Ambassador Moriarty's Remarks for Rotary Club of Biratnagar

New Board of Directors Installation
July 29, 2005
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Namaste.

Mr. Umed Singh Dugar, President of the Rotary Club of Biratnagar;
Dr. Kumar Narayan, Immediate Past President;
Dr. Mamata Varma, President of the Rotary Club of Biratnagar Downtown;
Mr. Beni Gopal Mundra, Assistant Governor;
District Officials of Rotary;
Fellow Rotarians;
Local Dignitaries;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for the invitation to this 29th installation ceremony of the new Board of Directors for the Rotary Club of Biratnagar and the charter presentation of the Rotary Club of Biratnagar Downtown.  In the presence of you who have so finely served your community and the world, I am honored to be able to have a small part in your upcoming activities by installing the Board.

The first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress, Shirley Chisholm, once said, “service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth.”

If that is true, surely people in this room have paid their rent many times over.  As Rotarians, you know that service to your country, to your community, to your family, and to any person you meet is service done for the whole world.

Rotary is of course one of THE exemplary global organizations in the world today for business and professional leaders.  Its emphasis on humanitarian assistance, high ethical standards for its members, and peace and goodwill are something to which we can all aspire.  There are approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belonging to more than 31,000 Rotary clubs located in 167 countries.  You in Biratnagar have one of the oldest Rotary Clubs in Nepal—that is something to be very proud of.
 
I understand that one of your major recent accomplishments was securing $350,000 for programs at the Koshi Zonal Hospital with the cooperation of a Rotary Club in Denver, Colorado.  Congratulations on this significant contribution to Nepal, and I’m thrilled that your sister club in the United States was able to help.  It’s a great example of what dedicated people can do when they work together.

Working together, pulling together, coming together for the sake of others is exactly what Nepal needs at this critical juncture in her history. The need of the hour is reconciliation.  It’s a path I believe deeply in, and I imagine that you—as people dedicated to working together for your community—understand this path as well. 

The United States is determined to stay involved to help Nepal become a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic country.  We believe the only way toward all those objectives is reconciliation between the legitimate political forces for the good of all Nepalis. 
It’s not just your future; it’s your children’s future that is at stake.  The hour is urgent.  The need is clear.  The way forward is reconciliation.

I get asked all the time why the United States is so keenly interested in Nepal.  Our concern over regional stability is of course one factor.  With a violent, ideological Maoist insurgency desiring to take over the state and then to export its revolution to peaceful neighbors, there is much to worry about.  But our other concern is something that my President has in fact pinned his second term on: freedom. As a nation defined by both liberty and democracy, the United States wishes to see the expansion of both around the world.  We believe freedom is a birthright, and that a rights-based democracy is the best way to balance majority desires and minority protections.

In your 12 years of active democracy, Nepal achieved much to be proud of.  Literacy rates improved, roads were built, development accelerated, foreign investment went up. Young democracies however never sail on calm seas. 
Undeniably, there was corruption and faltering policies and chaos in the political institutions.  But that happens in every young democracy. Look at my own country in the first decades of its democracy. Things were surely chaotic.  We know how challenging it can be to develop democratic institutions.

In fact, Nepal would be just one of many newly developing democracies around the world -- struggling, but slowly creating a new democratic space -- if it were not for one thing: the Maoist insurgency.  Some have painted the insurgents as a group of socialists who just want to give more rights to the downtrodden and to get the government to pay attention to rural peoples and social justice.  The Maoists own words say otherwise.  They want to collectivize agriculture -- a recipe for mass starvation.  They want to re-educate class enemies -- a plan to wipe out educated, free-thinking people.  They want to export their revolution -- a war that would threaten all of South Asia. 
 
We can never forget that we are dealing with ideological fanatics who have all the violent hallmarks of Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot.  Theirs would not be a regime of benevolent socialism.  It would be an authoritarian assault on all free Nepalis.

Clearly, democracy in Nepal has been dealt a blow by the actions of February 1.  The United States termed February 1 a big step back from democracy, and we have seen little movement that would support the stated desire to return to full civil liberties and a multiparty system.  While we hope that there will soon be such movement, progress thus far has been insufficient.  The Palace must reach out to the political parties and prove the government is democratic in both word and deed.

For their part, the political parties must keep an open mind and accept a hand, if offered.  That doesn’t mean accepting everything the government says at face value, but it does mean being willing to negotiate in good faith to find a solution to Nepal’s problems.
The common minimum program by the seven parties is a good start -- we are pleased they are working together in a broad coalition.  But obviously an eighth actor needs to be included, if Nepal is to progress -- the Palace.  In fact, if the parties are not satisfied with the government’s proposal of municipal elections, they should make clear that they are ready to discuss all ideas in order to find a common path forward to a functioning democracy.  That’s what political parties do.  They compromise, they discuss, they form coalitions, they work together to create policies and governments that fulfill the will of the people.

You, the people want reconciliation.  You want peace.  The way to achieve peace is with a democratic government united against the Maoist assault on Nepal.

For the sake of Nepal’s children -- your children --the children caught in the conflict outside Kathmandu, the children who now carry guns, the children who only want education and jobs and a peaceful future, the children who will one day grow up to govern this country -- the Palace and the parties should rise above their differences and come up with a plan to work together.  Otherwise there may not be a country to govern.

You Rotarians know what working together means.  It means putting service to the state, to the community, to the people above oneself.  You know that better than most.  Please use your influence and your good works to encourage that reconciliation, that working together.  Biratnagar is a city known for its political activism, for citizens who care about the future of Nepal.  Perhaps it is here that reconciliation can begin.

Again, I want to congratulate the new members of the Board of Directors and the Rotary Club of Biratnagar Downtown.  Your service and good works are a credit to Rotary and to yourselves.  I’m sure the next year will bring even more projects to promote humanitarian service, ethics, and peace.  You’ve set high standards for yourselves, and I’m sure you’ll meet them.  My best wishes for another wonderful year.

Thank you.