Corruption as a Way of Life

In the next few weeks Vreme will publish its research on corruption in the Yugoslav institutions. There are numerous examples and this research covered only some of them. The research is going to be translated into English and prepared as a special dossier that can be ordered through News Digest Agency

The Argument Agency has conducted a telephone poll for VREME on February 1 and 2 of 200 pollees from Serbia excluding the territory of Kosovo and Metohije, stratified by the level of urbanization and regions. The results, which we shall publish in a series of articles on corruption, show that a huge majority of the pollees conclude that bribes and corruption today are more wide-spread than before (89.5 percent). The opinion prevails that corruption is most present in health institutions (86 percent), in state-owned companies (76 percent), in municipal services (71.5 percent) and the judiciary (71 percent). Corruption was somewhat less noticeable in the top government circles (66 percent), the police (61 percent), education (58.5 percent) and least in privately-owned companies (54.5 percent). Such a perception of corruption in the state institutions speaks of how widely-spread this "virus" is, so that it can be said that the strata accustomed to this deviation is high, as long as it so pronounced and as long as not a single large social action exists which would ward off corruption.

Answers to the questions of what should be done to ward off corruption uncover, however, that the situation isn't that simple. Namely, the largest group of pollees with 22 percent almost reveals contradictions - the first, that it is enough to observe the law and the second, that the government should be replaced. Along with those who state that laws should be changed (9 percent) and those who stand for fundamental changes (12.5 percent), as well as those who claim that all that is needed is to come out of the crisis (8 percent) and those who believe that an "iron fist" is needed (10.5 percent), the situation is additionally complicated, so that it is no longer clear which solution is prevailing. A retired dentist from Belgrade, and the Civil Alliance of Serbia's (GSS) sympathizer says: "A lot of time needs to pass for generations to change. Even children are corrupt nowadays", while a housewife from Sid thinks that "a strong authority needs to appear, if need be those who are doing it should be killed"...