My Book of
Free Thoughts
Mohammad Mahfuzur
Rahman
My Book of
Free Thoughts
1st
Edition
(Abridged)
Mohammad Mahfuzur
Rahman
To my
Parents to whom I owe every thing
© MMR May
2004
All ideas
if not otherwise mentioned are the sole property of the author. Any idea may be
quoted, discussed with proper acknowledgment.
This is a continuous book,
an updated version will always be available at http://www.mahfuzurrahman.net
Any ideas,
suggestions can be sent at
The
earliest fantasy that I remember from my toddler life (most probably I was five
or six) is that I was the president of the people of “Sun”. How that idea came
into me is very interesting, one day I saw a guy on TV wearing a space suite (I
didn’t knew what it was then) of silver color (my TV was b&c)
standing just in front of the sun. Immediately I picked up the idea that he was
from the sun and though the sun was much hot outside there was a cooler inner
core where people lived happily under one ruler (that is me!). But why was I
sent on earth? I was here to learn the ways of earthmen and to be protected
from a defect group of sunmen who were trying to wage
war against us. In my absence my people was ruled by a group of very honest and
loyal officials on by behalf who usually consulted me from time to time. I
lingered and prospered on this idea for a while (and maybe still do!).
As time
went by I picked up things from my family, friends and books. My family is my
greatest teacher, they never preached me the ideas of
honesty, simplicity, love and respect for others but practiced these
themselves. I have learnt by heart watching them practice.
Living in one
of the remotest areas of the world I had very few friends but had a free world
of ours. We roamed around fearlessly for hours in the desert, jungle and
seashores. Our world was free and fearless, no fear of
being run over by cars, kidnapped etc., really we even didn’t knew that those
things existed. Every childhood should be like that, free of all tension and
control.
I picked
up the habit of reading at an early age, most probably the first book (apart
from my abc books) I read at six/seven was a Dracula
type fiction named RoktoBiz
by Seba Prokashoni, the
second book I read was Akroman
(2nd part), a James Bond type thriller and the third book I read
even before I was seven was the famous novel by Sarat
Chandra Chattopadyay Srikanth for boys. This verity in reading never stopped, I try to read
whatever I can lay my hands on. I have a strong believe (or might say
philosophy) that even the worst written book on the dullest subject could teach
you something, off course you have to keep your eyes open. Learning from
everyone and every incident is another key philosophy of mine, how big or tiny
it may be, there always lays a teaching. Books and movies are the thousand eyes
through which I can see life in thousand ways.
I plan to
make this book of free thought into a full volume of my thoughts and life
story, but at this very particular moment I would like to express my ideas of
running and making a country by the people and for the people and with that
some other thoughts that might come along.
Core of life
Family,
is the core of every living being. We begin our journey from the family, pick
up the primary (and most of the time many of the core) ingredients of our
journey from our family and at the end of the day we leave our earnings to our
family (for most of us, expect for a few). Once (and still is) we were ready to
kill and die for the family honor, then the family consisted of many, but as we
have nuclide our family so have we become weak and in a sense lost. The sense
of belongingness to family doesn’t only stop there, but extends to our belief
in society and country. I believe that our love and yearning for our beloved
country is only the extension of our love of our family.
Religion
came a little late in my life. Though my parents said their prayers regularly I
only knew religion as the Friday and two Eid prayers. I knew Sura Fatiha and had performed the
holy Hajj even before I understood the meaning of Islam. Realization of
religion begun to emerge after I started to study religion in my school curriculum
and the preaching of my teachers, and it opened to me a wonderful world where I
only fear and love my Lord and felt an endless love for all His creation. I
consider myself to be a true believing Muslim (though I often fall short on
performance). With the introduction of religion a new horizon opened in front
of me, I came to realize my smallness, at the same time the importance of every
living thing (even the tiniest micro organisms). Understanding of religion
accompanied with science makes one more appreciative of life surrounding us. To
me undoubtedly Islam is the only true religion and Allah is the only creator,
then how do I see the people of other religion? As a Muslim I see all to be a
creation of Allah and therefore all commands the same respect and protection,
irrespective of one being a Muslim or infidel. In the case of infidels my only
extra duty is (as was the Prophet’s) is to extend the invitation of Islam, if
they accept it, good, if they don’t I am sorry for
their after life, but they have every right to perform their belief as I do.
These days those who are blowing up everyone in the name of Islam are greater
enemy of Islam or humanity then any other infidel who is performing his or her
belief by themselves.
Building a country
A country
is only as strong as its people, it is built on their
belief and acts. Though everyone has a contribution (how little it may be), all
can’t be a part of the day to day running of it, neither can all be the shaper
of its future. A very few selected with the consent of all does that for them.
So it is very important that how those few are empowered and who are empowered.
An ideal country should be run by a strong leader with sufficient institutions
like the parliament, judiciary and media to keep a check on him.
The President
The
president should be the supreme leader and guardian of a country. A leader
should be elected by the common vote. But who should be eligible to stand as a
candidate should be scrutinized carefully. The leader should be a religious man
with an honest track record and visionary enough to shape the country’s future
of prosperity (in every sense, both material and spiritual). The President
should have the vision, supreme authority and judgmental power to dream up what
is best for the country and simultaneously execute.
With the
absolute authority the president should also be held responsible and
accountable to both the parliament (will of the people) and directly to the
people. The president should make himself available to
the parliament on a regular basis, at the same time he should also ensure that
he is present among the people to explain his visions and actions and take
advice from them, this should be constitutionally binding on him. Rather then
being elected for a designated period the president should hold office for an
indefinite period with a provision that the watchful parliament should have the
capability to call on for a vote of confidence on the President’s actions at
the will of the people.
The
president would execute his decisions through the bureaucrats of the government
and might have the help of a small advisory panel.
The Parliament
The
parliament should consist of two houses, one to enact the laws and the other to
convey the will of the people.
The upper
house or the body responsible for making laws should comprise of a selected few
intellectuals equally representing all the creed, culture and works of life.
The members should be highly educated, extremely motivated and eternally
patriotic. They should be selected by themselves keeping in mind the good
qualities and proven track records of the members.
Presided
over by an elder (by rotating term) they would enact the laws and issue
guidance for the country’s prosperity and better future. This laws and guidance
should then be passed to the lower house for the approval and feedback of the
people. The upper house would also be responsible for the selection of handful
candidates who would be then chosen by the countrymen to be their president.
The
representatives of the lower house would be elected by popular vote by the
people for a selected term. They may be individuals or of political affinity,
but they must act by themselves in the parliament for the best interest of
their constituency. They must be in close contact with their constituency and
discuss all the laws and regulations at a micro level before casting their vote
about it. They will form different committees to oversea the activities of the
government officials and call them to meetings to supervise and direct their
activities. The overseeing committees must have judicial authority over their
area of expertise. They will also
actively listen to the president’s addresses of the joint session and be
prepared to question him and let him know of the people’s ideas, thoughts and
wants.
The Judiciary and Ombudsman
The
judiciary must be independent at all levels, from all kind of governmental
control or intervention. The accountability of the judiciary should be a
built-in mechanism within the judiciary comprised of the judiciary guardian
council and parliamentary (combination of both the houses) oversight committee.
Justice should be swift and exemplary, reducing the uses of jail system and
increasing the amount of physical punishment, fines etc.
The
Ombudsman should be an institution comprised of young vibrant judges, guided by
a wise superior. They should have enormous love and respect for their
countrymen, with the will to do good and ensure
justice. They would be almost like the knights of the Middle
Ages or the Marshals of the old west. They would keep a watchful eye over the
acts of the president, parliamentarians, government officials and report to a
joint panel of parliamentarians and judges of the highest order.
The government
The
government shall be small, efficient and dynamic. It will be run by
professional bureaucrats held responsible directly to the president and
regularly answerable to the parliamentary overseeing committees. The government
will only be responsible to look after the activities of the private
entrepreneurs. With the private entrepreneurs running most of the country, the
government will only have direct control over tax collection, internal and
external security, education, land management and shaping an overall view and
direction of the country.
The
government should at every level maintain a close contact with its customer
(the people). In this era of mass communication and internet connectivity, most
effective use of this should be done. The office should be mostly paperless and
chain of command should be intermingled, top to bottom and bottom to top,
rather then the bureaucrat model of top to bottom only.
The local government
As the
country will be a city country rather than a village country (more explanation
follows), every activity of citizen comfort from swiping the roads to
constructing the roads should be done by private entrepreneurs under the
watchful eyes of the elected representatives. The local government
representatives should be elected by popular vote only to watch over the
private entrepreneurs, other than that every activity of local government
should be under private management who would operate for profit.
The economy
If let to
perform the private individuals and corporate can perform wonders. Based on
this principal the whole country should be run as a private business entity to
perform the best. The government will only have a watchful eye over the private
entrepreneurs through its independent commissions and from time to time set an
overall direction for the country to stir to.
The only
few areas of economy where the government should have a tight control is the
prices of basic food grains. The prices of daily necessities should be tightly
control (keeping in mind both the interest of the consumer and producer) through
a strong consumer protection agency, an agency as strong as any law enforcement
organization.
The
citizens should pay a bare minimum tax, calculated based on their income minus
necessary expenses. As the country is run as a private business entity citizens
will only pay for the services they need. Corporate should pay a lump sump tax
on their sales and profit, thus enabling them to lower the prices (ensured by
strong consumer protection agency) and in return help to increase consumer
expenditure.
The banking
system should in total get rid of the interest based system and act as
investment banks. Investment banks have a more profound impact in stimulating
the economic activities of the country whereas the interest based current day
banking system hinders investment, creates idol money and decreases overall
economic activity.
Industrialization
is a must for development. But mass industrialization has a massive price to
pay in terms of environmental pollution, keeping this
in view specific industrial parks should be set up with detailed plans for
environmental safety. Under no circumstances rampant industrialization should
be permitted, be it for local needs or export. Human habitats and industries
must have a distinct barrier.
Agriculture
is the back bone of our country’s economy, but the given sorry status of lands
and agricultural methods we have little hope. For maximum production
agriculture should be mechanized, and more naturalized. Strong and efficient
farmer societies (not like the communist era one) should be established. Land
barriers, villages and roads should be got rid-off (explained more under “city
country”). Farmers should be trained, supplied with better equipment and
farmers should be more of a share holder and worker rather then landlords.
Basic necessities, food, education and housing
As stated
under economy basic food pricing should be strictly controlled and it should be
ensured that proper channels of food production and supply be maintained
throughout the country (off-course by private entrepreneurs). For this
government should use every means from subsidization to total control.
Education
should be made available to all through private organizations, provided that
the curriculum is fixed by the government. The curriculum of the primary level
should consist of religious education, science and outdoor free activities. The
mid level curriculum must also have religious education, science, social
science, vocational training and out door activities and sports. The higher
secondary level education should ensure that upon completion a person if wishes
could take on any kind of livelihood from farming to office clerk. After
completion of the higher secondary level (preferably by the age of 16-18) every
boy and girl should join the army for six to twelve months to learn the basics
of self-defense, first aid, fire fighting, basic army-discipline and rejuvenate
their commitment to their motherland. The higher level curriculum should be of
free choice based on the student’s desire and his/her level of performance.
This level of education should ensure that the country would have a diverse
combination of scientist, doctors, leaders, free thinkers and intellectuals.
The
schools at every level should have adequate open and class space. Under no
circumstances they should be cramp and crowded. At every level education should
be fun, interactive and knowledge based. Merits should be judged not only on
the basis of exam, but overall class interaction. At the end of every school
term children should be taken to different areas of the country to know their
motherland. Older students must be sent to hitch hiking and cross country
trips.
Basic
housing needs of everyone should be met. Under no circumstances people should
be lingering on the streets. Basic housing to all should be provided by the
government through the private entrepreneurs. Houses and plots should be well
planned with adequate rooms and wide roads.
The city country
A dream
that I have been carrying around for more then fifteen years is of a city
country, though off course I have picked up many finer details during the years
but the basic idea has remained the same, cities to house people in a planed
way with all necessities being made available. With the growing number of
people in the country we should forget the concept of village. Villages should
be melt down and turned to agricultural able lands. A
generation or two must suffer the emotional and psychological pain for the
betterment of the future generation. Cities and towns should be planed to
accommodate all our citizens. Moving everyone to the cities will ensure that
our nature gets a greater chance, more people is actively involved in economic
activities and provided with uninterrupted supply of pure water, sanitation,
power, education and health services and improve the overall human dignity.
An ideal
city should be planed from top to bottom, given that
only few of our cities are big this can be done very easily. An ideal city
should be centered by a mosque with big pond surrounded by beautiful garden.
The center would be surrounded by tall skyscrapers housing all the commercial
operations of the city, including the government offices. The downtown area
should then be surrounded by wide parks followed by planed high rise
residential area. In the middle other essential commercial activities such as
shops, hospitals etc. would be placed. The wholesale supply chain would be at
the edge of the city limit and preferably big super chain shops should be in
charge of supplying the citizens. The city roads should be wide and public
transport system should be the key to city transportation. Where ever possible
river ways and cannels should play an important role in carrying the people and
product of the city and maintain intercity connectivity.
No industry
should be allowed within the city limits, they might be set around or beside
the cities or suburban areas. In planning a city future options should be kept
in mind along with the important historical sites intact. Also in every
planning local environment and land setting should be evaluated carefully.
Should we
then forgot the openness and purity of the village? Off course not, the city
must have enough green area, the high-rises must be spacious, parks are to be setup at regular intervals. And as explained
in the education curriculum, everyone must be taken to nature every while.
Is or how is it possible?