By Indra Darmawan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): We have followed the media accounts of the
\ntragic conflict in Yugoslavia with great interest and have been
\ndisturbed by the oversimplification of the causes of the present
\nconflict between Serbs and Croats in the republic of Croatia.<\/p>\n
Yugoslavia's economic and political system is different from
\nthat of other Eastern European countries. It broke away from
\nSoviet control in 1948 and has tried to develop a different type
\nof economic system.<\/p>\n
The economy was not centrally controlled. It was developed
\nunder local communities, under the concept of \"Self Management\"
\nin which workers were involved in the decision making process of
\na company. Since 1980, central control has weakened and the
\nvarious republics have built up their own separate power bases.<\/p>\n
The conflict has been perceived as one between two republics,
\nCroatia and Serbia, and a conflict between two political systems,
\nCroatia democracy and Serbia communism. As Margaret Thatcher once
\nstated: \"It is between communists and those -- the Croatians --
\nwho seek democracy.\"<\/p>\n
The term \"seek\" is appropriate since after a year in office
\nthe Croatian Democratic Union Government has done nothing to
\nreform the economy or the political institutions. The economy is
\nproceeding with a centralization drive re-nationalizing 40
\npercent of the Croatian economy and placing five of the
\nrepublic's largest enterprises directly into state hands.<\/p>\n
With regard to the political system, the powers of parliament
\nhave been restricted and policy is decided in the President's
\noffice by unelected advisers. The press is under complete control
\nand the voices of dissent are becoming increasingly rare. The
\noffice of the liberal Croatian Peasant Party and the Socialist
\nParty have been bombed in Zagreb.<\/p>\n
The conflict, obviously, is not between two republics, but a
\nconflict within a republic. The conflict is between the Serbian
\nminority in Croatia and the Croatian government.<\/p>\n
There are 600,000 ethnic Serbs living in Croatia and over the
\nlast few years they have become increasingly alienated and
\nfrustrated by the \"serbophobic\" nationalism that has swept
\nCroatia.<\/p>\n
The right-wing Croatian Democratic Union won the election in
\nMay 1990. Its stated aim was to create an Independent State of
\nCroatia. The Serbs refused to be a part of such a state and
\ncreated their own autonomous state of \"Krajina\", where the
\nmajority of the Serbs live, within Croatia.<\/p>\n
The fear of the Serbian minority has been represented as one
\nof acute paranoia. Their fear stems from their recollections of
\nwhat happened when they lived in the Independent State of Croatia
\nin 1941.<\/p>\n
Serbs have lived in Croatia since the 13th century and co-
\nexisted with Croats quite happily until World War II, when the
\nGermans and the Italians mixed in and an Independent state of
\nCroatia was set up. Croatia was controlled by fascist Croatian
\nUstasha whose stated aim was to eliminate non-Croats from their
\nmidst. A concentration camp, Jasenovac, which was the third in
\nsize in occupied Europe, was set up. Gassing was not used there,
\nthe camp \"laborers\" were slaughtered with guns, knives and axes.<\/p>\n
The exact number of dead has never been confirmed, but
\nestimates vary between 200,000 and 600,000 Serbs, Jews and
\nGypsies. The rise in Croatian nationalism has led to the
\nemergence of symbols and language which bring back memories of
\nthe war years. The Serbs fear a repeat performance.<\/p>\n
The president of Croatia has openly boasted that his wife is
\n\"pure Croat, neither Serb nor Jew\" and that the Serbs \"belong to
\na different civilization.\" He also claims that only 40,000 to
\n50,000 people, primarily Croatian socialists, followed by Serbs,
\nGypsies and Jews, perished at the Jasenovac concentration camp.<\/p>\n
The Serbs feel outraged that the Croatians show no remorse,
\nbut instead minimize or even deny that such things ever occurred.<\/p>\n
It could be argued that all this fear is a reaction to what
\nhappened in the past and that it has no relevance to the
\nsituation in Croatia today.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately these nationalistic feelings have been embodied
\nin the republic's new constitution, which makes a point of
\ndifferentiating between the Croats and the rest. The cyrillic
\nalphabet, used by the Serbs, has been banned.<\/p>\n
Croatian intellectuals have been trying to unearth archaic
\nwords in order to distinguish between \"Croatian\" and \"Serbian\"
\nlanguage. Many Serbs have been systematically purged from their
\njobs and forced out of their homes. Hundreds of thousands of
\nSerbs have fled Croatia and it is estimated that a large majority
\nof them may be barred by Croatian authorities from returning when
\nthe war ends. Innocent people are being killed on both sides.
\nLocal papers often report about people being attacked in buses
\nsimply because they are Serbs.<\/p>\n
The events in Yugoslavia are a mirror image of what may happen
\nin other East European countries where nationalism and
\nintolerance are rife.<\/p>\n
International guarantees for minorities must be introduced and
\nenforced in these newly emerging states.<\/p>\n
The writer, a graduate from the London School of Economics, is
\na lecturer in social sciences at the University of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
30<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/by-indra-darmawan-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }