On a cup of tea, please

I congratulate Dr. Yunus for taking the opportunity of exerting his leadership role in making a bold proposal for the formation of a coalition government in order to find a way out of the current political crisis. As a foreigner, I have no role in proposing any specific political suggestion as to how Bangladesh should resolve the current crisis. I will not offer any comments as to the specifics of Dr. Yunus' plan.

What I do wish to say -- is that any proposal for resolving the current crisis will not be successful in the long-run until the leaders of the two majors parties at least drink a cup of tea together and inquire about the well being of their respective families.

As I previously said, I have lived and worked in Bangladesh for the past six years. Since coming to this country, I have probably drank about 5,000 cups of tea. You do not have to be real close friends with someone in order to share a cup of tea with them. Drinking a cup of tea together is just a sign of normal behaviour in Bengali culture. Whenever I go to a new place and meet new people, we always end up drinking tea together. This is just what people do in Bangladesh.

To my knowledge, the current leaders of the two major political parties have not spoken a word to each other in the six years that I have been in Bangladesh. They do not attend any government meetings together.

When one leader speaks in parliament, the other does not attend the parliament session. Just last week, they were both present at the same public ceremony to honour the military services in Bangladesh.

Both leaders sat within a few feet of each other, but all of the newspaper reports that I read about this meeting said that not only did the two leaders not speak to each other; they purposely avoided even gazing at each other.

This is just not how Bengali people behave in my experience. Even people who do not like each other at all are willing to sit in the same room and talk with each other and inquire about the well being of their families and drink a cup of tea together.

So, while I highly regard the proposal of Dr. Yunus, I suggest that he make another public proposal. I suggest that he should publicly invite both leaders of the two main political parties to his house for a cup of tea. Each leader could bring with them one person, possibly the secretary general of their respective party. No one else should be allowed to come to the meeting. No press should be allowed at the meeting. I suggest that no political dialogue even be allowed at this first meeting. The two leaders would just be asked to sit in the same room, look each other in the eye, inquire about the well being of their families, and have a cup of tea together. I suggest that drinking tea is the first step in any long-term resolution of the crisis that currently faces Bangladesh. (I would suggest 'lal cha' be served as that seems more Bengali than milk tea.)