Prof. Yunus is known around the world as the "Father of Microcredit" and a Bangladeshi, and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was just an icing on the cake. There are many others who received Nobel Peace Prize, but their demand and glory faded as soon as the next winner was announced. But, Prof. Yunus is an exception to the norm.

Five years after his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Prof. Yunus is still a highly esteemed Nobel laureate to the world. Universities, businesses, NGOs, governments, and other agencies around the world are constantly trying to secure a slot in his calendar. Some have been trying for years and still have not been able to get him to come, even if they are willing to pay a substantial sum of money.

So, I was not surprised when I read that the Norwegian so-called journalist (I would say irresponsible journalist) could not get an appointment with Prof. Yunus for six months. I have to say that when a journalist with the support of an interest group makes a documentary based on a ten-year old incident and only presents a part of the facts to the world to gain cheap popularity, that journalist is certainly a black sheep of the journalist community.

It was unfortunate that the same partial story received widespread coverage in all Bangladeshi news media and many joined this unfortunate smear campaign against Prof. Yunus. Thanks to the Norwegian government for the quick response to clear all the confusion, which made many look like fools as it was quite clear that the entire news episode was just a baseless smear campaign against Prof. Yunus.

It has been said by some people that an individual does not represent the image of a country. It is probably true in most cases. There are millions of us who represent Bangladesh to the word in our own ways. But, I would also like to say that our individual representation is extremely limited.

When Bangladesh tops the list of countries in corruption, extremist groups carry out acts of violence, political unrest and strikes hamper economic growth, then we need a bigger than life figure to counter all these negative images. We all should be proud that Prof. Yunus has been that positive figure representing Bangladesh around the world.

To a certain extent human beings are gullible; they have a proclivity to believe what they are told. At least initially. For many, however, first impression is their last impression, even if facts change. In an unfortunate manifestation of our lingering colonial mentality, this proclivity to believe takes a quantum leap if the message is packaged and delivered by a Westerner.

Bangladesh's lone Nobel Prize winner, and Bangladesh's face to the world, Professor Muhammad Yunus, has been the latest victim of our West-worshipping. By damaging Professor Yunus's image, the Denmark-Norway-triggered slander machine has tarnished Bangladesh's image much more.

The writer has spoken out against the machinations of neo-colonial organisations which takes devilish pleasure in highlighting the deficiencies of the developing nations, such as Bangladesh's corruption. Their surveys never target the horrendous crimes and wars the powerful nations perpetrate against the defenseless, poorer nations.

Bangladesh's corruption hurts only Bangladesh. Economic sanctions enacted by the powerful nations, and wars waged by the powerful nations destroy the economy and kill thousands of people in the poorer nations. Yet, these high crimes are never highlighted by western organisations. Unfortunately, we quote the reports as though they are the ultimate truth, and use those to club each other to death!

Professor Muhammad Yunus has been a public figure in Bangladesh for over 35 years. Of course, he has had his share of critics of his brand of microcredit, but even his harshest critic has never accused him of personal corruption. He is well known for his Spartan life style.

Yet when the Danish-Norwegian documentary questioned the transfer of funds between Grameen Bank and Grameen Kalyan, a matter that was satisfactorily resolved twelve years ago the Norwegians now tell us, without bothering to comprehend what the documentary actually said, the local press jumped all over Dr. Yunus, using incriminatory phrases such as, he "siphoned off" funds, to denigrate him.

Professor Yunus is a known quantity in Bangladesh, while the Danish journalist and the Norwegian television that aired his documentary are not. Yet, our press had no hesitation in embracing their worst allegations, and adding more negative heft of their own through their own prejudice. It is as though just because the Danes and Norwegians had said so, it must be true!

I have seen part of the documentary. At best it is shoddy journalism. They only interviewed the critics of Dr. Yunus and Grameen Bank, not their supporters. Yet, our naïve press accepted it as the gospel!

One has to wonder whether the misleading documentary offered some of Dr. Yunus's critics with the perfect opportunity to vent some of their deep-seated resentments of his success. After all, Kabi Guru Rabindranath Thakur, the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in 1913, had lamented 120 years ago about the fatal flaw in the Bengali psyche, "jealousy!"

In the past few days, the reports which has been published in significant parts of the Bangladeshi media has been the cause of deep sadness for me. I have come here to express that sadness to you. I feel that like me, many of my fellow citizens have been similarly hurt.

The charge leveled in the Microfinance related documentary shown on Norwegian television channel NRK has been completely misconstrued to show misappropriation of wealth and corruption on my part by this part of the media. In the documentary shown on NRK, it was shown that by transferring funds from one organization to another, Grameen Bank broke the agreement under which such grants were provided. There was never any mention of misappropriation or corruption.

In the Bangladeshi media, this has been misinterpreted and transformed with the result of numerous false charges of ‘misappropriation,' ‘fund seizure,' ‘make him take the stand,' etc against me. Grameen Banks' explanation into the matter was provided in the documentary, as was the letter provided by the Norwegian authorities stating their satisfaction over the steps taken by Grameen Bank to bring a resolution to the matter. But those who have distorted this news have not mentioned these documents anywhere in their published articles. After this inaccurate news broke out across the country, we again provided an explanation highlighting the truth of the matter.

The disagreement between NORAD and us was an honest disagreement. There was a discord between the two of us regarding modality. Other donors did not raise any objections with us about our modality. However, Norad did. We decided to reach a settlement over these objections so that our good relations with Norad would not be broken. Bangladesh Bank later gave their opinion that since Norad's fund was returned to Grameen Bank, the fund provided by SIDA should also be returned to Grameen Bank. We decided that not only SIDA funds, but also all other donor funds should be returned to Grameen Bank. By doing so, there shouldn't be any grounds for further dispute about this transfer of funds.

The Norwegian Government conducted a new investigation into this matter and in its report, along with the statement from the Honorable Minister for International Development, again stated that 12 years ago this matter was settled with Grameen Bank to their satisfaction. Their report stated that there was no issue of misappropriation or corruption in this dispute. They, in the attachments to their report, stated that: Grameen Bank "... is perhaps the single most successful development project in the world." That section of our media, which brought forth such false and misleading charges to their readers and viewers, once the charges had been proven false, did not feel the need to publish the truth. Indeed, many did not even feel the need to publish the rejoinder issued by the Indian High Commission to the statements falsely attributed to the Indian Prime Minister.

The lecture will be broadcasted live on 2nd October 2010 from noon to 2pm Quebec local time on http://www.goodnesstv.org/live