Here's an editorial (an opinion piece from a newspaper which itself is of course not perfectly unbiased) about the recent scandals involving the current government. The writer apparently fears that this government will lose people's trust and the public will become cynical and think that this government is no better than the last one in terms of honesty. What do you think? During the recent elections, some parties/candidates from the current coalition claimed to be new-comers to politics (honest and innocent). Was this a complete sham? Is corruption in government an inevitable part of Slovak society? Is it more prominent in certain parties or types of people than others? If so, why? Does it make the public less interested and involved in politics than they might be? What should be done about this problem? What is the media's role?
The article concludes with a comment about a recent case of discrimination against Roma teacher applicants. What does this case say about the common argument that Roma do not want to work? Is the case exceptional or is it the sign of a larger trend? What should be done about it?
When it comes to politics in Slovakia, anxiety is something that doesn’t bother only the author of this article, but actually something that surrounds all Slovaks. And I cannot disagree. Since the establishment of The Slovak Republic as an independent country in 1993, corruption has been something that has been desperately growing. The previous government seemed to be contributing to it so badly; it probably reached its highest peak since the independence. A change had to come and fortunately it did by the form of a new elected government. The anxiety of the author, about the new leading powers, comes from the fact, that already at its early stages they have to deal with emerging problems. On one hand I think the author has the right to be concerned about the new government and its problems and inform the nation about them (after all, that really is his job, just as he well portraits in his idealistic outline of a good working nation). On the other hand, from my point of view the author presents too little knowledge about the two concrete problems he actually mentions.
ReplyDeleteThe first problem he mentions, in a very merely way, is the Hayek Consulting case. The case involves two state secretaries working for the Hayek Consulting company at the time when it realized 8 projects, out of which two were for the national institution. Martin Chren, on of the two mentioned state secretaries, states his case by the fact that all of the projects were legal, transparent and provided in accordance with the legislative. Here I’d let the case go, because I believe Martin Chren wouldn’t take the risk and lie, but if the author thinks differently, he should have done much more to convince me as an uneasily manipulated reader.
The second problem is more complicated. It involves two Roma sisters, Viera and Andrea Samkova, who even with their university diplomas weren’t able to get jobs as teachers for about four years. The author portraits the fact that the schools, where the sisters applied for jobs, decided to hire less qualified applicants so their payroll would be less, as an example of huge discrimination. In the first place I was also very angry that the government let this happen, but then after some browsing and thinking I changed my mind. First of all, the government isn’t responsible for what happened, because it cannot influence the hiring. Second of all, the author should have known that it is perfectly normal that the managers always look at this kind of situations from an economic point of view. The complicated part pops up when we look at one of the sister’s further steps. After denial she did try to get into a school where higher education was needed, but it was a specialized school, so in addition, special pedagogue skills were also needed, what eventually made her experience another denial.
All in all I agree with the author that corruption and racism are present in Slovakia, but those two examples weren’t the best way to prove this fact. I think the author should give the new government some time to make all the changes they had promised before the election. If they fail to do so, then way you go Mr. Author, bark as loud as you can, so all of Slovakia knows.
Branislav Skocek IB3