Speechless in Dhaka
IT must be a thankless job to be a speechwriter, especially since you cannot claim credit for your work. In Bangladesh, you would probably not want to, especially if you are writing for the seasoned politicians. You are more likely to compose a document that you regret.
But look on the bright side: isn't it great that there is no pressure for words to inspire hope, reinstate faith in the political system, and endorse any commitment to lead us out of poverty?
We were fortunate to hear the long speeches from the leaders of the government and of the opposition as they addressed considerable crowds to mark May Day. It is incredible how similar their rhetoric sounds when you close your eyes and how cynical they are of each other's role in leading the nation. You cannot help but wonder if both the speechwriters went to the same school and sat next to each other, copying notes.
Dear leaders, if you want to win the war of words, get an informed writer with a bit of imagination and creativity. Someone who can divert us to pay attention to what you have to say rather than what the IPL scoreboard shows. Someone who helps you, at the very least, to not sound like a broken record, and assists you in using every public-speaking opportunity to your advantage.
Respectable prime minister, while I can understand your strong feelings against the opposition party, your tongue in cheek comments against them send wrong signals to the rest of your not so good-humoured team (read Bangladesh Chhatra League). Surely you are aware that they have used it in the past as a green signal to justify making the lives of the ordinary opposition politicians hell?
We all know it is easy to blame someone else, and harder to say: "The buck stops here with me." But wouldn't that show that you are taking responsibility of the future of this disadvantaged nation? Since you have the mandate of the people to lead the nation, your speechwriter needs to be mindful about unintentionally instigating a petty political war. The dignity of your office, esteemed leader, does not permit your language to be banal and sarcastic.
Honourable leader of the opposition, do you really think that employing a large number of government servants and driving the national budget into bankruptcy is a feasible strategy? Is it reasonable to expect that a four month-old government should be able to reduce the price of rice from forty taka to ten taka? I would like to believe that your speechwriter does and you really do not.
Also, is it really smart to blame the present government for the shortage of electricity? Isn't it really the fault of the members of your camp and their unchecked greed that we owe this power debacle to? On the bright side, your speechwriter perhaps counts on the short-term memory of the ordinary citizen and hopes that you will get away with such false assertions.
If you really wanted to lash out at the government and advocate for workers, you could have impressed on the rights of migrant workers and urged the government to immediately set up a commission to regulate the industry. On the other hand, that would mean that a lot of your party's main donors would have to start running to save their skins.
Hopefully you understand that modern technology does not allow you the luxury of speaking mindlessly and getting away with it. Live TV magnifies the insincerity of your words, the superficiality of your arguments, and the lack of passion in your voice. Please impress on your speechwriter(s) that they should not write something that you are not convinced about.
It seems to the viewers that you are not distressed by the death of the workers because of unsafe working conditions, you are really not moved by the misery of the family that lives next to uninhabitable water bodies and you are not interested in protecting us from deadly viruses. Maybe you do and your speechwriters are unable to capture all these feelings. If that is so, please fire them immediately.
Sumaiya Islam is an activist and a proponent of rights-based policies.
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