and one representative each from the Army, Navy and Air Force. They could also include a noted university teacher or researcher, a well known historian or archive expert, and an editor or senior journalist of a national daily. A public administration or good governance expert, an accepted representative of civil society, subject experts when needed and other staff as required could also join. This kind of wide representation would protect the board’s neutrality and acceptance.
The only basis of assessment would be a person’s real, verifiable and long term contribution. Identity, popularity, political belief, rank or social influence would play no part. The board could look at government and institutional papers, published books, research and articles, and reliable news reports. It could also consider the views of the institutions concerned, direct witness accounts, and the real and measurable impact of the work on society. It could weigh steady effort, honesty and service to the public interest. The board could also hold the power to inquire in the field, take expert views and verify facts on its own.
The most important feature of this board would be that it is not for any one profession or class. Teachers, doctors, researchers, agricultural scientists, engineers, judges, journalists, artists, writers, government officers and diplomats could come under assessment. So could serving or retired members of the armed forces, entrepreneurs, social workers and any citizen whose long work has made a good and lasting impact on society. Here, contribution would be the only identity.
One of the key tasks of the NCCRB could be to build a National Citizens Contribution Archive. The archive could hold assessment reports, short histories of lives and work, and papers useful for research. It could also keep interviews, publications, key documents and studies of the social impact of each contribution. In future, it could become a valuable national asset for universities, research bodies, military training institutions, cadet colleges, public administration training institutes and policymaking.
About the author: He holds a degree in Chinese from Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), China. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Professional Languages (IPL) of Bangladesh Maritime University. He is also General Secretary of We Speak Chinese Club Bangladesh Limited (WSCCBL) and Founder and Chief Instructor of Zhong Meng Chinese Academy (ZMCA). He researches Chinese language teaching, Bangladesh China relations and human resource development, and has written several books on basic Chinese.
