Originally posted in The Daily Star on 7 November 2023
I congratulate Mahfuz Anam for thirty years of dedicated work in building up the Daily Star as the premier English language daily newspaper of Bangladesh. He has faced many institutional and personal challenges in his quest to maintain an independent voice for himself and his newspaper. The fact that he still stands tall is a testament to his courage and perseverance in continuing the struggle to uphold freedom of expression which constitutes the foundation of all democratic values. He remains a true democrat.
Mahfuz Anam is a patriot not in a chauvinist way defending the indefensible acts of regimes. He praises a regime when praise is due, but he does not hesitate to criticize when a regime falls short. Pointing out mistakes of regimes, which may cause harm to the people, is to me an act of true patriotism. Mahfuz stands out for many sterling qualities – his debating skills, passionate writing and speaking style, personal warmth, optimism, forward looking approach and many other qualities. What I have always appreciated in Mahfuz is his belief in keeping the faith in people, particularly the excluded and the youth. He has always projected the contributions of the unsung heroes and reminded us that Bangladesh has forged ahead as a result of the efforts of many known and unknown individuals and we should always acknowledge our debt to them. For me a patriot is one who is committed to strengthen the voice of the powerless and not that of the powerful.
Mahfuz Anam is an optimist. He always projects a sense of a better future for the people of Bangladesh. I remember in 1996 when I organized an international conference at Columbia University, USA to celebrate the 25th year of our independence I invited Mahfuz to speak at the last plenary session which addressed the future trajectory of the country. I invited him because I knew Mahfuz would make a very inspiring presentation. He did speak about our many past mistakes and deficits but he highlighted also our repeated struggles to overcome the obstacles and our aspirations to realizes an impossible dream. His abiding faith in our bright future caught the imagination of the audience. They all were convinced that Bangladesh has a promising future.
I am sure through his work Mahfuz had been able to inspire many young people to follow in his footsteps and carry on the tradition of being a democrat, patriot and an optimist.
Professor Rounaq Jahan, Political Scientist and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).