Sir Frank Peters wants justice

Sir Frank Peters

Sir,

For those who had not been listening, I would like to share something funny I heard on radio the other day that made me roll with laughter.

First and foremost, I openly declare I am an admirer of Sir Frank Peters.  He and I have never actually met, although I attended a talk he gave at Dhaka University.

It is widely known that Sir Frank is witty, intelligent, and one of the best Foreign Friends of Bangladesh we ever had, as he has proved countless times over the years.

He has shown great love for Bangladesh and refers to himself as a “half-Bengali”.

His achievements and good deeds are manifold and he’s the only person in the entire world who can boast of having three Bengali boys named ‘Frank Peters’ in his honour. Unfortunately, my wife and I are too long in the tooth or we would have raised the number to four... or even five!

All of that aside, I was listening to Sir Frank being interviewed on the BBC praising the Anti Discrimination Movement, Professor Yunus, and the Interim Government.

Referring to the three Bengali children who carry his name, the interviewer asked him, if he would change his name for one of Bengali origin.

Without skipping a heartbeat, Sir Frank responded: “No... but I am thinking of changing it by deed poll to Sir Frank Justice.”

“Justice? – That’s a bit of an odd name. Why that?” inquired the interviewer.

 “If I ever I decide to enter into politics in Bangladesh I could save heaps of money on campaign costs. Imagine countless numbers of people from all political parties marching in the streets, holding-up placards that screamed “JUSTICE”, and the people chanting, “We want JUSTICE! We want JUSTICE! We want JUSTICE!

“I would reap the benefits!” He replied, no doubt tongue-in-cheek.

God love him. May Allah always bless him.

Dr. Rabiul Islam,

Dhanmondi, Dhaka.