Bangladesh Association of NSW: Media Release

Bangladesh Association of NSW
65 Spurway Street, Ermington Nsw 2155

Media Release

The Bangladesh Association of NSW (BANSW) Inc. since its inception was engaged in promoting Bangladeshi culture and the image of the community within the broader Australian society. It also aims at promoting and nurturing our culture. We are happy to inform the community about the immediate recent activities in line with our broader objectives.

We have successfully implemented a pilot project with substantial funding from the Department of Immigration & Citizenship (DIAC). The project, “Know Thy Neighbour”, aimed at introducing the Bangladesh community, specially our children, with other religious groups in order to foster better understanding and forge greater co-operation with others. The Association places enormous importance in exposing ourselves to other communities.

As part of this mission of the Association, children, their parents and other members of the community joined a guided tour on 07/06/09 and visited Marugan (Hindu) Temple in Mays Hill, Anglican Church in Marrickville, Auburn Gallipoli Mosque & Tan Nein (Buddhist) Temple in Berkley (Wollongong). We were warmly received at every place of worship and our visit has generated a lot of interest about Bangladesh and its people. Other communities appreciated the Bangladeshi community as being very tolerant, peaceful and respectful of other religious and cultural values. We were overwhelmed by the positive feed back from the participants. The partial funding and co-operation from DIAC has been acknowledged by the Association in our meetings with others.

In view of the great success of this pilot project we have been contacted by many to organise similar activities in the future. Obviously, we value the opinion of our community members and will try to incorporate these activities along with many other activities we embark on each year.

In view of the recent unrest involving International students and their concerns regarding safety and other issues pertaining to their education and general welfare, Community Relation Commission (CRC) on 18/06/09 organised a meeting at Parramatta RSL. The Bangladesh Association of NSW was invited to participate. I am happy to report that we have attended the meeting and made some suggestions to be considered by the NSW Government Task Force on International students. Our proposals were well received. In this connection, we urge all Bangladeshi students on student visa to keep in touch with the Association and inform us of any problem faced by them so that we can raise their concerns with the appropriate federal and state governments.

BANSW has also received invitation to attend a meeting on 22/06/09 with the Regional Director (Designate) of DIAC for South Asia. This meeting was arranged to exchange views on service delivery for the Sub Continent. The meeting was very frank and open. More importantly, we have had a very fruitful discussion and we have advocated for improving customer service in Dhaka. We have also discussed some modalities and suggested ways of easing the process of granting various types of visa. We were assured that as a result of this consultation with us Bangladeshis can expect some improvement in the service delivery at the Australian High Commission in Dhaka. We once more thank the DIAC for this consultative initiative. Again, it is important that our community members inform us of any issues involving visa so that we can raise their concerns with appropriate authority.

The Association invites you on 19 July 2009 to its Annual Dinner, Prize Giving ceremony and Cultural Night at Marana Auditorium, Hurstville. Besides local artists there will be a young sensation from Bangladesh. We will have Bhadon, a distinguished musical talent, discovered by ‘Close Up 1’ to entertain you on the evening. The other highlight is the seating dinner arrangement. Ticket price is reasonable so it does not hurt your wallet. Ticket can be purchased from all Bangladeshi Grocery stores or by contacting the undersigned. Since seats are limited, please hurry and book your seat now.

BE PART OF THE BIGGER AND BRIGHTER PICTURE; JOIN US ON 19 JULY 2009 AT MARANA AUDITORIUM, HURSTVILLE. BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW

BANSW ENDEAVOURS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR YOU FOR A BETTER TOMORROW.

Sd/-
Nasim Samad
General Secretary
BANSW Inc.