Court Intrigue

When two weeks ago, it was observed at the end of an article dealing with staff policies within the Socialist Party of Serbia which appeared in this magazine that the Chief of the State Security Service Jovica Stanisic was on his way, and that the departure for the Party vice-president Milorad Vucelic is being paved, only two things were still unknowns: who will disappear as part of the Vucelic package and how will the political downfall of a man who was already once ousted from SPS in November of 1995 be explained now in November of 1998.  In November of 1995, shortly following the signing of the Dayton Agreement, Vucelic was dismissed from the SPS Executive Council, fired from the position of Director of Radio Television Serbia (RTS) and as chief of the MP’s club in the Serbian Parliament with the title of “warmonger”.  It is said that no one could “twist” their tongue quite far enough so as to be able to say “there’s no alternative to peace.”

Three years later, he is once again being kicked out of the Party leadership, but with a qualification which was never used in any of his previous dismissals from similar positions — because of “unbecoming behavior” which “incurred damage to the political reputation and authority” of the ruling SPS.  In the language of the communist parties of the fifties — Milorad Vucelic has sullied the moral image of a party member.  Of course, in a society in which moral images are held in high esteem, such things are inexcusable.

LONG TIME NO SEE: Immediately following the announcement from the session in which the reshuffle of SPS ranks occurred (it is interesting that Radovan Pankov, one of those on the list titled “get ready”, was absent at this session of the SPS Executive Council), many attempted to solve the mystery behind Vucelic’s “unbecoming behavior”, that is to say the sullied moral image behind it all.  SPS leadership has never been quite as tightlipped as these days, with only trickling leaks.

Thus, for instance, it was possible to hear that “unbecoming behavior” refers to the recent session of the Serbian Parliament in which the already infamous Law on Information was adopted.  Supposedly, Vucelic initially refused Dragan Tomic’s request to say a few good words about such an excellent peace of legislature, and then, at the insistence of Gorica Gajevic to approach the speakers chair, he got up quite rudely and left this merry gathering.  At that moment, Vucelic was of course aware that his departure from the party top is being prepared, and did not wish to fulfill his duties to the very end.  Especially not to stand in support of a problematic law in the name of a problematic coalition with the Radicals and JUL.  Having returned to SPS because, in his own words, he could not bare the sight of “stampeding right wingers” through the streets, Vucelic was supposed to be privy to a steady gallop by the right wingers through institutions.  And together with Tomislav Nikolic, who in the middle of parliament several years ago made fun of him for “unbecoming behavior with restaurant singers” (watered down expression on account of the new Law — N.S.), to stand and support the Law on Information which is there to protect the moral integrity and dignity of every individual.

At the moment when he was asked to come to the speaker’s chair, Vucelic certainly knew that should he meet again with Slobodan Milosevic, that it would certainly not be anything like their meeting in the Spring of last year, when Vucelic was restored to the party top amid the most serious crisis to date that was provoked by the loss of elections on the local level.  Supposedly at that time Milosevic told him: “Long time no see — there’ lots of work to be done.”

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: All the work that had to be done included, above all, convincing Milo Djukanovic not to boycott Milosevic, and convincing Zoran Djindjic not to boycott the elections.  For later it was planned that Vucelic would personally supervise the elections, refresh the party, bring in new people, improve its image and free it from the appearance of assembly line aparatchiks who occupied the very top of SPS.  It was calculated that Vucelic would be able to do all that because he was on good terms with everyone — from Jovica Stanisic, to Milo, Momo, Djindjic, the Bosnian Serbs...  It seems that he was not on good terms only with Gajevic, Tomic, Mirko Marjanovic, Sainovic, that is to say with those whose removal he requested after hearing “what’s up Vucela, where’ve you been hiding,” and after having once again gotten his “Audi” and chauffeur.
During the time during which he was still certain of his position and while he could go visit “the Chief” anytime, in one of the rare interviews he gave, Vucelic uttered perhaps one of the best diagnoses of what he met with upon returning to the SPS.  A diagnosis which still holds true for this party today: “Some people have been in power for too long and have interest in being where they are.  In the Socialist Party and its officials there is some idea that Slobodan Milosevic’s power is eternal, that nothing should be done, that it is merely enough to make internal reshuffles within that government and to get some kind of better position, to occupy some better, higher place, to get a more comfortable seat.  And to have minimal risks while doing this.”

Only several months later did it become apparent that Milorad Vucelic is not capable of delivering on what he promised or what was being asked of him.  Djukanovic kept boycotting Milosevic and Belgrade with growing intensity, while Djindjic was making increasingly firm preparations for boycotting the elections.  Admittedly there are two versions concerning Vucelic’s lack of success on this score.  According to one, he took on more than he could handle.   According to another, he believed that Milosevic would support through concrete moves what he was secretly negotiating.  His idea was supposedly to offer the position of Federal Premier to Djukanovic, and to offer Djindjic the position of Prime Minister, to which Milosevic’s answer, according to this version, was — “we’ll see”.  After it was too late, for it became apparent that Djukanovic can win in Montenegro, even out of spite for official Belgrade.  Vucelic’s lack of success was immediately exploited by the group which he was attempting to oust from the top of SPS.  It is said that even the late Zoran Todorovic Kundak helped out in convincing Milosevic that Vucela is “the wrong man for the job.”  Already by the fall of 1997, Vucelic had fallen out of the process of all important decision making, having rare access to Milosevic, while his role in the preparations of the new elections was reduced to the making of election videos at the private company “Komuna.”  The presidential elections in which Zoran Lilic lost was being managed by the same old team.  After Lilic’s failure, the same team once again got the chance of pressing for Milan Milutinovic’s election.  Vucelic’s muscle power was evidently no longer part of the calculations.

WHISKY ON THE BOAT: In all the guessing regarding what was “unbecoming” in Milorad Vucelic someone remembered this summer’s report on Pink Television, made at the time of the musical festival held in Budva.  Vucelic, whose private company participates in the organization of this festival, was shot on some boat which was cruising the Adriatic in company with show people, and with whisky and the obligatory cigar in hand.  One newspaper even remembered how on that occasion Vucelic said: “It’s better than under Tito.”  Just about at the same time there was heavy fighting going on in Kosovo and the entire party machinery was at work on dealing with the southern region of Serbia, the victory over the terrorists, to carry out the results of the national referendum and to hold off foreigners as far as possible away from Pristina.

However, a VREME source from the socialist’s ranks claims that “unbecoming” behavior refers neither to the whisky on the boat, nor to the refusal to support the Law on Information in the Serbian Parliament, but that it in all likelihood refers to the last conversation Vucelic had with Slobodan Milosevic.  Among the socialists it can be heard these days that President Milosevic told Vucelic, on the occasion of their last meeting: “You didn’t do the job, the time has come for us to part.”  Supposedly Vucelic’s answer to this was: “I know it’s time for us to part, but given the policies that were being followed in the past year, not even Nikola Tesla himself could have executed what was expected of me.”

And the audience came to and end there and then.

BECOMING—UNBECOMING: Whatever the reason behind Vucelic’s downfall, in SPS it has been clearly decided that their vice-president until yesterday should get the farewell of a man who does not fit in with the stringent moral standards of the ruling party.  The fall itself, if it is cushioned, without too much noise and with slight mystery, does not have to mean much among the Socialists.  Vucelic already fell that way once before, and something similar happened in the past to Zeljko Simic who now occupies the position of Minister of Culture.  Departure with the epithet “unbecoming behavior” however points to the conclusion that in this case something far more serious is at issue than mere airing of the ruling party, to which Milosevic resorts from time to time, or the usual recycling of ranks.  Someone who leaves with “a sullied moral image” cannot be recycled, according to logic.  At least not in the same party.

It could hardly be said of Milorad Vucelic that he figured as a moral volcano on the Serbian political scene.  Shortly after the Eighth Session of the Communist Party he became a staunch opponent of its advocacy’s, while he took the opportunity of building the rest of his career precisely within that infrastructure.  Somewhere in 1989, as a journalistic star on the rise, he was the first in these territories to bring Milovan Djilas in front of cameras as “the leader of the entire dissident movement in the communist world.”  Someone assessed at the time that the “the time was still not ripe” for Djilas, so that the interviews were stopped, and later the entire station was closed down.  Five years later, when Milovan Djilas died and when many newspapers took notice of this on their front pages, Vucelic, as Director of RTS, assessed that “the time was still not ripe” for broadcasting anything beyond mere press agency releases where Djilas was concerned.  Vucelic was for many years a personal friend of Dobrica Cosic.  As Director of RTS he allowed Cosic’s speeches to be edited, and that at a time when the famous writer was the President of FRY.  In one TV interview with Slobodan Milosevic, Vucelic mentioned his friend Cosic as a president who together with the Federal Premier at the time, Milan Panic, has a “helmsman” somewhere abroad.  As Director of RTS he allowed the screen transmitting state television to look more like the execution gallows than a place where people get information.  Those who did not agree with this at RTS (and there were hundreds) lost their jobs as discontinued labor.

All that was taken at the time for “becoming behavior”, until Vucelic did not find himself among people who were capable of uttering that “there is no alternative to peace.”  As far as the national question was concerned, Milorad Vucelic even demonstrated considerable moral fiber, far greater than those who threw him out of politics during his career.  In the famous TV interview with Slobodan Milosevic (before the presidential and parliamentary elections in December of 1992), the Director of RTS at the time asked the President of Serbia at the time “could it happen that the government in Serbia would impose an economic embargo on the Serbs in Republika Srpska as a condition for discontinuing sanctions.”  “No one who knows anything about national interests could possibly do that,” answered President Milosevic at that time.

FAREWELL TO RADA: There was also considerable concern for morals at the last session of the Serbian Parliament at which Ph.D. Rada Trajkovic was dismissed from her position as Minister for Family Care.  Admittedly, her party Chief until yesterday, Ph.D.  Vojislav Seselj did not cite “unbecoming behavior”, but he stated that he felt sorry at seeing the Minister “bow down” to the temptation of using her position in the interest of promoting her brother, and, in the end, not being able to fit in with the stringent moral standards required of every member of the Radical party.  And all that sounds ever so similar to the phrase about “unbecoming behavior.”  The story about Minister Trajkovic appears to have some factual points, but in all different interpretations it represents a wonderful paradigm on how authority functions and how morals (which, by the way, was never a clear political characteristic) are equated here with acumen.  The Minister in charge of family matters considers it legal and moral (within her Ministry’s jurisdictions) to help her close family, that is to say her brother, who is a community judge and wishes to get employment in a higher court; her party supposedly wanted to be of help, but only if the judge agreed to sign a party membership card; in this story there are those who would also want to help in the brother’s advancement without any party allegiances; on the day in which she was dismissed, or resigned, the Minister revealed that her party is autocratic, dictatorial, unpatriotic and unprincipled where Kosovo is concerned; in the end, she even feels sorry for JUL and SPS for having taken on such a coalition...

All those who participated in this story last week were calling on someone’s morals and unbecoming behavior.  As far at the Radicals themselves are concerned, they will probably spend more time in the coming days in solving the mystery whether their Minister “bowed down” in her brother’s interests, or whether someone behind the scene’s is beginning to shatter their coalition idyll.  There appears also to be dissatisfaction among the socialists in Kosovo, which President Milosevic could see first hand on his recent visit to Pristina, along with the President of Serbia, Milan Milutinovic who met with the local party officials and heard very sharp criticism against Belgrade.  Perhaps heads will soon fall in Pristina also on account of “unbecoming behavior.”

By contrast with Minister Rada Trajkovic who was shoved off the political scene on the same day on which Milorad Vucelic stopped for a second time to be an SPS MP, for now Vucela opted for a vow of silence.  There are many theories on his silence.  There are those who think that he’s merely keeping quiet because of his private business dealings.  There are others who say that he regrets having returned “too early” to the political scene last year, instead of waiting for a better opportunity in which he could play a key role.  Those who evidently do not like him very much claim that he experiences difficulties without his “chauffeur & Audi” and that he will accept to come back even for a third time, should the party ask that of him.

For instance, someone could call him up: “What’s up Vucela, where’ve you been, we got lots of work.  The Radicals are getting too strong, if we don’t do something right quick, even Tesla himself wont be able to save the day.”

Rada Trajkovic

Rada Trajkovic, up to now Minister for Family Care, was born on March 8, 1953 in Podujevo.  She completed her studies in medicine in Pristina, where she got a job at the Oral Clinic after graduating.  After completing her internship, she became head of the laryngology department, later even going on to get a Master's in that field.  She defended her doctorate on the subject of the "Early Detection and Treatment of Throat Cancer."  A member of the Serbian Radical Party since nearly its founding, she was chosen as federal MP on two occasions.  She is married and a mother of three.

The Republican Minister for Family Care, Rada Trajkovic announce her resignation because of "differences with Serbian Radical Party (SRS) officials" and "conflicts with individuals within the party."  Seselj, on the other hand, claims that Trajkoviceva was fired because of nepotism;   she tried to have her brother appointed as judge of the Circuit Court in Nis.

In the first days following her assumption of her ministerial duties, Rada Trajkovic claimed that she and her Ministry "will never support the resolution of problems where personal interests are at issue."  Leaving her position as Minister, Trajkovic said: "I feel happy and content because I am leaving.  I could remain minister for one or three years, but my wish is to remain an honest human being for the rest of my days."

In her interview for Belgrade's Studio B television, Rada Trajkovic accused Seslj of lies and hearsay, of unprincipled behavior on the issue of Kosovo and of serving the interests of a foreign country, and issued the following warning: "Evil threatens the Serbian people and its state for as long as this man remains on the political scene.  I really feel bad for JUL and for SPS, because they have in their coalition a man of such caliber and morals."

At the end of her interview, Trajkovic said that she expects even bigger lies and hearsay from Seselj for his "way of operating is such that lies are normal, hearsay and demagogy are necessary, so that nothing of value, nothing democratic or intelligent can happen within SRS without it being under Seselj's absolute control.  If Seselj were to have absolute power in Serbia, we would have courts in which all officials are members of SRS, or otherwise they would be closed down."  Veselin Trajkovic, the former Minister's husband explained that Rada Trajkovic submitted her resignation because of "President Seselj's totalitarianism, because of all disrespect for democratic procedure in the party and because of the imposition of his (Seselj's) will through his protégés Jorgovanka Tabakovic and Maja Gojkovic."

The new Minister for Family Care is the Radical from Gornji Milanovac, Miroslav Nedeljkovic, father of three, doctor, specialist for pulmonary diseases, working in Vracevsnica.