There was a desperate effort during the term of the interim government to try and salvage a few things - like a corruption free political field, and a society led by intellectuals. During that period, they coined a term 'সুশীল সমাজ' (pronounced 'shusheel shomaj' and translates loosely to 'decent society'), which I have seen met with lots of ridicule. To my discredit, I don't get whats so funny!
I laughed when I was a student at a Malaysian university about a decade ago, when I found out there was a subject titled "Moral and Ethics". I laughed since I believed, these are obviously things you pick up at home and just redundant as a university course. Over a few years, I changed my mind on that. Another target of ridicule is that person who has returned from outside and complains about the way things are. I could say if someone has been to a country better off and not found things here worthy of complaining about, then that person has spent time abroad with his vision stuck to the pavements they treaded there.
Lets unfold now from inside out, starting with the complaining individuals who has just returned. Those who complain, has just experienced a different way of doing things which are simpler and more efficient. Hence the complaints. The ridicule, I imagine, comes from not being able to comprehend that point of view. My ridicule for 'Moral & Ethics' as a university subject is definitely not there anymore. Now, I would say we need that kind of a course every year, coupled with extensive community service programs. I don't think people learn how to live as a community at home. I shudder at the thought of what the spineless and corrupted who are amassing large volumes of wealth, or the bitter public servants who are reliant on bribes are teaching their children. As for the term 'সুশীল সমাজ'... It could be possible to use it more casually in a decade to come, when all traits that define 'সুশীল' have disappeared almost completely, to reminisce, for some of us, about times gone by. Those who find it funny now, I see them as a reflection of me laughing at the thought of studying Moral and Ethics in a textbook.
I laughed when I was a student at a Malaysian university about a decade ago, when I found out there was a subject titled "Moral and Ethics". I laughed since I believed, these are obviously things you pick up at home and just redundant as a university course. Over a few years, I changed my mind on that. Another target of ridicule is that person who has returned from outside and complains about the way things are. I could say if someone has been to a country better off and not found things here worthy of complaining about, then that person has spent time abroad with his vision stuck to the pavements they treaded there.
Lets unfold now from inside out, starting with the complaining individuals who has just returned. Those who complain, has just experienced a different way of doing things which are simpler and more efficient. Hence the complaints. The ridicule, I imagine, comes from not being able to comprehend that point of view. My ridicule for 'Moral & Ethics' as a university subject is definitely not there anymore. Now, I would say we need that kind of a course every year, coupled with extensive community service programs. I don't think people learn how to live as a community at home. I shudder at the thought of what the spineless and corrupted who are amassing large volumes of wealth, or the bitter public servants who are reliant on bribes are teaching their children. As for the term 'সুশীল সমাজ'... It could be possible to use it more casually in a decade to come, when all traits that define 'সুশীল' have disappeared almost completely, to reminisce, for some of us, about times gone by. Those who find it funny now, I see them as a reflection of me laughing at the thought of studying Moral and Ethics in a textbook.
