Opinions from the region December 2009
Bhutan
Know-it-all
The government has accepted and decided to implement the consultancy McKinsey’s recommendations for the tourism sector. And it seems like we are paying a lot of money – almost 10 million dollars – to a consulting firm to tell us what we already know. Attracting high-end visitors, promoting ecotourism, making Bhutan a destination for international meetings, easing ticketing, simplifying visa procedures, improving hotels, domestic air services, developing infrastructure, investing in marketing … these are more or less the same recommendations that a series of earlier consultants have made. More importantly, they are the same ones that the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators has repeatedly submitted to the government. Still, I’m hopeful that these common recommendations will finally get some serious attention from the government. After all, they are now McKinsey’s recommendations.
But, the government has, thankfully, already decided to dump McKinsey’s main recommendation: to increase annual tourist arrivals to 250,000. The government now sees McKinsey’s projection as an aspiration, and has decided to stick with the Tenth Plan targets instead. An aspiration? Do we really mean it? Do we really think that 250,000 tourists a year is a goal to aspire for? Or are we being excessively polite? Do we actually mean that our consultants are wrong? That 250,000 tourists a year cannot be good for Bhutan?
A reader sent me this joke in response to my last entry about McKinsey’s recommendations on our tourism sector: A guy is driving around in his Porsche in the countryside. He stops outside a field full of sheep, walks up to the shepherd and says “I’ve got an offer for you. I’ll guess how many sheep you’ve got in this field, and if I guess right, I get to take a sheep with me, and if I guess wrong, you get my car.” The shepherd thinks he’s on to a sure thing and agrees. “137,” says the driver. “Damn me, you’re right,” says the shepherd, and dutifully hands over a sheep.
The man walks away, stuffs the sheep in his car, and is about to drive away when the shepherd knocks on his window. “I’ve got a proposal for you,” he says. “If I can guess what you do for a living, I get to take your car. If I’m wrong, you can have all my sheep. “Done,” says the driver, counting up the number of nights he could be kept happy with 137 sheep. “You’re a McKinsey consultant,” says the shepherd. “Bloody hell,” says the man, “how did you guess?” “Easy,” responds the shepherd. “You come in here uninvited, you tell me what I already know, and then you charge me for it.”
Sri Lanka
Celebrating Photoshop
The government of Sri Lanka has recently unveiled a brand-new 1000-rupee bank note, to commemorate “the ushering of peace and prosperity to Sri Lanka”. This, I assume, means the final and complete defeat of the LTTE all over the island nation. According to the press release by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, this is just the second commemorative note ever released – the first was launched in 1998 to commemorate 50 years of Sri Lankan independence.
Clearly, this is a big deal for the country. But not big enough, alas, to get some original artwork made for it. This image of the note from the endlessly fascinating Banknote News website: Victory, and Photoshop, is ours!
The CBSL press release has a full explanation of the banknote’s design elements, including the predominant image of President Rajapakse – or, as a co-worker calls him, the Lipgloss Dictator. (Google Rajapakse’s images and human-rights record for details.) But see the other side of the note? That image with the Lankan soldiers hoisting up the Sri Lankan flag? Well, that image is a complete rip-off of the famous Joe Rosenthal photo taken at Iwo Jima during World War II. The photo was also the inspiration for the US Marine Corps War Memorial monument in Arlington, Virginia.
Open source? The Rosenthal photo signifies the quite-hard-fought victory the Americans won over an entrenched, desperate Japanese force on Iwo Jima. But it is also one of the most ripped-off martial images in history. I have seen versions of the image with corporate logos, assorted national flags, a tree and so on – even a version of it by a prominent Indian news channel to promote a series of India Independence Day programming. Cut, paste, replace flag.
Surely Sri Lankan banknote designers could have been more original. I can somewhat see the parallels in symbolism here. But still… Perhaps Adobe Photoshop can have a “Warning! You are ripping off that Iwo Jima picture!” alert built in. Meanwhile my Lankan co-worker can’t decide which side of the banknote disturbs her more.
Pakistan
Mullah Omar snubbed
Recently Forbes issued a list of the world’s 67 most-powerful people. It is interesting to note that Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani is ranked at 38th. Not so surprisingly, he lands right below Osama bin Laden and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It does seem that President Asif Ali Zardari should have been given a slot instead of Gillani. Or, indeed, instead of COAS Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, who, leading an army of more than 600,000 men, is also been part of this elite powerful panel.
An important observation to make here is that the reason Gillani has been awarded a place is due to the nuclear arsenal and the role of Pakistan in the ‘War on Terror’. Had this list been made in the late 1990s, I am sure no Pakistani person would have been made part of it. With bin Laden at the 37th slot, I think it is unfair not to hand Mullah Omar a slot as well. After all, they are part and parcel of the same formidable team that has led the war against the US in a very well-planned way.
Bangladesh
The beginning
Excerpts from a larger reflection on the recent death-penalty verdict handed to those convicted in the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family.
It goes without saying that I unambiguously and unreservedly welcome the verdict. This post is going to touch on some points that I feel have not been covered well in the discussions in the blogosphere, print media, or in television. “The nation gets a sense of closure after 34 years” goes a very common refrain. I think this notion is profoundly wrong. The victims of the 15 August massacre may get closure when they have the verdict implemented, and the perpetrators executed. But let’s not equate one family with our republic.
Bangladesh has many festering wounds that this verdict will not heal. By saying that as a nation we get closure, we are making a profound mistake. War crimes, jail killing, political assassinations under the last elected government, torture and state sponsored violence after 1/11, Pilkhana – where do we stop? And this doesn’t even include the crimes committed in the name of, and by, the majority Bengali Muslims against Biharis, Hindus, and Paharis. On what ground do we say that 15 August was above all those other injustices? We can say that a journey has to begin somewhere, and this was as good a place as any. But let’s not call this a closure.
The real closure may come some day when events like the 21 August attack or Pilkhana will not remain in a shroud of secrecy. But there is no certainty that we will ever get that. We, as a people, need to make the right choices for that. The real significance of this trial, and the verdict, is not that it has provided a sense of justice and closure to the victims. The real significance is that this has been done through as close to a transparent process as is possible in a country such as ours.
This wasn’t done through a military tribunal. This wasn’t done through some kangaroo court. The killers were not ‘cross-fired’. If the 15 August killers can be tried in an open, transparent manner, then so can the war criminals, or 21 August attackers, or the Pilkhana killers. This is the real significance. When the United States entered World War II, Winston Churchill said, “This isn’t the end, not even the beginning of the end, but it’s the end of the beginning.” Let the verdict be the end of the beginning for Bangladesh.
India
Bal no ball
Sachin Tendulkar recently said somewhere that he was proud to be a Maharashtrian, but that he considers himself a patriotic Indian first. As expected, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray retorted by quipping that “by taking this cheeky single, Sachin had got run out on the pitch of Marathi psyche,” and advised Sachin to focus on cricket and stay away from politics. Fine. So what are we supposed to do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! Because both of them are self-centred heroes who are out to prove their individual supremacy. They are intelligent manipulators and nothing else.
Bal Thackeray has been manipulating Maharashtrians ever since Shiv Sena came into existence, to fulfil his own political dream and to pursue his own personal agenda. Likewise, Sachin has been manipulating the Indian innings and using the Indian team – by eating too many ‘balls’ and hurling the team towards a defeat – to make personal records. For Thackeray, his personal self-respect at any given time is more dear to him than the cumulative self-respects of all Maharashtrians put together. For Sachin, a century is more precious than a victory for his team.
Interestingly, both these manipulators have made it a practice to show some genuine concern once in a blue moon, to further fool their victims into believing that these two are actually working for ‘their’ benefit. I don’t want to waste my time on these two individuals, nor spend my energy on speculating whether this turns out to be a Test Match or fades away as a Twenty20 confrontation. But I do salute both these great Indians for their sheer smarts.
Know-it-all
The government has accepted and decided to implement the consultancy McKinsey’s recommendations for the tourism sector. And it seems like we are paying a lot of money – almost 10 million dollars – to a consulting firm to tell us what we already know. Attracting high-end visitors, promoting ecotourism, making Bhutan a destination for international meetings, easing ticketing, simplifying visa procedures, improving hotels, domestic air services, developing infrastructure, investing in marketing … these are more or less the same recommendations that a series of earlier consultants have made. More importantly, they are the same ones that the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators has repeatedly submitted to the government. Still, I’m hopeful that these common recommendations will finally get some serious attention from the government. After all, they are now McKinsey’s recommendations.
But, the government has, thankfully, already decided to dump McKinsey’s main recommendation: to increase annual tourist arrivals to 250,000. The government now sees McKinsey’s projection as an aspiration, and has decided to stick with the Tenth Plan targets instead. An aspiration? Do we really mean it? Do we really think that 250,000 tourists a year is a goal to aspire for? Or are we being excessively polite? Do we actually mean that our consultants are wrong? That 250,000 tourists a year cannot be good for Bhutan?
A reader sent me this joke in response to my last entry about McKinsey’s recommendations on our tourism sector: A guy is driving around in his Porsche in the countryside. He stops outside a field full of sheep, walks up to the shepherd and says “I’ve got an offer for you. I’ll guess how many sheep you’ve got in this field, and if I guess right, I get to take a sheep with me, and if I guess wrong, you get my car.” The shepherd thinks he’s on to a sure thing and agrees. “137,” says the driver. “Damn me, you’re right,” says the shepherd, and dutifully hands over a sheep.
The man walks away, stuffs the sheep in his car, and is about to drive away when the shepherd knocks on his window. “I’ve got a proposal for you,” he says. “If I can guess what you do for a living, I get to take your car. If I’m wrong, you can have all my sheep. “Done,” says the driver, counting up the number of nights he could be kept happy with 137 sheep. “You’re a McKinsey consultant,” says the shepherd. “Bloody hell,” says the man, “how did you guess?” “Easy,” responds the shepherd. “You come in here uninvited, you tell me what I already know, and then you charge me for it.”
– www.tsheringtobgay.com
Sri Lanka
Celebrating Photoshop
The government of Sri Lanka has recently unveiled a brand-new 1000-rupee bank note, to commemorate “the ushering of peace and prosperity to Sri Lanka”. This, I assume, means the final and complete defeat of the LTTE all over the island nation. According to the press release by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, this is just the second commemorative note ever released – the first was launched in 1998 to commemorate 50 years of Sri Lankan independence.
 |
The CBSL press release has a full explanation of the banknote’s design elements, including the predominant image of President Rajapakse – or, as a co-worker calls him, the Lipgloss Dictator. (Google Rajapakse’s images and human-rights record for details.) But see the other side of the note? That image with the Lankan soldiers hoisting up the Sri Lankan flag? Well, that image is a complete rip-off of the famous Joe Rosenthal photo taken at Iwo Jima during World War II. The photo was also the inspiration for the US Marine Corps War Memorial monument in Arlington, Virginia.
Open source? The Rosenthal photo signifies the quite-hard-fought victory the Americans won over an entrenched, desperate Japanese force on Iwo Jima. But it is also one of the most ripped-off martial images in history. I have seen versions of the image with corporate logos, assorted national flags, a tree and so on – even a version of it by a prominent Indian news channel to promote a series of India Independence Day programming. Cut, paste, replace flag.
Surely Sri Lankan banknote designers could have been more original. I can somewhat see the parallels in symbolism here. But still… Perhaps Adobe Photoshop can have a “Warning! You are ripping off that Iwo Jima picture!” alert built in. Meanwhile my Lankan co-worker can’t decide which side of the banknote disturbs her more.
– Sidin Vadukut,
blog.livemint.com
blog.livemint.com
Pakistan
Mullah Omar snubbed
Recently Forbes issued a list of the world’s 67 most-powerful people. It is interesting to note that Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani is ranked at 38th. Not so surprisingly, he lands right below Osama bin Laden and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It does seem that President Asif Ali Zardari should have been given a slot instead of Gillani. Or, indeed, instead of COAS Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, who, leading an army of more than 600,000 men, is also been part of this elite powerful panel.
An important observation to make here is that the reason Gillani has been awarded a place is due to the nuclear arsenal and the role of Pakistan in the ‘War on Terror’. Had this list been made in the late 1990s, I am sure no Pakistani person would have been made part of it. With bin Laden at the 37th slot, I think it is unfair not to hand Mullah Omar a slot as well. After all, they are part and parcel of the same formidable team that has led the war against the US in a very well-planned way.
– Usman Zahid, www.pro-pakistan.com
Bangladesh
The beginning
Excerpts from a larger reflection on the recent death-penalty verdict handed to those convicted in the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family.
It goes without saying that I unambiguously and unreservedly welcome the verdict. This post is going to touch on some points that I feel have not been covered well in the discussions in the blogosphere, print media, or in television. “The nation gets a sense of closure after 34 years” goes a very common refrain. I think this notion is profoundly wrong. The victims of the 15 August massacre may get closure when they have the verdict implemented, and the perpetrators executed. But let’s not equate one family with our republic.
Bangladesh has many festering wounds that this verdict will not heal. By saying that as a nation we get closure, we are making a profound mistake. War crimes, jail killing, political assassinations under the last elected government, torture and state sponsored violence after 1/11, Pilkhana – where do we stop? And this doesn’t even include the crimes committed in the name of, and by, the majority Bengali Muslims against Biharis, Hindus, and Paharis. On what ground do we say that 15 August was above all those other injustices? We can say that a journey has to begin somewhere, and this was as good a place as any. But let’s not call this a closure.
The real closure may come some day when events like the 21 August attack or Pilkhana will not remain in a shroud of secrecy. But there is no certainty that we will ever get that. We, as a people, need to make the right choices for that. The real significance of this trial, and the verdict, is not that it has provided a sense of justice and closure to the victims. The real significance is that this has been done through as close to a transparent process as is possible in a country such as ours.
This wasn’t done through a military tribunal. This wasn’t done through some kangaroo court. The killers were not ‘cross-fired’. If the 15 August killers can be tried in an open, transparent manner, then so can the war criminals, or 21 August attackers, or the Pilkhana killers. This is the real significance. When the United States entered World War II, Winston Churchill said, “This isn’t the end, not even the beginning of the end, but it’s the end of the beginning.” Let the verdict be the end of the beginning for Bangladesh.
– jrahman.wordpress.com
India
Bal no ball
Sachin Tendulkar recently said somewhere that he was proud to be a Maharashtrian, but that he considers himself a patriotic Indian first. As expected, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray retorted by quipping that “by taking this cheeky single, Sachin had got run out on the pitch of Marathi psyche,” and advised Sachin to focus on cricket and stay away from politics. Fine. So what are we supposed to do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! Because both of them are self-centred heroes who are out to prove their individual supremacy. They are intelligent manipulators and nothing else.
Bal Thackeray has been manipulating Maharashtrians ever since Shiv Sena came into existence, to fulfil his own political dream and to pursue his own personal agenda. Likewise, Sachin has been manipulating the Indian innings and using the Indian team – by eating too many ‘balls’ and hurling the team towards a defeat – to make personal records. For Thackeray, his personal self-respect at any given time is more dear to him than the cumulative self-respects of all Maharashtrians put together. For Sachin, a century is more precious than a victory for his team.
Interestingly, both these manipulators have made it a practice to show some genuine concern once in a blue moon, to further fool their victims into believing that these two are actually working for ‘their’ benefit. I don’t want to waste my time on these two individuals, nor spend my energy on speculating whether this turns out to be a Test Match or fades away as a Twenty20 confrontation. But I do salute both these great Indians for their sheer smarts.
– aneezshaikh.instablogs.com
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