::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Voicebox

"I have been told that agents there (in Bangladesh) are spreading negative rumours about how the (Malaysian) government and even I as the minister, are making cuts from this scheme."
DATUK SERI MOHD RADZI SHEIKH AHMAD
Malaysian Home Affairs Minister
imposing a ban on recruiting Bangladeshi workers.
Malaysia, which has successfully averted the Asian economic crisis in the nineties, is developing fast to become Asia's economic powerhouse. Most Malaysians love Bangladesh, but unscrupulous manpower agents in Bangladesh at times tried to take unfair advantage of it.

"As a proud resident of this city, do your own duty. Come forward in making the capital so picturesque that as an educated and conscious citizen you have drawn in your mind."
KHALEDA ZIA
prime minister
when people in different areas of the city have been rioting for an adequate supply of electricity.

"It becomes a breach of diplomatic norms when we accept US ambassador's invitation to tea. But were diplomatic norms maintained when they (the two editors) went to the Election Commission (EC) office with two foreign diplomats on Election Day, 2001?"
SHEIKH HASINA
Leader the Opposition and Awami League chairperson.
about Editors of The Daily Star and Prothom Alo.

"Can statements full of such non-facts (I am not calling them lies only to show respect) increase public confidence in her leadership abilities?"
MAHFUZ ANAM
editor
The Daily Star
about Hasina's diatribe.
None of the editors went to the EC along with the diplomats on the aforementioned date.

"I would guess, I would surmise that some of the more spectacular bombings are done by al Qaeda suiciders."
GEORGE W. BUSH
president of the United States
on violence in Iraq.

"I know that President Bush has many extremely competent speech writers but I would like to volunteer for the job myself. I propose the following short address which he can make on television to the nation."
HAROLD PINTER
Nobel Prize Winner in Literature in 2005.
The speech that Pinter wants to write for Bush is: “God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian…We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it.”

QUOTATIONS ARE TAKEN FROM DIFFERENT LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS.
Compiled by: AHMEDE HUSSAIN