Dear Sir,
Everyone knew that the transition from the HZDS to something more logical and pragmatic would be fraught with problems, given the political history of the last 50 years of this country. What the majority of voters hoped for, though, as I myself did, was that it would be free of the pettiness, jealousies and irrational discriminations which have currently surfaced. ]Leader of the SDĽ, the reformed communist Party of the Democratic Left] Jozef Migaš' stand on the Hungarian party is a vivid case in point.
It is a sorry tragedy that the SDĽ and its leader are incapable of discerning the political consequences of their present behaviour. Their success in excluding a validly elected party from government would simply perpetuate the political morass of the Mečiar era, of which intelligent Slovaks have had enough. Our economy is floundering and our image in the world is tarnished.
To belittle the contributions of Hungarian Slovak citizens and their party in hopes of improving his position in the battle for ministerial chairs in the new government brings Migaš' future role into question. To use as a weapon some long ago signature on some long ago document that is no longer pertinent [the Beneš Decrees, which legalized the deportation of Hungarians after World War II and has never been cancelled] is hitting below the belt. Migaš should better work to have such a document abrogated because it is unfair and encourages racism.
No doubt Mr. Mečiar is silently chuckling and waiting for the outcome of this senselessness.
Anne Matheson, Bratislava
