MAILBOX
When will our national museum improve?
I would like to thank Star Weekend for publishing a story on the dire situation of our national museum. The country is progressing at a decent rate. We are expected to be a middle income country within the next three to four years, but do we actually have anything to depict the rate of our progress? Do we actually have a place that can systematically show us our history? I would like to be able to show youngsters and even my friends who come from abroad the history of Bangladesh and for that we will need to improve the state of our national museum. If you cannot document your past appropriately, it will in some way or the other hurt you in the future.
Nafiz Alam
Farmgate, Dhaka
Rallying around Ivy
The incident which occurred in Narayanganj on January 16 put us all to shame. On last Friday's issue of The Daily Star we came to know that the mayhem was ultimately all about money. Attacks on serving mayors are certainly nothing new. The late mayor Annisul Huq came under such an attack in the capital's Tejgaon area where he was attempting to free up space occupied by long lines of trucks taking up an entire road. The difference between what Annisul Huq and Mayor Selina Akhter Ivy faced is that the former was not intimidated by any lawmaker. In Ivy's case, the attack was instigated and carried out by another local MP Shamim Osman and his gang. How much longer are we going to stand and watch ruling party men wield muscle power and issue such threats with impunity? An entire city cannot be kept hostage by a few individuals, even if they come from influential families and big political parties. We demand that appropriate action be taken by the authorities against those who carried out the attacks on Ivy and her followers. Let Ivy recover and serve the city again with vigour and courage.
Nuzhat Rifa Ehsan
Baridhara, Dhaka
Helping others or themselves?
Even though winter is a time for colourful pashminas, vacations and a festive mood prevails among the privileged few, it means suffering for the poor masses. Quite sadly, many poor people in our country cannot afford to buy warm clothes for winter. In this scenario, women and children especially suffer more. Many people, especially students, donate winter clothes and blankets at this time. While this helps those without a roof over their heads to pass yet another cold night sleeping on the footpaths, it is unfortunate that many of these people use the opportunity to show off that they are doing good. Think what goes on in the minds of people whom you are helping when you ask him or her to take a picture, or even pose, during the act. It makes no sense that you help people only to upload it on the social media to validate your efforts. If you have good intentions, your work will be recognised anyway.
Rifatul Islam
Dhaka
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