When the government led by Professor Yunus completed its first month, the Protect Yunus Campaign published a review of it which appears below. Around the same time, Professor Yunus did a wide-ranging interview with DW, the German public broadcast service, in English. You can watch the interview here.
Just over one month ago, on August 8, 2024, Professor Yunus was sworn in as the Chief Adviser of the Bangladesh government, along with the 16 founding members of his cabinet. The Chief Adviser position is functionally the interim Prime Minister of the government.
In most countries around the world, there is a transition or at least a preparatory period where someone can gear up for taking on such an awesome responsibility. In the case of Professor Yunus, there was almost no time to prepare. The student-led revolution culminated on August 5, and he returned from a short and long-planned overseas trip and was inaugurated on August 8 after giving brief and widely praised remarks at the airport immediately after arriving.
Despite the many challenges it faces, his government has been doing extremely well. To wit:
- The police returned to work, immediately improving the law and order situation and people’s sense of personal security.
- He addressed the nation, and his 25-minute message was very well received. (You can read the English translation of his remarks here.)
- He has taken tangible steps to protect and reassure the nation’s religious minorities, such as Hindus and Christians.
- He had a positive call with Indian Prime Minister Modi, which has set the stage for further improvement in bilateral relations.
- He has enlarged his cabinet and involved them in governing the country in meaningful ways.
- He addressed the diplomatic community in one of his first speeches as Chief Adviser.
- He helped secure pardons for 57 Bangladeshis arrested in the United Arab Emirates related to their rallying to support the Monsoon Revolution in August.
Bangladeshis understand that Professor Yunus walked into a difficult situation, with the economy on shaky footing and billions of dollars having been stolen by the prior regime and their cronies.
It is unfortunate that some commentators have been trying to create the impression of widespread attacks on Bangladesh’s Hindus. Some speculate that the stolen billions are being used to promote false and exaggerated claims of persecution through advertising. Fortunately, there has been some good reporting on the facts, including this article by the BBC. Obviously, even one extra-judicial death is one too many. But when you look at the confirmed numbers of deaths and the fact that even those few appear to be politically motivated (rather than based on religion), it puts the matter in a different light. One must also consider that Professor Yunus has been taking all the necessary steps to protect and reassure minority groups, consistent with this lifelong approach to respecting all people regardless of religion, caste, ethnicity, or any other consideration.
The Protect Yunus Campaign is in the process of rebranding itself in this new era, where we are going to be focusing on supporting Professor Yunus and Bangladesh. Expect a new website and new social media handles in the days ahead.
One of our early successes was orchestrating a message of support from 198 global leaders including 92 Nobel laureates and Barack Obama that was published on September 4 online, as part of a widely-circulated news release, and in a full-page ad in the Washington Post. The short and poignant message, which is reproduced in its entirety below, was covered widely in Bangladesh (including in this article in the Daily Star that termed the letter a “major show of international support”). It was seen as a vital vote of confidence at the international level for the government led by Professor Yunus.
We the undersigned are excited to publicly share our congratulations and heartfelt good wishes to Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, the new interim Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Professor Yunus, like others in Bangladesh, has suffered under the yoke of autocracy. Today, thanks to the power of a democratic and student-led protest, that autocracy has been replaced by hope. As Professor Yunus has said, Bangladesh is now enjoying its second liberation, and it has the chance to fulfill its great potential as a nation. We have been proud to have supported Professor Yunus over the years. It is the beginning of an exciting new dawn for Bangladesh, and we wish him and the people of Bangladesh peace and success in the months and years ahead. We are excited to see Professor Yunus finally free to work for the uplift of the entire country, especially the most marginalized, a calling he has pursued with great vigor and success across six decades. Just as the nation’s young people have inspired him, we know that he will inspire them to play a leadership role in bringing a bright new future to Bangladesh. We are also confident that he will inspire millions of young people around the world, including those in the Bangladeshi diaspora, to improve society for the better. We applaud the interim government’s commitment to bring free and fair elections back to Bangladesh and its commitment to allowing democracy to flourish. We stand ready to help in any way we can to support the efforts of Bangladesh and the interim government to lead the world in creating a new and better civilization, as Professor Yunus has repeatedly called for.
Citizens around the world were encouraged to add their names as signatories of the letter, and many have already responded by doing so. In order to add your name, click here.
Next up will be Professor Yunus’ trip to New York to address the United Nations later this month, a trip for which he promised to take a “small, functional delegation” as compared to the bloated ones that accompanied previous Prime Ministers. Clearly, Professor Yunus is demonstrating a different style of leadership that is resonating well with the vast majority of Bangladeshis. To take one example, veteran journalist Shayan S. Khan, the Executive Editor of the Dhaka Courier, wrote this on his Facebook page after Dr. Yunus’ address to the nation: “ “That was all-business from Dr. Y, said all the right things with sincerity and resolve. How beautiful not to hear a political speech laced with cult worship, distorted history and ‘Me Me Me’ – the first person was always plural -‘We’. And didn’t evade the difficult question of how long they plan to stay. Carry on Professor…”