Episodes of my life, amazing it may sound

-Jamal Hasan

Our life’s journey may not be always smooth sailing. There may be pitfalls or temporary setbacks as we move forward.

Almost two decades ago I landed a job at the headquarters of U.S. Census Bureau, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. After I got the appointment letter I was a bit hesitant in taking the offer. The main reason for my indecision was the long commute from my residence. Finally I decided to get on with my new profession, which I do not regret till this day.

Within a few weeks after I stepped into a new professional situation I began to receive well wishes from my friends and associates. One of the admirers was my associate Eli Rosenbaum, the OSI Chief of the U.S. Department of Justice. In his congratulatory note Eli remarked I would be immersed in the serene green surrounding of Washington, D.C.’s suburbia.

At the beginning of my Census Bureau life we worked at an old hospital building built during World War II. On August 7, 2006 we were transferred to a new magnificent building. I felt like we moved to something like the spaceship Enterprise of the sci-fi series “Star Trek”. I am enclosing a photo of the humongous building.

I have many good memories of my Census Bureau days. I recall U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visited our facility on July 22, 2009. During his visit, the Commerce Secretary sworn in Dr. Robert Groves as the 23rd director of the U.S. Census Bureau. I had a chance to meet the Commerce Secretary. One enclosed photo taken in 2010 shows the U.S. Census Bureau Director and the Commerce Secretary in front of a visual presentation.

At the Census Bureau the most significant role I played when I got involved in the population census of my native land Bangladesh. Mr. William Peil of the Bureau’s Economic Census Data Collection and Management Division and a few other U.S.  Census Bureau officials were in Bangladesh to help Bangladesh government in their population census. He told me Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics was their temporary work station. They installed computers and stored millions of forms in their work place. Mr. Peil said conducting a population count of a country of more than 150 million people in five days was not at all an easy task. As a native Bengali speaker I was given the responsibility of helping Mr. Peil’s Division to construct a set of questionnaire in Bengali for Bangladesh government. Within a few weeks we finished the project. Later on the Bengali forms were used in Bangladesh population census.

After the completion of the project the officials of the Bureau’s Economic Census Data Collection and Management Division and I were brainstorming of how to tell the Bangladeshi audience the Bangladesh population census story. I was chosen to be the coordinator for Dr. Robert Grove’s interview with the Voice of America’s Bangla Service. Finally, on September 13 of 2011 the U.S. Census Bureau Director talked to the Voice of America interviewer where he elaborately discussed our bureau’s involvement in making Bangladesh population census a success. Here is a link to a report on the Director Grove’s VOA Bangla interview:
https://usanewsonline.com/2012/02/07/the-us-census-bureau-directors-voice-of-america-interview-how-it-occurred/

Two decades before I started my professional life at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s branch organization U.S. Census Bureau, I was serving Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau, a part of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Commerce. As an Assistant Director (International Trade Organization), I was handling Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) matters. The GSP provides duty-free treatment to goods of designated beneficiary countries. The program was authorized by the Trade Act of 1974 to promote economic growth in the developing countries and was implemented on January 1 of 1976.  At the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau, I was assisting one United Nations Adviser (assigned to EPB) for creating a database of Bangladesh’s GSP goods. One of the enclosed photos depicts the Export Promotion Bureau staff with the bureau’s Vice Chairman during the foundation ceremony of Dhaka’s World Trade Centre on March 17, 1980.

Things were going well with me at the Export Promotion Bureau until one fateful day in April. It was the first day of April, 1980. One high official of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Commerce advised his assistant to send a telex to Bangladeshi Embassy official in Geneva, Switzerland. The message was nothing but an open invitation for favoritism. According to the telex message the Commerce Ministry official was the primary candidate to participate in the GATT (United Nations body) sponsored course. The telex message clearly shows the Commerce Ministry official was outraged seeing GATT authority had selected me, the alternate candidate for the course. He was asking the Bangladeshi Embassy official in Geneva to lobby for his participation. The course was “GATT Commercial Policy – Second Special Course for Least Developed Countries: 28 July – 25 Aug 1980.”  I am enclosing the copy of the GATT letter sent to me. For the sake of privacy, I have omitted the names on the image of the telex message.

It is a matter of sheer coincidence a copy of the telex message came to my hand. I was very much disturbed. Soon I realized my lobbying effort at the bureau was not bearing fruit. Finally, I submitted my grievances to other agencies. Within a month the Chief of a governmental agency sent a letter to one of the Ministers of Commerce in Bangladesh (Equivalent to Deputy Secretary of Commerce in USA) inquiring about the situation. After receiving the letter that Commerce Minister was livid. He told the Export Promotion Bureau management no one would be going to Geneva.

The story does not end there. Within two years of that telex incident I started my new career at the state owned Bangladesh Television as a News Producer. One fine morning General H.M. Ershad grabbed the country’s power in a bloodless coup and made himself the Chief  Martial Law Administrator. In a matter of days the military strong man resorted to arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of his assumed political opponents.

One day I was sent to a military tribunal for reporting. After I set foot in the military court an army officer briefed me on the defendant’s profile, who was arrested on corruption charges. I was astounded to know the defendant was none other than the Commerce Minister, who only two years ago was the ultimate decision maker of Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau. The army officer also told me that the four members of the five-member military court opted for the defendant’s life sentence while the youngest member, an air force officer wanted the defendant to be sent to the gallows.

Here I conclude the three chapters of my not so colorful life.