Look East and Prosper

I left Bangladesh 23 years ago as a student. As one of the founder member of the then Democratic Students League under the leadership of Syed Tosharaf Ali in Bangladesh we understood the path of economic freedom perhaps more than any one else. We strongly advocated free economy, which ultimately became the theme of BNP and AL more than a decade later.

There is no difference between both BNP and AL. Both are latecomers in terms of understanding the power of free economy. At least they came to realisation that the country cannot prosper by nationalisation alone. We need to empower all individuals who are entrepreneurs and who are going to run the business for profit.

In early 90's I wrote to the then prime minister of Bangladesh and director, Board of Investment to follow the path of free economy. Later I wrote a letter to The Daily Star stating why we should follow the path of free economy and look east rather than look west.

Bangladesh should seek the membership of ASEAN. We should follow the model of Malaysia and its policy of Look East.