HAS THE "MILLENNIUM VACATION" BEEN OF ANY HELP?

The old Macedonian Government has presented its subjects with a ten-day holiday by linking the New Year's with Christmas/Ramadan festivals. The new Government was much more generous - elected at the end of the second it held its first session at the beginning of the third millennium. Nevertheless, it seems that very little has changed after several days of holidays.

AIM Skopje, January 12, 2000

Macedonia has entered the new millennium extremely relaxed - i.e. celebrating. By old Government's decision (brought at the same session at which the Prime Minister announced its dissolution!) New Year's holidays were joined with Christmas and Bayram festivities. Thus the Macedonian citizens had a chance to celebrate the beginning of the year 2000 for ten days. As befitting, the state administration was also on holidays. It happened that the new Macedonian Government was elected in one millennium and held its first session in another, which should be unusual enough for the Guinness Book of Records.

In the last months of 1999, the Macedonian public was deeply concerned with the survival of Ljubco Georgievski's Government. Simultaneously with the excitement brought by presidential elections, day after day the local media served to the interested public spicy stories about the disintegration and survival of the ruling coalition, reshuffling of the cabinet, its composition, about the new and departing Ministers, etc. Finally, coalition partners have cooled down tempers, covered up mutual disagreements, signed a document on their future coalition relations and thus entitled the Prime Minister Georgievski to dissolve the old and form a new Government. Although the composition of the new Government created new dilemmas, and not only within the opposition, but also among parties of the coalition, the new Government of the old Prime Minister Georgievski was voted in four days before the arrival of the new millennium.

By the looks of it, the new Government was so exhausted that it barely survived the reception given in its honour. The new members of the Cabinet met for the first time to be photographed at the stairs of the main entrance of the Parliament building and held their first session fifteen days later! The local media also got their deserved vacation. The weeklies published a double issue, dailies two four-day issues, the electronic media broadcast only selected news which, for the first time after a long period, started with information from abroad. All troubles seemed so far away, or better said, it looked as if they were left behind in the old millennium and that the people were rightfully entering the new millennium unburdened and relaxed. During ten days of holidays the only local events that were exploited to the maximum were the election of the first student of the Skopje University and the protocolary faux pas of President's security.

Believe it or not, election of the President of Student Organisation of the University "St. Cyril and Methodius" lasted over one year! In the first month of 1999, after series of out-voting, incidents at polling places in which the two largest Macedonian parties (the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Party - Democratic Party for Internal Macedonian National Unity : VMRO-DPMNE and the Social-Democratic Alliance of Macedonia : SDSM) played an important role and openly supported their candidates. Since the situation was no longer funny, a solution was found in the postponement of the election of the new President for a year. Although the rerun of the last year's situation was expected, the election of the new first student was carried out rather peacefully. Again, two opponents enjoyed the support of the mentioned parties whose "young favourites" held a number of press conferences dedicated to the election of the students' leader using the traditional vocabulary of their seniors.

The Youth Organisation of the opposition SDSM accused VMRO-DPMNE of trying to win the control over Student Organisation of the Skopje University, aiming at subjecting the entire state to its party's influence, while their (youth) opponents thought that after a series of electoral defeats (at both parliamentary and presidential elections), SDSM was eager to win at least one electoral victory. Although the winner has not yet been proclaimed officially (the results have not been made public and there is a possibility of outvoting at some faculties, etc.), it seems that these elections have not attracted much public attention.

The incident caused by presidential security agents during the Chrysostom Liturgy marking the 2000 years of the Nativity of Christ in the cathedral of the Macedonian Orthodox Church "St. Clement of Ohrid" in Skopje, also left the impression of a forced scandal. President of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski and his wife were also present at the liturgy. Just as the liturgy was about to end, the President's security agents concluded that for security reasons the President and his wife should leave the church through the main entrance and not by the back door. In order to get there they had to pass through the church altar. For 1,500 years now the Orthodox religion forbids women from passing through the altar in orthodox temples. In this case "Catch 22" is the well-known fact that President Trajkovski and his wife are not of Orthodox religion, but are Evangelist-Methodists. Part of the Orthodox-Macedonian public held that against him even before he was elected President.

This incident was placed in the context of two earlier events involving the leading VMRO-DPMNE officials. First, during his visit to Australia, Immigration Minister attended a gathering of local Mecedonian Orthodox communes which are in conflict with the competent archpriest and the MPC (Macedonian Orthodox Church) Synod over some church property. The responsible bishop Petar and the MPC top ranks harshly protested about Minister's behaviour. On the other hand, Prime Minister Georgievski took advantage of the first day of Orthodox Christmas to send a request to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew demanding the recognition of the Macedonian Orthodox Church by other Orthodox churches. Media close to the opposition interpreted this as "mixing apples and oranges" commenting that the Prime Minister had forgotten that he was not Archbishop of the Macedonian Orthodox Church!

Naturally, some church dignitaries took this as an attempt of VMRO-DPMNE's, which supported the election of Stefan for Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, to put the church under its control. This is a typical political opposition-regime pattern. It seems that Darko Markovic's popular cartoon "Pecko" gave the best comment on the days-long festivities and the lack of any local political events. Pecko's friend, wearing a New Year's hat tells him: "See Pecko that it is possible to live without politics". And Pecko answers: "Yes. Without politics, the whole year would be a holiday"!

No wonder that in a public opinion poll in which ordinary people voted for the most popular personality of the century, of the old millennium and the new millennium, etc., the actor Igor Djambazov, popular host of the TV lottery programme "Super Bingo", ranked first! According to the public opinion survey of the Skopje daily "Dnevnik" (The Daily) he won the title "The Muse for the 21st Century" (in that same poll TV-journalist Olivera Trajkovska was elected the "Best Woman for the 21st Century"). Readers of the daily "Makedonija Denes" (Macedonia Today) awarded him the title of the best leader of the century, while in the poll of the radio station "Channel 77", Djambazov came second after Kiro Gligorov, as the only one of ten most important Macedonian personalities of the century who was not a politician.

But, same as the local population will inevitably have to change holidays (there remains the celebration of the old New Year on January 13th) for working days, politics remains the most important thing in life. Pavle Trajanov, as of recently former Minister of the Interior, announced the establishment of the Democratic Party or the Homeland Party, a new party in which he as President would rally all undiscredited (both young and other) intellectuals with aspirations to occupy the empty political space in the centre. Trajanov, who was a policeman all his working life and some twelve years ago among the infamous "eight suspended" young policemen who came into conflict with the then last communist Minister of the Interior, which was considered a first sign of the emerging democratisation, now wants to give his contribution to further democratisation of Macedonia. Both then and now, sceptics came to the conclusion - woe is democratisation if it depends on policemen.

On Tuesday evening, on the road leading to the Skopje village of Aracinovo, mostly populated by Albanians, which is still considered the centre of many illegal actions (smuggling of cigarettes, trade in arms, drugs and stolen cars, etc.) three policemen, who were making routine control of vehicles, were killed. Killers are on the run, but it is not hard to assume how will this serious incident reflect on the relaxed inter-ethnic relations.

It seems that the old troubles have not been left behind in the old millennium contrary to the new Government's wishes. Life after the "millennium vacation" is going on according to the same old routine. AIM Skopje

ISO RUSI