Letter from Prague

Letter from Prague

I suppose many of you expected me to talk about the failed presidential election. Well, it seems symptomatic of the post-transitional society that it has stuck to one strong personality as a president for 12 years. Now, it appears, there are no generally acceptable candidates, and if someone seems to be widely accepted by the general public, then such a person is unacceptable for the general public's representatives in the parliament and soon gets kicked out of the game.

What I find interesting about the whole affair is that none of my friends, family members or neighbours showed any raised emotions about the presidential election, although they did not like any of the official candidates. It was as if they just put up with the state of the affairs, having lost their hopes that they could influence anything.

Actually, I originally wanted to talk about something that happened to me a few days ago, and which, in itself, I also consider symptomatic of the Czech political and economic transition of the past decade.

I received a letter from a sender unknown to me - some company from the other end of the country I never heard of. They were offering to pay me a certain, not very big amount of money in exchange for my personal details and bank account number. Normally, I would throw such junk mail away without thinking - I receive dozens of very trustworthy business offers from third-world countries by e-mail every day, but rarely by snail mail - only out of curiosity did I read on. The company wanted to pay me my own money, money I had entrusted to one of the countless investment funds that sprung up at the beginning of the privatization process in the early 1990's. I knew about the investment but due to a massive wave of bankruptcies of small banks, insurance companies, investment funds and other financial institutions, I considered the money to be lost for good. Well, it was not that much, and at least I felt I helped the transformation process. Obviously, my investment fund went bankrupt, too, was taken over by another company which then repaid the clients with what remained of the fund - much less than the original investments, to say nothing about a dividend.

And here we may be getting to the core of the problem. The majority of Czechs used to be enthusiastic about the transformation from a totality to democracy, from a command economy to a free market. With endless trust it was that they entrusted their money to all these small banks, credit unions and investment funds, every time to find out it was all fraud. Only after several years have the police started investigating the most blatant cases.

In the same manner, people have kept voting for the same political parties whom they believed would defend their interests and ensure a better future, the same parties who reject popular presidential candidates and try to push their own current or former senior party officials as the next head of state.

But Czechs are becoming less naïve than they used to be, both politically and economically. Many people I have spoken to recently would never again deposit their savings with a dubious small investment firms, neither would they vote for any of the current mainstream political parties.

There have been voices calling for the Czech Republic to re-introduce a monarchy and find an enlightened monarch. I only hope it won't be the current political representation who chooses the best person for the post.