Back-to-back meetings, official as well as private, while touching base with political and business leaders in Bangkok, are what defined the schedule of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus during his visit to Thailand on April 3-4 to attend the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) summit.
But when he granted the Bangkok Post an exclusive interview hours before his scheduled departure from Thailand last week, the 84-year-old still looked upbeat and was hopeful about his present task of leading, and helping to build, a new Bangladesh.
Prof Yunus is chief adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh, a position he took in August 2024 after youth-led demonstrations toppled the Hasina government, a watershed moment critics call "Bangladesh's second Independence".
A sweeping national reform is underway in the judiciary, banking and other sectors, said Prof Yunus, under the "July Charter", a paper still being drafted and a reference to the July 2024 revolution.
"The commitment is, for the young people who made this happen, to create a new Bangladesh. The old Bangladesh was full of corruption, torture, and atrocities. And we want to move away from that to rule of law and human rights."
"We constituted a number of commissions to report back on how we must change the system. Then there will be an election by December or [if the reform takes more time] it could be in June 2026."
Last week, Bangladesh received the Bimstec chairmanship for the next two years from Thailand.
In his statement, Prof Yunus assured that Bangladesh remains steadfast in upholding the constitutional rights of all its citizens, including women and members of ethnic and religious minorities.
He also called for more visible and proactive measures by Bimstec to engage Myanmar in fostering stability in the Rakhine State, thereby creating a conducive environment for the return of forcibly displaced Rohingyas to their land.
CHANGE THE SYSTEM
Through Grameen Bank, an institution he founded in 1983 in Bangladesh to provide microlending services to the poor, Prof Yunus' work has always been about changing the system.
"The banking system is based on the principle that the more you already have, the more I'll give you, but if you don't already have something, then I won't give you anything at all.
"I said 'that's wrong. It should be the other way round'. So this is how the idea of microlending was born."
The Nobel Laureate is no stranger to Thailand. In 2020, he co-founded Yunus Thailand, a foundation to promote microfinance and social business mobility and to build a social business economy in Thailand, in collaboration with local organisations and educational institutions.
Preparations are underway to set up a Thailand branch of Grameen Bank towards the end of this year.
In Thailand, Prof Yunus believes that Grameen Bank could offer an alternative to informal debt problems and loan sharks.
"Desperation is what leads people to loan sharks, but once you get in, you can never get out.
"Grameen bank began with fighting the loan sharks out. With microlending, people pay back out of their own interests. The more you pay back, the more [funds] you get."
He also believes in Thai people's entrepreneurial spirit; all they need is access to funding. In recent months, Yunus Thailand has helped to empower 50 women entrepreneurs in the southern province of Satun to produce a seaweed product.
The focus is on supporting women in the community, as Grameen Bank has done in dozens of countries around the world for decades.
"Women have the determination and willingness to change their lives. Once you give them the opportunity, they will work hard to make sure this opportunity doesn't disappear."
"Thai people are entrepreneurial; we don't have to teach them, but if you don't have access to money, your mind sleeps," he said.
