Muhammad Yunus has worn many hats in his storied career: economist, Nobel laureate, pioneer of microfinance, and, more recently, nemesis of the now-deposed authoritarian Sheikh Hasina, who pursued him relentlessly through the courts.
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But his latest role may be the most daunting yet: steward of a nation at a crossroads, tasked with rebuilding Bangladesh’s broken institutions, steering an anaemic economy hamstrung by corruption and mismanagement through a turbulent global trade environment and paving the way for elections he himself will not contest.
Yunus, 84, now serves as chief adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government. His mission? To undo the damage inflicted during Hasina’s 15-year reign and restore democratic norms.
Her regime “destroyed all institutions”, Yunus told This Week in Asia. The goal now, he said, was nothing less than to “lock the door for future such governments ever to evolve [again]”.
Hasina’s rule ended abruptly on August 5 last year, closing the chapter on a dynastic regime notorious for its political repression, untold fortunes siphoned off through cronyism, and allegations of torture and enforced disappearances.
Yet even in self-exile, she remains a thorn in the interim government’s side, hurling vitriolic insults and plotting a potential comeback from the sanctuary of neighbouring India.
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