The Embassy of Bangladesh in Bangkok observed the National Mourning Day on Wednesday, 15th August 2018. On this day 43 years ago, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with most of his family members.
Bangabandhu Chair Professor Prof. Joyashree Roy at the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change, AIT along with Bangabandhu Scholar Hasan Mahmud and other students from Bangladesh at AIT joined the observance. Here is the translated version of the excerpt of a speech delivered by Prof. Joyashree Roy in Bengali during the ceremony at the Embassy of Bangladesh in Bangkok:
“It is a practice that any holder of Chair (named after a personality/institution) professor position tries to uphold and advance the ideals of the person/institution. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during his liberation movement in 1971 desired to create a Golden Bengal for well being of people of Bangladesh. He named the country driven by culture, tradition and language - Bangla. He started building Bangladesh with international cooperation. Today when development discourse talks of tradition, culture and language to sustain traditional knowledge and international cooperation for enhancing technology and knowledge exchange for faster transition on sustainable development pathway it is heartening to see Bangabandhu started practicing that in early seventies. To me ideal of Golden Bengal, attainment of Developed country status for Bangladesh by 2041 on Sustainable development pathway are closely interlinked. With deep homage to the great leader of the world -Bangabandhu – whom I always remember with other names like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mendela, I wish to express my desire to work with cooperation from Bangladesh Government, researchers and students in revisiting road map for Sustainable energy solutions for Bangladesh with gratitude.” - Prof. Joyashree Roy.
Bangabandhu Chair Professor Joyashree Roy (center) and Bangabandhu Doctoral Scholar Hasan Mahmud (right) with Ambassador of Bangladesh Her Excellency Saida Muna Tasneem (left) during the the National Mourning Day on Wednesday, 15th August 2018.