Abul Maal Abdul Muhith Explained

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith
Native Name:আবুল মাল আব্দুল মুহিত
Native Name Lang:bn
Office:Minister of Finance
Primeminister:Sheikh Hasina
Term Start:6 January 2009
Term End:7 January 2019
Successor:Mustafa Kamal
Predecessor:Mirza Azizul Islam (acting)
President1:A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury
Hussain Muhammad Ershad
Predecessor1:Saifur Rahman
Successor1:Hussain Muhammad Ershad
Term Start1:27 March 1982
Term End1:31 January 1984
Office2:Member of Parliament
Term Start2:6 January 2009
Term End2:7 January 2019
Predecessor2:Saifur Rahman
Successor2:AK Abdul Momen
Constituency2:Sylhet-1
Party:Bangladesh Awami League
Birth Date:25 January 1934
Birth Place:Sylhet, Assam Province, British India
Death Place:Dhaka, Bangladesh
Nationality:Bangladeshi
Father:Abu Ahmad Abdul Hafiz
Mother:Syeda Shahar Banu
Resting Place:Sylhet

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith (25 January 1934 – 30 April 2022)[1] was a Bangladeshi economist, writer, civil servant, secretary, diplomat and politician. He served as the finance minister of the government of Bangladesh from January 2009 until January 2019.[2]

Early life and education

Abdul Muhith was born on 25 January 1934, to a Bengali Muslim political family in Sylhet. His father, Abu Ahmad Abdul Hafiz, a judge by profession, was one of the founders of the Sylhet branch of the All-India Muslim League and took part in the Pakistan Movement.[3] His mother, Syeda Shahar Banu, was one of the leading women of the Bengali language movement. He was the third child in a family of fourteen children. His younger brother is AK Abdul Momen, former minister of foreign affairs for Bangladesh, and his sister is Shahla Khatun, a physician and National Professor of Bangladesh.[4] [5]

Abdul Muhith passed the matriculation exam from Sylhet Government Pilot High School in 1949. He secured first place in his Intermediate examination in 1951 from Murari Chand College. He stood first class first in B.A. (Hons.) in English literature in 1953 from the University of Dhaka and passed his master's with credit from the same university in 1955. While in service to the government, he studied at the University of Oxford during 1957–1958.[6] He completed his Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard University in 1964.[7] [8]

Early career

Abdul Muhith served as the general secretary of the central committee of the Pakistan Civil Service Association during 1960–1969. He joined the Pakistan Embassy in the United States as an economic counselor in 1969. In 1966, he was honoured with the Tamgha e Khidmat award by the Pakistan government. During his service as the chief and deputy secretary of Pakistan Planning Commission, he made a report on the discrimination between East and West Pakistan and that was the first submitted report on that issue in Pakistan National Congress. He was the first diplomat of Washington Embassy who showed his consent in favour of Bangladesh giving up the side of Pakistan during the Independence War of 1971. He was appointed the secretary of planning in 1972 and secretary of the External Resource Department of the Finance and Planning Ministry in 1977.

Retirement and return

Abdul Muhith went for self-retirement in 1981 from his service and then he started his second innings of his career as the specialist of economics and development in Ford Foundation and in the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He became finance and planning minister in 1982–83. Next, he worked as the specialist of different institutions of World Bank and the United Nations. He has been a recognised figure in the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, IDB and in different organisations of United Nations. He was the visiting fellow of Princeton University in 1984 and 1985.

Abdul Muhith took oath as the Finance Minister of Bangladesh government on 6 January 2009 and in August 2009 he inaugurated the building of the Benapole Customs and Immigration Check Post.[9]

Abdul Muhith retired from the government and from his role as a Jatiya Sangsad member for the Sylhet-1 constituency at the elections of December 2018. His younger brother AK Abdul Momen succeeded him as the constituency representative.

Personal life

Abdul Muhith was married to designer Syeda Sabia. Their daughter, Samina Muhith, is a banker and an expert in the field of monetary policy. Their elder son, Shahed Muhith, is an architect, and younger son, Samir Muhith, is a teacher.[4]

On 5 March 2022, Abdul Muhith was taken to Green Life Hospital in Dhaka due to illness.[10] He died on 30 April 2022 at United Hospital.[11]

His funeral (1st namaz-e-janaza) was held on the premise of Gulshan Azad Masjid in the capital of Dhaka.[12]

Criticism

Abdul Muhith had faced criticism for his handling of the 2011 share market crash.[13] [14] He admitted to his mistakes in decisions related to the stock market in addition to the mistakes of the Security and Exchange Commission.[15] Although the opposition leaders and protesting investors had called for his resignation, he refused and defended his position. He had appointed a probe committee to investigate the allegations against the Security Exchange Commission, however this also attracted criticism towards him as he consequently refused to publicly disclose the names of those accused of chicanery by this committee. Abdul Muhith became the center of a criticism after he had commented on the Hallmark money scam that the Tk 4,000 crore embezzled was a "meager amount". He later apologized for his statement.[16] Muhith had been criticised for consistently insulting Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and terming his comments as "totally rubbish" and also for saying Yunus has no integrity over the Grameen Bank issue.[17] In September 2015, Abdul Muhith faced widespread criticisms for his remarks against the movement of public university teachers of Bangladesh seeking a separate pay scale. He later apologized for his remarks. At the same time, controversy was caused by VAT being imposed on the Bangladeshi private university education system:[18] During this time, he made remarks that private university students receives 1000 taka pocket money per day in order to justify the VAT on private university bill. This caused much uproar among the private university students. Muhith defended this decision.[19]

Works

Notes and References

  1. News: 2022-04-30 . Former finance minister AMA Muhith no more . 2022-05-01 . The Daily Star . en.
  2. Web site: http://pressinform.portal.gov.bd/site/page/773a8ddf-c411-4654-9ba9-d821147e1a40 . dead . bn:মন্ত্রিগণের জীবনবৃত্তান্ত . Cabinet Biographies . 12 March 2015 . Press Information Department, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh . bn . https://web.archive.org/web/20150313165211/http://pressinform.portal.gov.bd/site/page/773a8ddf-c411-4654-9ba9-d821147e1a40 . 2015-03-13 . 2018-09-19.
  3. Web site: http://sylhetsadar.sylhet.gov.bd/site/page/5a02709b-0757-11e7-a6c5-286ed488c766/%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%96%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A4%20%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC . bn:সংরক্ষণাগারভুক্ত অনুলিপি . bn . 31 December 2018 . . 16 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180616030203/http://sylhetsadar.sylhet.gov.bd/site/page/5a02709b-0757-11e7-a6c5-286ed488c766/%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%96%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A4%20%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC.
  4. News: http://www.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/article/1066685/%E2%80%98%E0%A6%9C%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%9F%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A7%9F%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BF-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B7%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%9F%E2%80%99 . bn:জীবনটা নিয়ে আমি সন্তুষ্ট . . bn . 25 January 2017.
  5. News: Momen: Economic diplomacy will be my focus . 2019-01-07 . Dhaka Tribune . 2020-01-06.
  6. News: Muhith's life entwined with Bangladesh . The Daily Star . 20 February 2016.
  7. Web site: A Brief Lifesketch of Finance Minister . Ministry of Finance, Government of The People's Republic of Bangladesh . https://web.archive.org/web/20110927131048/https://mof.gov.bd/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=1 . 2011-09-27.
  8. News: Muhith wants to retire . Dhaka Tribune . 6 April 2017 . 2018-02-18.
  9. News: Padmanabhan, Mohan . Mohan Padmanabhan . Petrapole, Benapole Customs points to get facelift soon . The Financial Express . Dhaka . 10 August 2009 . https://archive.today/20120911235020/http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2009/08/10/75648.html . 11 September 2012 . 2009-08-14 . live.
  10. News: Ex-finance minister AMA Muhith hospitalised . 7 March 2022 . The Business Standard . 5 March 2022 . en.
  11. News: 2022-04-30 . Ex-finance minister AMA Muhith passes away . 2022-04-29 . The Business Standard . en.
  12. Web site: jagonews24.com . First namaz-e-janaza of Muhith held at Gulshan . 2024-04-24 . jagonews24.com . en-US.
  13. News: Muhith must resign for stock crash . 2011-10-18 . The Daily Star . 24 January 2011.
  14. News: I won't resign: Muhith . 2011-10-18 . bdnews24.com . 20 June 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120321154116/http://bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=2&id=198890&hb=top . 2012-03-21.
  15. News: Stock crash: Muhith admits mistakes . 2011-10-18 . The Independent . Dhaka . 22 January 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120331144247/http://theindependentbd.com/paper-edition/frontpage/129-frontpage/30382-stock-crashmuhith-admits-mistakes.html . 2012-03-31.
  16. News: Juberee . Abdullah . 7 September 2012 . Hallmark remarks Muhith offers apology . New Age . https://web.archive.org/web/20121116150045/http://newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-09-07&nid=22892 . 2012-11-16.
  17. News: Muhith terms Yunus's remarks totally rubbish . banglanews24.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20130927093938/http://www.banglanews24.com/English/detailsnews.php?nssl=0160134f4214329e47c0dadcb73f646f&nttl=2012090241098 . 2013-09-27.
  18. News: Private university students in Dhaka protest VAT on tuition fees . bdnews24.com . 12 September 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150913145209/https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2015/09/12/private-university-students-continue-vat-protests . 2015-09-13.
  19. News: Universities, not students to pay VAT: Muhith . The Daily Star . 10 September 2015 . 2016-01-14.
  20. News: Quest for knowing and understanding Bangladesh . The Daily Star . 19 September 2016 . 2016-09-22 . Alam, Shahid.