Don't Get Caught

Even though our citizens are prone to buttering up where buttering up is needed, it can be said that they have a profound dislike for people with plastic bags hanging around government offices, cabinets, associations and state delegations.  Our public reacted negatively when Bogoljub Karic appeared publicly in the proximity of President Kostunica whose profile includes moral incorruptibility, as well as when smuggled cigarette mogul Cane appears close to the cabinet of Serbian Prime Minister Djindjic.

Partly for these reasons and partly because of local autonomist sentiments, a potentially successful privatization of the Beocin cement factory was stopped, with accusations being leveled against the Serbian Government for not respecting the principle of transparent, open bidding.  The Government’s response from Prime Minister Djindjic indicates that the investigation could prove that the halt to this privatization is in fact protection of the corruption and smuggling ring at the doors of this factory.

At one parliamentary committee an article in the newly drafted law on taxing wealth accumulated during “the years of war” was crossed out because it permits businessmen who report early to have a chance for making a deal and a tax reduction of 35 percent.

Prime Minister Djindjic is frequently noting these days that the mafia, corruption and smuggling rings under attack these days are frequently shouting “thief” in order to protect the privileges they enjoyed thus far.

BLUE PROSTHESIS:  In Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia, moral crises are most frequently perceived as causes of corruption, probably our of self-criticism.  On the other hand, corrupt government is seen as the main source of corruption in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Rumania.  Small government wages are the most frequent explanation for corruption in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Rumania…

Generally considered, the degree of public tolerance for corruption is relatively low as far as presentation goes, in all countries of this region.  On the other hand, the moral unacceptability of corruption does not exclude the existence and efficiency of corruption in everyday life, as a kind of necessary evil which permits daily practical problems to be solved.

This image of divided public sentiments is drawn from research conducted by the Center for Alternative Research (CPA) in the past one year.  In March of year 2000, and opinion poll was conducted on a sample of 1619 individuals who responded to 104 “closed” questions.  A second opinion poll was conducted in November of year 2000 within a context of the regional system for monitoring corruption and was carried out on a sample of 1600 (608 questioned in Montenegro, 992 in Serbia).  In March of year 2001, a third opinion poll was conducted, useful in comparing to research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia and Rumania.

The objective of these opinion polls was to monitor corruption – the objective was to show the significance the public ascribes to the problem of corruption and how it perceives the extent to which corruption is present in different segments of society in these fragile countries.

In Serbia corruption is ranked fifth on the list of top problems, after political instability, crime, poverty and low wages.  In Albania, where a complete collapse of the society occurred and where all laws are practically ineffective, except for the partially enforce law of Leka Dukadjini, corruption is perceived as the main social problem.

General diagnosis indicates that unemployment, poverty and small wages are seen as the main social problems in Balkan countries, and that issues connected with government, political systems and ethnic tensions are being pushed aside by the majority.

However, the problem of corruption is becoming a very important public issue in the entire region.  This observation and suspicion is supported by the fact that corruption is tending to infiltrate economic activities, the government, political systems and institutional structures.

Director of CPA, Milan Nikolic, a man with insight into the public opinion research conducted by his company, observed that corruption was built into our system and that because of this Yugoslavia was always at the top of the list in this region in research of this type.  Judging by the latest opinion polls, it appears that we are third in the Balkans in terms of corruption, behind Albania where a complete collapse of law and the state occurred, and behind Bosnia and Herzegovina where a war took place and where different war-profiteering mafias divvied up the territory.  Nikolic cites the opinion that 90 percent of the people who made money here could not have done so without cooperating with the former regime which, according to Nikolic, sold and resold arms, drugs and even immigrants.

The greed of people in power is considered the principal source of corruption in Croatia, Bulgaria and Macedonia, while in other countries the main cause for corruption is cheap labor and inefficient social, legal, judicial and administrative control.

According to public opinion, the main causes of corruption in Serbia are:

Greed of those in power – 46.8%
Low wages – 52.6%
Bad laws – 35.2%
Shared private and public interests – 28.7%
Absence of administrative control – 21.5%
Inefficient judicial system – 24.6%
Moral crisis during transition – 37.2%
Communist heritage – 19.2%
National characteristic – 15.9%

CPA opinion polls conducted in March and November of last year indicate that public opinion in Serbia registers a certain tendency for a reduction in corruption.  In March of year 2000, local government was perceived as corrupt in 66 percent of the case, and 45 percent in November; customs officials dropped from 75 percent negative opinion, to 65 percent; judges from 58 to 47; police from 63 to 56.  Still, researchers observe that the process of dismantling the criminalized system is unfolding fairly slowly and that there are many indications that the new government is behaving like the former regime.  As an example of this, sociologist Dragan Radulovic cites the example of the makeup of boards of directors of public enterprises where membership is based on political party membership, and not on professional qualifications.

In short, the new government leaders who have brought to justice more of the members of the former regime than was the case in any other post-communist country, should take care of their every step and gesture, because their incorruptibility might no longer be measured by the degree of their strictness toward the former government, but rather in terms of rigidity toward their own.

The greatest majority of the population, forced to rely on corruption in order to solve daily problems, because of which they clearly feel personally insulted, will easily accept the claim that the people in top government positions who have power and authority are no different than the rest of us.

In seven Balkan states the public assesses differently the level of corruption in different professions.  However, certain professions are uniformly considered havens for corruption.  These include customs officials, tax officials and local government officials who issue various permits, the judicial system and police, as well as central executive and legislative government.  It can be noted that in all seven Balkan countries (with the minor exception of Montenegro), public opinion holds that the professions of journalists, school teachers and representatives of non-government organizations are the least given to corruption.

Also, the greatest corruptive pressure exerted by professions (“index of corruption rackets”) was registered with doctors and public officials (policemen, customs officers, local and court officials).

The worst rated professions in Serbia are customs officers, policemen, businessmen, judges, tax officers, doctors, local government officials, political leaders, investigative court officers, local political leaders, public prosecutors, state officials, lawyers, ministers, court officials…

If citizens’ trust is to be returned in the state, mechanisms of administrative, political, professional and public control must be put in place in these professions.

In a regional context, corrupt practice appears not to be perpetuated because of those who are in position to demand kickbacks (the only exception is Albania where this “index of rackets” is twice as high as in other countries), as much as because of the mechanism of private interests, practical need and personal choice on the part of citizens and government officials.  Younger people, well-to-do, educated residents of cities and Balkan capitals are more prone to such practice.  Older, less educated, poorer citizens living in the country side and in small towns are less inclined toward corruption.  Paradoxically, corruption does not appear to be the result of small-town mentality, but rather a phenomenon particular to Balkan capitals, and in the country, a phenomenon of local feuds.  It appears that those in daily contact with citizens are more harshly rated than those at the top – thus local government officials are more harshly rated than ministers who are under the public eye.

Some researchers call corruption the AIDS of the state apparatus.  In keeping with this diagnosis, there also must exist a method of medical care.  To begin with, every government office should have a poster placed in it with a condom, a fishhook and a goldfish, and the message: “Don’t get caught!”  A significant segment of the elite of the new government is Serbia is represented by good students, experts, professionals, professors and people who generally preferred reading books to hanging out in smoky saloons, which could become a problem now that they took up politics and are required to count cash.  Hmmm!!!!  They ought to go back to the advice given to them by their mothers a long time ago: “Don’t get caught up in bad company!”