Definition: NRBs or Non-Resident Bangladeshis comprise people of Bangladeshi origin who live outside Bangladesh. The émigré community that has settled in various parts of our planet also fall under the NRB category.
Facts: Wherever they have settled as the new residents (e.g., citizens, dual citizens, permanent or temporary residents), the NRBs and their children and grandchildren are amongst the best educated and successful communities in the world. Today, the NRBs or the Bangladeshi expats constitute a significant and successful economic, social, and cultural force in the world. They have made significant contributions to the economy of the country of residence and have added in considerable measure to knowledge and innovation. They have also been a major source of foreign remittance for Bangladesh.
According to the Government of Bangladesh, some 12 million are estimated to be the NRBs. There is hardly a country today in the world where Bangladeshis, once dumped as ‘ghar kuno’ (i.e., averse to leave home), cannot be found.
General Observations: There was a time when very few Bangladeshis would prefer living overseas under an alien culture. When they lived overseas, it was often a temporary stay in which they were expected to return home after their education or job had ended. Typically, their spouses did not accompany them. Immigration to foreign countries was also difficult in those days. As a result, a large fraction of those NRB families who had settled with their families in Europe, Australia, and North America in the 1960s-1980s included professional engineers, doctors, and educationists. The number of illegal immigrants and those asking political asylum was too small.
However, with the ever-increasing globalization, since at least the early 1990s, and the acute need for cheap and skilled labor from the third world, let alone the alarmingly low population growth rate within the indigenous population, new immigration laws were enacted that allowed immigration to many of the western countries. The character of migration began to change, and a ‘new Diaspora’, led by high skilled professionals (esp. in the IT sector) moving to the western world, and semi-skilled contract workers moving mostly to the Gulf states emerged.
As the political situation in many of their native countries deteriorated drastically, adding inter alia to insecurity and politicization of employment opportunities, many of those who had originally come to western countries temporarily, e.g., as foreign students to pursue higher studies, were forced to find gainful employment and ultimately settle in the more prosperous western countries that allowed their easy integration.
In this regard, it is worth sharing here that from my BUET graduating class of 1977, the top 80% of the engineering students earning First Class who had come for graduate studies in the USA and Canada in the late 1970s ultimately chose to settle in their host countries. The record for subsequent graduating classes was similar. Many of their classmates who had at one time worked in the Middle East in engineering projects in the late 1970s and 1980s would later join them, rather than settling back in Bangladesh. Such an “exodus” can only be described as a colossal “brain-drain” phenomenon. This experience is not unique to Bangladesh though. Politicians have failed them to feel secure and needed for the good of their country! Even their best of the intentions has been questioned as if they are the winter-time migratory birds who are not going to stay around too long!
The emergence of significant diasporas has in recent years brought into sharp focus two key facts.
What was, thus, once a “brain-drain” phenomenon for the native countries can easily be transformed into a “brain-gain” phenomenon if there are willing undertakers on both ends.
Points to ponder upon:
The diaspora community can serve as an important ‘bridge’ to access knowledge, expertise, resources and markets for the development of the country of origin. As experts would tell us, the success of this bridge is often predicated upon two conditions:
As to the first of the above two conditions, the NRBs have earned the trust of their hosts projecting image as good neighbors and workers, and are, accordingly, recognized for their positive contributions made both inside and outside their workspace. Many NRBs are recognized professionally as great teachers, researchers, scientists, doctors, engineers, bankers, accountants, and business entrepreneurs. Many of them are practically running many of the major corporations in their host countries. They have not forgotten their birthplace; they crave for opportunities to helping the people of Bangladesh in every way that is legal and possible. Despite demoralizing government red tapes, they continue to fund many institutions either at individual or collective level, through local and foreign NGOs. More importantly, these caring and highly talented and experienced NRBs are capable of transforming Bangladesh into an envy of the entire South Asia. As the co-founder and advisor of the NRB Council, USA, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bangladesh Expatriates Council, I can testify to the depth of their sincerity to bringing about a positive transformational change.
Sadly, as to the second condition, Bangladesh government did not prove to be a sincere partner to grab the stretched arms of the NRB community. In fact, its irresponsible policies penalized them making the lives of their family members living inside Bangladesh unbearable. Their paternal properties became easy targets for illicit land-grab by those affiliated with the ruling parties and the government. The sad experience has left many NRBs bewildered and utterly frustrated. Nothing good could come out of such a painful experience when their precious time and money are lost fighting land-grabbing criminals and forced to bribe corrupt and greedy bureaucrats who are seemingly oblivious of their accountability.
It is, however, never too late to modify and correct such mistakes and deficiencies. And what could be a better time than now when the 5-week long student-led protests morphed into people’s uprising, toppling the most corrupt and criminal government in the history of Bangladesh on August 5, 2024. Never in the history of this landmass has its people seen a movement of this kind that drew support from every segment of the population – the silent majority that were not led by either a party or a personality. This movement is uniquely different than the movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim League against the British Raj that established Pakistan on August 14, 1947. This movement is also different than the two-decades-long struggle for political and economic rights of the people of East Pakistan that was led by politicians like Sheikh Mujib of the Awami League against the military junta, culminating in the liberation of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971. This movement is also different than the political movement in 1990-91 that was led by major political parties like the BNP, Awami League and the Jamat, which toppled the Ershad regime, burying the ‘military democracy’.
Sadly, the people’s aspirations for a better, safer and secure life with equal rights and opportunities continued to be dashed by the ruling parties who with a ‘winner-takes-all’ attitude plundered the country as a fiefdom. Every new regime was in a competition to outdo its predecessor in setting new records on thuggery, crimes, and corruption.
The toppled Hasina regime, thus, turned out to be the worst regime in which human rights for non-partisans simply did not exist; no dissent was allowed; abduction and extortion defined the norms of her autocratic government. The Police and the RAB, let alone the hoodlums affiliated with the ruling party, became the enforcers to prolong the life of her hated regime that was out of touch with ground realities faced by the masses of the people. Sycophancy and not honesty and meritocracy defined the character of the government and its agenda. In most major investment projects, appointments and policy matters, the appeasement of India ultimately sealed the fate. The constitution of the country was soiled beyond recognition to justify and sanctify the state crimes and solidify her hold onto power by any means plausible. In essence, under Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League, Bangladesh was turned into a republic of fear and unmatched crime and corruption. She destroyed the very image of her father Sheikh Mujib, once revered as the Bangabandhu and founding father of the nation. The destruction of Mujib’s home, museum and statues reflects people’s fury with Hasina’s 15-year misrule.
Sheikh Hasina’s removal from power is a welcome event in Bangladesh’s history. The NRB community is hopeful that the Interim Government will work diligently with utmost sincerity and well-thought-out plans that fulfill people’s expectations. And the list-to-do is too long. It will take years, if not decades, to properly put together the steppingstones for Sonar Bangladesh where everyone feels happy, productive, and energetic to become a force of change for the better. People in Bangladesh don’t like to be revisited by the bad experiences of the past regimes; they don’t like dynasty or family-centric politics; they don’t like to see a return of chandabazi (or extortion) and thuggery; they don’t like a government bureaucracy and judiciary where without bribery nothing gets done; they like to see a patriotic and not a puppet establishment that is uncompromising when it comes to the interest of Bangladesh.
Based on a crude survey that we conducted recently, we found that our people are willing to give the Interim Government enough time (3-5 years) to deliver some of the essentials for a better future. They don’t desire an election any time soon, and surely not within a year.
The NRB community are committed to transforming what was a ‘brain-drain’ phenomenon to a ‘brain-gain’ phenomenon as a comrade in this new journey. If the Interim Government sees a value in such a collaboration to transform Bangladesh into a global player of significance, the time has come for a strong and sustained engagement between those living inside Bangladesh and the NRBs that live outside.
