"MACEDONIAN EXTREMISM MATERIALIZED"

AIM Skopje, 12 September, 1997

That is how President of the Albanian Democratic Party, Arben Xhaferi characterized the current disposition of state administration in Macedonia, which provoked massive reactions of the citizens and citizens' associations appeared in media.

In answer to these reactions, Arben Xhaferi once again elaborated his thesis about "materialized Macedonian extremism", specifically pointing out to discrimination of the Albanians in the sphere of employment.

According to the data given by the President of the ADP which are quite similar to the official ones, the number of the Albanians employed in state institutions is drastically small. Although the Albanians in Tetovo form about 80 per cent of the total population, the percentage of those employed in state institutions in this municipality is very low. In 111 enterprises in Tetovo, only one manager is an Albanian who has in the meantime been transferred to the post of the minister of development in the government of the Republic of Macedonia. In the municipal office, out of 24 employed persons only four are Albanians, in the accounting and auditing service out of the 56 employed persons, there are also only four Albanians. Similar is the ratio in other institutions. For example, in the employment office, although the minister is an Albanian, out of 28 employed only four are Albanians. The municiapl prison, among 15 employees has only one Albanian. Among the enterprises it is similar: Elektropolog has 33 Albanians out of the total of 197 workers, Komuna-proekat employs only one Albanian out of 58, the municipal public attorney's office has only three Albanians among its 14 employees, the insurance company has 22 employees and only two Albanians, the Tetovo museum employs nine, but only one Albanian, and so on. These figures were presented by the president of the ADP Arben Xhaferi, in order to prove "state discrimination against the Albanians".

If these data truly reflect the reality, it is only natural to put the question what should be done in order to improve the ratio of these figures? Some analysts think that the composition of the ppulation should be respected and that Albanian citizens should be employed in these institutions, reflecting the percentage of the Albanian population. Others think that any such "improvement" would cause new tensions, because who would agree to be discharged in order to leave vacancies for someone else. According to the statement of a western diplomat who visited Tetovo a few years ago, to complaints of Albanian politicians about this "discrimination" replied that in the future steps should be taken to employ the Albanians in these institutions but without sacking others from their jobs. According to her words, this process should take years. According to her opinion, things which have happened in the past 50 years cannot be changed overnight and that is why she suggested that patience was necessary in this process. However, as generally known, everybody is trying to make up quickly for the time lost, while on the other hand, things are changing.

While in the period of communism, the right to employment in state institutions was given only to "ideologically suitable" persons, nowadays advantage is given to members of political parties in power or those which are influential in some of the institutions of local self-administration. Professionalism is a second-rate quality.

This is what caused the phenomenon of people seeking membership in different political parties just in order to get a job. This resulted in the assessments that time has come for "banana merchants to sit by the computers, while experts are selling fruit in the marketplace".

After the process of privatization, various "businessmen" have come out to the surface who have managed to register firms of all kinds without even the fundamental knowledge necessary for their operation. However, they have backing of relevant parties and patronage of successful "bosses" who are "in control of the situation".

The question of repersentation of the Albanians in state institutions is still a highly sensitive issue, and this problem was observed by the international community. In the statements of international repersentatives about the situation in Macedonia, apart from dealing with inter-ethnic relations, the question of employment of the Albanians in state institutions is also mentioned. Although recently a tendency to increase this percentage was observed, although not in accordance with the wishes, it is nevertheless still very little, and on the other hand, a selection is made but not according to the criterion of quality, but party affiliation.

AIM Skoplje

Salajdin SALIHU