People’s Will, Not Mine – 85-year-old Yunus Shares Why He Stepped Into Bangladesh’s Political Hot Seat

By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Bernama) -- Age has not slowed down Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus, 85, who could have chosen a quiet life of retirement, far from the turbulence of Bangladesh’s national transition. 

Instead, he now finds himself in the centre of a political change, sitting in a hot seat to take up a role that he described not as ambition but a duty he has to perform.

Yunus, the Chief Adviser to the Government of Bangladesh, responding to questions at a recent interview here, quickly says it was never about him but the people.

“It’s not me. It’s the people who want this change. I am just helping them to go the way they want,” Yunus told Bernama, in an exclusive interview at the end of his three-day official visit to Malaysia.

He was in the country at the invitation of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from Aug 11 to 13.

“I don’t impose anything of my own. I just wait to see what the will of the people is, and then I facilitate it,” he said in a conversation with Bernama Editor-in-Chief Arul Rajoo Durar Raj, together with Editor of International News Service Voon Miaw Ping and Assistant Editor of Bernama Economic Service Kisho Kumari Sucedaram.

For a man who earned global recognition as the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate for pioneering microfinance, stepping into the seat of political leadership was never part of his plan. However, he said, circumstances left him with little choice.

Yunus humbly describes his role, less as a leader, and more as a guardian of a democratic process long denied. Yet, he acknowledges the immense challenges ahead.

“There are many difficulties. Many people want to disrupt this, as the political elements that were ousted from Bangladesh are attempting to destabilise the entire system,” he said, adding that many first-time voters who came of age over the past decade and a half had never cast a ballot before.

He said some people had been waiting for 10 years, and some even 15.

“Imagine being 18 years old, excited to vote, but your chance never came because elections were never truly held. Now, they will be casting their vote for the first time in 15 years,” he explained.

His words carry the weight of hope for a national transition. Bangladesh’s next general election is scheduled for February next year.

The world-renowned economist and social entrepreneur was hand-picked by Bangladesh’s President Mohammed Shahabuddin to lead the transitional government on Aug 8, 2024, in the aftermath of the youth-led uprising that ousted former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and brought an end to her authoritarian rule.

Yunus’s journey of service began decades earlier, inspired by the Bangladesh famine of 1974. Moved to help those in dire need, he made a modest personal loan of just US$27 to 42 families, enabling them to produce goods for sale without the crushing burden of high interest under predatory lending. 

The Grameen Bank initiative began in 1976, as an action research pilot project in Bangladesh’s Chattogram district. By 1983, the project had evolved into a fully operational bank, with a mission to alleviate poverty and empower marginalised communities in Bangladesh through micro-credit.

According to data on the Grameen Bank website, as of June 2025, the bank has disbursed a cumulative total of US$40,368.61 million to 10.72 million borrowers, with women comprising an impressive 97 per cent of its membership since its inception.

-- BERNAMA