Saifur Rahman (Bangladeshi politician)

Bangladeshi politician (1932–2009)

Mohammad Saifur Rahman (6 October 1932 – 5 September 2009) was a Bangladeshi economist and politician. He was a leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the longest serving Finance Minister of Bangladesh. He delivered 12 national budgets in three terms between 1980 and 1981, 1991–1996 and 2001–2006 over a ministerial life spanning from December 1976 until October 2006 in three different governments. He was Trade & Commerce Minister for the first three years, and thereafter Finance and Planning Minister for 12 years. In 2005, Rahman was awarded Ekushey Padak, the highest state honor of Bangladesh. As a young man, he participated in the Bengali Language Movement of 1952, part of a growing nationalism. He was vice president of Salimullah Muslim Hall while at University of Dhaka. and served as the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh, and president of the United Nations Association of Bangladesh.

Rahman graduated from Moulvibazar Government High School in 1949 and did his Intermediate from Sylhet MC College in 1951. He graduated from Dhaka University with a B. Com (Hons) in 1953. The next year he went to London and studied to qualify as a Chartered Accountant; he earned his certificate from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. He became a specialist in monetary, fiscal and development economics.

Rahman joined a political coalition called the Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal in 1978, who were supporters of then president Ziaur Rahman. The party was formalized in September 1978 as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Saifur Rahman prepared a record 12 budgets in Bangladesh; he has been praised for opening up Bangladesh's economy in the early 1990s and pioneering major economic reforms. He contributed to the expansion of the economy after the restoration of parliamentary democracy. He served as a minister of Bangladesh for a total of 14 years. Together with the BNP, Rahman was successful in the general elections of 2001. Contesting on behalf of his party in the parliamentary constituency Moulvibazar 3, Saifur Rahman gained 52 per cent of the total votes. In another contest at the constituency Sylhet 1, Saifur Rahman secured 53 per cent of the total votes, again defeating a rival candidate from the Awami League. As per the constitution, Saifur had to leave blank one of his won constituencies to proceed the house session. He decided to leave the Moulvibazar 3 seat which was later retaken by his son M. Naser Rahman, also representing Bangladesh Nationalist Party. They had three sons and a daughter together. Duree died of cancer in 2003. His son M. Naser Rahman has followed him into politics; in 2001 by elections, he won his father's left constituency of Moulvibazar 3. His youngest son married a daughter of late Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, a renowned political figure and former Minister. Saifur's only daughter Saifa Rahman married Amer Siddiqi the son of late Mustafizur Rahman Siddiqi, also a former Minister and diplomat.

Rahman died in a road crash on September 5, 2009, in Brahmanbaria District on his way to Dhaka from his home district of Moulvibazar. Taken unconscious from the car, he was declared dead after being rushed to a hospital. On Friday he was in Sylhet visiting the shrines of Shah Jalal and Shah Paran, then headed for Moulvibazar. A total of five janazah prayers were held for Rahman, the first of which took place in Gulshan Azad Mosque, then at the BNP offices, Parliament buildings, Shahi Eidgah Maidan and Moulvibazar Government High School. The BNP began three days of mourning for the passing. Rahman was buried at his family graveyard beside his wife's grave in Baharmardan village after the prayers.

Saifur Rahman is credited with being the architect of Bangladesh's economic transformation and liberalization in 1990s by introducing VAT, tax reforms and free market policies. A M A Muhith, the Finance Minister, characterized Rahman's death as "a loss to the nation."