Former New Zealand PM advises tolerance

Ex-prime minister of New Zealand James Bolger has said there is a scope for more university scholarships for Bangladeshi students to study in New Zealand, with a view towards benefitting both parties. “One area where I do believe we can see greater cooperation (between New Zealand and Bangladesh) is in university scholarships for Bangladeshis to come and study in New Zealand. Your students get to learn in very good universities, and our system benefits from having a more diverse student body,” Bolger said. Bolger, who was twice elected prime minister of New Zealand in the Nineties, was in Dhaka last week to gather support for his country’s bid to be elected as one of the 10 rotating members of the UN Security Council for 2015-16, in his new role as a special envoy of the current New Zealand premier John Key. He went on to advise more tolerance for Bangladeshis to make the best of democracy as a system of governance, reflecting upon the experience of New Zealand as one of the more mature democracies in the world today. “Tolerance for others’ views, tolerance for others’ beliefs, tolerance for their wants and needs. And from I’ve been able to gather about your culture and reading about your history and everything else, tolerance is a feature of your peoples’ way of life throughout history. What you must focus on now is how to translate that into the political process. “There will be teething problems, and you’re encountering some of them now, but overall, if you stick at it and find some way to imbue the politics with tolerance, you should do fine.” Bolger also said that the small existing population of Bangladeshis living in New Zealand are generally “good citizens”, and that his country’s experience of a proportional representation system of voting – aimed at tackling the problem of wasted votes in elections – had also been a good one since they implemented it in 1997, according to a news agency.