State of the Federation Address by BUFLA President
Nazrul Alam
BUFLA State of the Federation Address
by
Mr. Nazrul Alam
BUFLA-President
August 20, 2017
Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, respectable Community Members, honorable EC members, cabinet members, Associate members, Advisory council members, Board of Trustee members and all media personnel’s, Assalamu Alikum Warahmatullah and Adab to you.
As you know today is our first meeting and I would like to start my journey with showing my respect, recognition, remembrance and salute to our National Father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, General MAG Osmani, the commander-in-chief of the liberation arm forces in 1971, Shahid President Ziaur Rahman, the sector commander of the liberation arm forces in 1971, Mowlana Abdul Hamid Khan Bashani, Sheray Bangla AKM Fazlul Hoque, Hossain Shahid Sarwardi, Seven Bir Shresto, all Sector Commanders and all of our freedom fighters “I thank you - salute you and your families for your courage, your service and making the most extreme sacrifices possible.
This is my great pleasure & honor to welcome you all to the very first General Assembly (GA) meeting of the new Cabinet of BUFLA in 2017. My entire cabinet members and I are very much thankful to all of you for your kind presence here tonight. I would like to show my sincere gratitude to our BUFLA Executive Committee members for giving me the opportunity to serve you as a BUFLA President. I am very humbled to see your level of trust in me, which impressed me immensely. I am also very thankful to you for giving me a very talented, robust and promising cabinet.
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce my wonderful cabinet to you as follows:
Vice President: Mr. Murshedul Islam
He will work with me as a shadow of president. In case of my absence he will take the lead and run this Federation. He graduated from Rajshahi University and his major was marketing. He is the man with lot of sports experienced. He was a captain of Rajshahi University Volleyball team. He was a captain of Bangladesh power development board volleyball team. He is very well known in our community, a great community activist, a businessperson, our Vice President Mr Murshedul Islam.
General Secretary: Engr. Shahid Alam
As you know, General Secretary considered as heart of an organization. To keep an organization alive and active GS has a very vital role. BUFLA EC has elected a person as a General Secretary who is very proactive in the community, a known cultural figure and a great organizer in greater Los Angeles, he graduated from Khulna University of Engineer and Technology (KUET), he also graduated from Cal State University, Long Beach, and he is working for Caltrans as a professional Engineer; he also served Engineer Association (AABEA) as a general secretary in 2015- 2016, he also served bufla as a vice president last year. Ladies and gentlemen here is the handsome man Engr. Shahidul Alam, General Secretary of BUFLA.
Finance Secretary: Mr. Mohammad Haq Swapon, whose job is not only challenging but also requires honesty. BUFLA has approximately $100 thousand dollars transaction every year. To maintain our bank account bufla need a dedicated and experienced person in accounting. Bufla has chosen a person with similar background who manages a corporation's account.
Organizing Secretary: Mr. Chunnou Molik, I cannot emphasize enough how much I like his personality, he is always positive and optimistic. He is the shadow of general secretary and he will organize all the BUFLA event and program along with General Secretary. He graduated from Rajshahi University with major of political science. He is a businessperson lives in Santa Barbara, California.
Public Relation Secretary: Mr. Abdus Samad, as you know PRO has very significant role in our federation to promote federation’s activities beyond our community, PRO has very vital role. To perform this challenging job bufla has elected a very out spoken, self-motivated, on- line newspaper LA Bangla Times CEO, he is my young and talented brother Mr. Abdus Samad.
Cultural Secretary: Mrs. Anjumanara Sheulee, as you know cultural activities is a very big part of all bufla events. It requires lots of connections and enthusiasm. Bufla has chosen a sister who has served bufla 3 terms in past years as a GS, Treasurer and a cultural secretary. She is graduated from Chittagong University and Union Institute and University, Los Angeles, her major was psychology and child development. By profession she is pre-school teacher. She is sisterly loved in bufla family. Ladies and gentlemen here is our sister Anjumanara Sheulee.
This wonderful cabinet will give the services to you and to the greater community and together we will achieve the higher ground and take BUFLA to a new height.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
BUFLA has come a long way during the last 11 years since it was formed in 2006 with a message of unity and harmony for our big community in order to achieve bigger things. I would like to single out and show my respect to those founding members and organizations along with Dr. Mahbub Khan for your time and painstaking efforts
by each one of you. I want you to know that your time - - your commitment - - your positive attitude and your sacrifices are very, very appreciated. Whatever you did, your work is highly valued and truly makes a difference.
My kudos to all the past presidents and all the cabinet members, EC members and BUFLA Family members for your great contributions throughout the last decade, and as a result of which we are here today.
Today in my “State of the Federation Address”, I would like to mention to you a few plans that I have in my mind to improve BUFLA by keeping this vision in our mind, we are thinking of making the following changes and improvements in BUFLA as follows:
1. Bangladesh Independence Day Parade: Our primary goal is to present a very colorful and spectacular Bangladesh Day Parade on the occasion of Bangladesh Independence Day. The Bangladesh Day Parade organized by BUFLA is now the Spectacular world class Parade with Shaheed Minar, National Monument, Boat, Floats, Horses, rickshaw, Gigantic flags of Bangladesh and USA, Bands, Motor cycles, beautifully dressed parade participants in large numbers, dignitaries, ever increasing number of observers and spectators of the main stream American society on both sides of the 2 miles long parade route. In addition to that insha Allah we will do and bring some more surprises. That is one of the best ways that we are honoring and lifting up Bangladesh in front of the mainstream American society.
2. Organize the BUFLA office: The space where we are sitting now, we have this space for the last four years and Mr. Shiper Chowdhury and his cabinet set up this office during his tenure. We thank you Mr. Shiper Chowdhury and his cabinet for having this space as a BUFLA office also all the past presidents after Shiper Chowdhury who were able to kept the space as for BUFLA office and inshaAllah we will try our best to carry throw. We need to organize this office a little more. As you have seen it already started and insha Allah we will continue it.
A) So far we already made a new wall, changed the lighting system, redecorate the kitchen with shelves, redecorate wall with new picture frame highlighting the culture and natural beauty etc.
B) Computerize the office with a landline phone in which we can install an answering system to receive the guest calls so that we can call them back later on. We also want to have a computer with internet and printer to establish a digital system in BUFLA office.
C) Connect office television that works properly so that our members and guests can watch it and enjoy it when there is no meeting in session.
D) We already organized all Posters, Placards, Banners and other important materials in a very organized way in this office, so that we can find those things very easily when we need those during the Parade and other programs and any special occasions.
E) Increase utilization of the BUFLA Office: Health Care Service two times in a year, Quarterly Youth Program, Tutorial Classes of Students, Cultural Classes (Song and Dance), Language Classes (Bangla, Arabic, etc), and BUFLA Family Night
3. BUFLA Cabinet right and freedom of opinion: We respect all opinions and that is why we need to hear from every one. I give the liberty and freedom to our cabinet members to talk and to give their thoughtful input during our discussion on any motion at any meeting. I am always open and welcome different ideas, thoughts and changes.
4. BUFLA Standing Committees: Presidents and cabinet has rights to change anybody from any standing committee and I will make sure if someone performance is not satisfactory or poor then definitely I will take the necessary changes along with my cabinet advice. Definitely we will reorganize and reform the BUFLA Standing Committees and we will not put any name that does not have any contribution. Only the people who want to give genuine services, their name will be included in that standing committee. There will be a Coordinator who is most dedicated and this Coordinator is accountable for every aspect of that specific Standing Committee. The Coordinators will call their own meetings regularly, manage all relevant activities and they will give regular updates to the President.
5. BUFLA Scouts: In 2009 when Dr. Hashem was the first President he formed the BUFLA Scouts and since then it has a name but functionally it has been almost absent. I want to revive this Scout again and continue Dr. Hashem efforts this year. I request all parents of the community to please list your youth kids with us who want to serve as BUFLA Scouts and BUFLA Volunteers.
6. Job Fair/Seminars: BUFLA is already helping the community in various different ways. We can extend our hand to help those who are looking for jobs. We will collaborate with Bangladeshi Professionals working in different industry; there can be a job fair where Bangladeshi professionals and their peers be present for Bangladeshi job seekers. All jobs information will be posted into our BUFLA website so people can get information there.
7. Small Business Expo: Collaborate to arrange expo group in USA and Bangladesh for a business fair for Bangladeshi products such as real estate, garments and others export goods to USA. Business from Bangladesh can be present at this fair.
8. Reform BUFLA BOT: It has been a long time since we had the 5-members full bench of the Board of Trustees (BOT). According to the BUFLA Constitution, the EC will select 5 members of the BOT, but during the last several years only two or three members are serving in BOT. This time we will try to fix this issue and form the full bench of 5-members BOT.
9. Permanent BUFLA Office or Community Center: We have our rented BUFLA Office and we have been enjoying it during the last four years now. However, we will give our best effort to arrange a meeting with honorable community members along with some potential donor to discuss and get them on board about looking at some properties through a real estate agent with the long-term plan for a permanent community center project or permanent office for BUFLA and our community. Please be aware of it and give us your thoughts and ideas so that we can achieve this special goal.
10. BUFLA Charity: Dear Friends,
BUFLA Charity has grown very significantly during the last few years and has served many people locally as well as globally. A few examples are: Rehabilitation of
Freedom Fighters, Feeding the homeless, Winter Blanket and Jacket distribution to the needy, Scholarship for the Distressed children, Helping the Handicapped children, Dhaka University Alumni Association scholarship, Grave plots for the needy, Natural disaster relief, Family emergency relief, Health clinic with Flu-shots, Self-reliance projects (cattle, sewing machine), Tube well for Arsenic free drinking water, etc. With all of your support, BUFLA Charity is growing very rapidly to serve many more needy people locally as well as globally including Bangladesh.
The fact is that for all of our Charity activities during the last several years, all the money came from the donation by our community members. BUFLA has the 501(c)(3) tax exempt status and we should effectively explore the Charity funding potentials from the Federal, State, County and City Offices, as well as from the Corporate funding for Charity. Former president Mr. Shiper Chowdhury is the Coordinator of the Charity Committee now. I really want to appreciate his painstaking effort. In our two years of tenure, there is a huge possibility that Charity will flourish more which will help BUFLA to flourish in serving the humanity. I echo former president Mr. Enamul Hamid conviction; he said in his inauguration speech BUFLA will flourish only when BUFLA Charity will flourish. InshaAllah with all of your support, contribution and donation BUFLA charity will exceed $100,000 during our term.
11. Meet the Public & Organization: Since I become a president I start meeting with many of the organizations, the community leaders, many community members and also most of the media personnel’s in Los Angeles. I am very optimistic and inshaAllah with all of your support and positive cooperation’s we will be able to bring most of these organizations in BUFLA: Bangladesh Awami League, California State Awami League, Friends Club, Boishakhi Mela, Bengali Heritage, Narayanganj Shamity, Chittagong Association of California, BAMNA, Bangladesh Community of Inland Empire (BCIE), Orange County Boishakhi Mela/Summer festival group, Valley Association, Little Bangladesh press club, Rehana Nanir Boishakhi Mela, etc.
I will also not entertain any personal issues during our term. BUFLA is a big family now where we all get together as families from time to time. So we should be very careful about the environment. We always maintain a good quality environment at BUFLA and we must always continue to do so. We will not allow anyone to pollute the environment. Polluter will be immediately expelled from BUFLA. BUFLA is not a place to do any type of violence. Violator will be punished and expelled from BUFLA right way. BUFLA is a place where a lot of good people have assembled here to form a very healthy environment. I have learned lot of good things in the BUFLA environment, and I am still learning. If someone wants to learn some good things then they should come to BUFLA and learn it. We are maintaining a very high level of democracy, accountability, transparency and discipline in BUFLA.
12. Sponsors: We have several good sponsors for BUFLA from the very beginning, who have always been with us and have helped us. Among the major sponsors, we have Mr. Belayet Hossain of Dhaka Home has always helped us in his good time, and even during any bad time he still helped us and he never left us. Thank you Mr. Belayet Hossain for your continue help and support. Another sponsor Mr. Moazzem Hossain Chowdhury has been very kind to help us and give us a big support during the last three years. We thank Mr. Moazzem for your generous contribution. Our great sponsor Dr. Kali Pradip Chaudhuri has always been with us but I believe this time he is going to show some Charismatic role in BUFLA Parade. We thank you Dr. KPC for your ongoing generous support and encouragements. We also thank Mr. Saiful Haq for his generous sponsorship during the last three years. I am also thankful to every donor, every advertiser, all cultural artists, all media personnel’s and all of our well wishers. In our term, I want your true cooperation with full hearted support and help. Together we can have a very colorful and spectacular Parade this year. That is our primary goal and we are committed.
13. Celebrate BUFLA 12yrs Anniversary: We are planning and optimistic that with all of your support and cooperation inshaAllah we will celebrate BUFLA 12 year’s anniversary sometimes next year.
May God bless BUFLA, Long live Bangladesh and May God bless USA, the United States of America.
Nazrul Alam
President
Bangladesh Unity Federation of Los Angeles (BUFLA)
Phone: (818) 469 4300
Email: nal...@hotmail.com