A LETTER FROM CANBERRA
By Dhruba Adhikary
Nepal's entry into Canberra's diplomatic community in March this year appears to have been a quiet affair. A three-member team, headed by Charge d' Affaires Shanker Bairagi, landed in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to set up what would eventually be the Embassy of Nepal in the country occupying an entire continent. Budgetary and logistic considerations allowed the team to move ahead only slowly, yet steadily. Official courtesies and facilities, channelled through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, were obviously forthcoming. Contributions made by some enthusiastic Nepalis, remembers Bairagi, turned out to be equally encouraging. One effort led to another, and by the second week of May officials were successful in sending a note back home with detailed address of the place Embassy would operate from, at least until the time it is taken out to a more permanent location. The mission has become operational, and Nepalis who have begun seeking consular services include those from New Zealand and other countries in the neighbourhood. Opening of the Embassy here indeed represents a remarkable change from the days when Australia used to be looked after by the Nepali mission based in Tokyo! Anyhow, the present team of Nepali diplomats have formidable challenges ahead, and the first among them could be a need to persuade Canberra to change its
existing arrangements that require Nepalis to send in visa applications to the Australian mission located in the Indian capital. After all, reciprocity is the name of a game in diplomacy.
Canberra's is one of the four Nepali missions to be set up as the Embassy of Nepal (other three are in South Korea, Denmark and Israel). Not as a "Royal Nepalese Embassy" as was routine in previous times. In fact, embassies in the past used to be opened and maintained, at taxpayers' expenses though, as an extension of palace secretariat. And ambassadorships and other plum jobs distributed as favours to the king's relatives, obedient civil servants and retired army generals. Barring exceptions, these royal appointees worked or expected to work mainly for the palace, often spending times and money to procure fancy, trendy dresses and other luxury goods. Qualifications, merit and experience were not to be the primary requirements for the jobs that essentially needed skills and competence to represent Nepal as a country. Palace linkages, warm references from influential persons and even pecuniary interests were said to be the basis for appointments, postings and transfers. All of these now need to be a part of history. Leaders committed to create new Nepal must not waste time in making party-based claims for ambassadorships, instead should pick up best and brightest Nepalis to take up responsibilities abroad. Should they continue to fail to close their ranks indefinitely, Nepal's standing in international community would be subjected to further erosion.
Official records show that Nepal and Australia established diplomatic relations in February 1960. The decision, from the Nepali side, was obviously taken when the country was being governed by first democratically-elected government led by
charismatic BP Koirala. But initiatives to follow it up were not taken in subsequent years, as priorities of all successive governments after Mahendra's coup of December 1960 were directed elsewhere. Better late than never. Nepal now finally has a formal base in Australia from where it can also develop contacts in the rest of Asia-Pacific region. The Australian side had not waited for too long. They opened their mission in Kathmandu in 1984 which was upgraded to ambassadorial level two years later. In the words of Kevin Andrews, federal minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Australia-Nepal relationship, actually "predates" formal diplomatic links in 1960. His remark was inserted in a message delivered to a Sydney gathering on 7 July. That probably was the reason why Australia took steps at a greater speed.
How many Nepalis are there who can take benefits from the newly-opened embassy in Canberra? One unverified estimate puts the figure at 25 thousand. But a more educated guess, says Dr Krishna Hamal, would be 10 thousand. According to economist Hamal, a long-time resident of Canberra, most of the Nepalis, around six thousand, are in Sydney, Australia's largest city. Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra are some of the other cities where rest of the Nepalis are scattered. And nearly a quarter of the total are said to be students; others are in professional jobs as engineers and doctors. As the number of Nepalis in Australia goes on increasing to create a larger Nepali diaspora , it is not altogether a bad idea to start thinking about giving a more stable look to the Nepali mission in Canberra. The first step could be to buy a plot of land available at the diplomatic enclave where missions are allowed (rather encouraged) to construct buildings, fitted with representative cultural trappings. Dr Hamal and several like-minded countrymen/women agree that a timely investment for a permanent Nepali structure would help save substantial sums of money that need to be spent in rent-payment over next four to five years. And if countries like Afghanistan, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina can afford to have their own buildings to house their embassies why can't Nepal? Sounds logical.
Australians put a lot of emphasis on a multicultural society. This is visible almost in every official initiative. SBS radio, for instance, has programmes in 68 languages including Nepali. Even if John Howard's liberal Government does not return to power after the elections later this year, Australia's long-term policy on this count is unlikely to change. The Labour party's approach may not go for any marked shift on the issue. While seriously thinking about the multicultural dimension of the society, Australians are equally anxious to see that all immigrants to Australia love to make themselves
parts of it, physically as well as emotionally. It is, therefore, but natural for them to have identical expectations from those who have migrated from Nepal. "We ask people living in Australia to integrate into our society and embrace the core values which define us as a people," is the categorical message from minister Kevin Andrews for the Nepali community. The organizers of the 'NRN conference', however, might have found the statement out of tune. Senator Fierravanti-Wells, who was present at the July 7 conference, echoed the ministerial voice, by saying that there are benefits and opportunities of living in Australia "including the opportunity to apply for citizenship and participate fully in Australia's way of life." The Senator's suggestion for full participation might not enthuse NRN activists whose primary objective appears different: to create a basis for creating rights for certain categories of non-resident groups within Nepal. The Australian Senator, incidentally, is a son of an Italian couple who came to this country as immigrants in 1950s. As is substantiated by facts, the Senator's Italian origins have not prevented him from reaching where he has reached now. It is a pity that so-called NRN leaders prefer to remain indifferent to stark realities.
The Australian, one of the leading newspapers of this country, recently quoted a German journalist as saying that "on a global scale Australia is not still the most important country,''
but is an expanding one. While there can be a debate on the image issue, at least one South Asian diplomat apparently did not find any reason to dispute with the 'expanding' perception. To Humayun Kabir, the man who was Bangladesh's envoy to Nepal till July last year, it did not take even a year to realize that Canberra could be a stepping stone to make an upward move onto Washington DC. After a year as 'high commissioner' here, he now has reached DC to be an ambassador once again. Even the new movers and shakers in Dhaka ostensibly found Kabir's credentials and commitments to represent his country in the US intact and reliable. Could he be a role model for other South Asian aspirants?
(Adhikary, a Kathmandu-based journalist, is currently vacationing in Australia)
