Source: Bangladesh Online Groups
So the invitation is a sweet-heart deal. Bangladeshi news paper New Nation reported that Gen. Moeen was invited by the President of Harvard University which should have been the case for a Army Chief of a nation. However, Dr. David C. King, a Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government is the host, not the Harvard University. Bangladesh government sought Dr. David C. King's advice for election reform and wanted to appoint him as special consultant during his visit to Bangladesh. For this reason he invited Gen. Moeen to come to his school and to speak to his class and probably finalize the deal of him working as consultant. Money talks .... There is a definitely a conflict of interest. But who cares?
Gen. Muhammad Ershad also had a sweet-heart at University of Pennsylvania (another Ivy League University). The gentleman this case was Dr. Craig Baxter who was a political consultant to Bangladesh Government and a admirer of Ershad Adiminstration during his regime. The recently published Ayub's Diary has been edited by Dr. Ctaig Bacter who is currently a Professor Emiritus of Politics & History at Juniata College.
3 comments:
What are you talking about? I had no contact with General Moeen until he came to my class yesterday, and nobody ever approched me about consulting. Why didn't you just email me before posting? If you'd like to see the presentation that my students gave General Moeen, there's a PPT link off my homepage: www.ksg.harvard.edu/dking
Write anytime -- David King
Mr King:
Why did he come to your class of all the professors in Harvard?
General Moeen had already been invited to Harvard for a conference, and I took that opportunity to ask my colleagues at the Ash Institute whether the general could visit my class while here. When the conference did not materialize, I hoped that General Moeen would still come, so we could talk about election reform and the restoration of democracy in Bangladesh. General Moeen was open to a wide-ranging discussion. He was a guest at an Ash Institute lunch today, where he delivered the talk that had been originally planned for the conference. The audience included Bangladeshi students and community leaders.
It has been interesting reading comments about the visit on various blogs over the last day. There are many conspiracy theorists among your community.
My students and I encouraged General Moeen to operate in a fully transparent way. I encourage everyone in the caretaker government to be transparent.
That applies, too, to the Bangladeshi diaspora. To my taste, too many blog posts include phrases like "rumor has it," or "it is said," -- or simply invent their own realities.
I'm not in Bangladesh, so I don't understand all of your ways. And I appreciate Moina asking the question -- but all anyone has to do is just ask. Goodness knows our students didn't hold back when asking General Moeen questions yesterday and today.
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