About trust

In Tartu with European Human Rights Court judge Julia Laffranque when she was Julia Vahing

 

Increasingly one hears that it is not possible to trust anyone in the country.  Some good friends of mine who lived here during the Soviet occupation say that back then they knew whom to trust and whom not, but now they no longer know who can be trusted.  Lack of trust has increased especially in recent years.  No doubt, part of it is due to the economic depression which has contributed to theft and deception, but a lot of the blame can be placed on the political leaders in Estonia.

Prime Minister Ansip has been a leading architect of the crisis in confidence with his statements, such as his assertion that his party’s politics will place Estonia among the five richest countries in Europe within a certain number of years, or his remark that if this is a crisis, then it is the very crisis with which he wants to live – this at a time when the numbers of unemployed and people leaving the country were increasing. 

The strategy followed by the Prime Minister’s Reform Party and its allies has been divide and conquer and for its implementation the Bolshevik principle „end justifies the means“ has been adopted.  An esteemed minister even stated in an article he wrote that human beings have not been created to serve truth, but for the purpose of staying alive.  In the political arena that can be interpreted as staying in power.  Accordingly, betrayal and mendacity are permissible in order to remain alive or in power.

The Reform Party developed an image as the political party with economic smarts after the country’s independence was restored which occurred simultaneously with the period of liberal economic policies’ popularity in the market economies. They were elected into office, but in order to remain in power - especially after the financial crash – expedient measures were needed and being astute politicians, they knew that fear is an effective tool.

Rather than agree to consensual transfer of the Bronze Soldier, which had been agreed upon by the interested parties, to the new location, the removal of the offensive Soviet era statue by the Reform Party coalition government was used to stir fear, resulting in violence. The question remains: why did the event have to be accompanied by violence and destruction when in contrast an extremely confrontational situation of considerable duration – from March to September 1991 – was handled non-violently and the aim of freedom from Moscow rule and restored independence was achieved. 

To this day arguments persist about the Bronze Soldier episode.  In my opinion, divide and conquer – that is, create hatred and fear – tactics were used in the removal.  Agreement on a peaceful removal existed, but the powers that be wanted to sow fear and have Estonians and Russians clash in hatred. 

Additionally, the role of the state Security Police remains a question mark in the above episode.  Questions have emerged since then, including the period of the political campaign preceding the parliamentary elections in March 2011 when the powers that be used the office against political opponents, thereby undermining trust in the state’s security apparatus. 

The 2011 Annual Report of the Security Police does not contain any of the charges made against the leader of the opposition during the campaign.  Instead, suspicion is cast therein on three members of the opposition party and, for an unexplained reason, the academician Ivar Raig is implicated.  Albeit in the Introduction it is stated that facts and processes are described in the yearbook, documentation which would be a professional requirement for the accusations made against the four individuals is lacking.

Opinions have been expressed that the content of the Annual Report is reminiscent of the Soviet era stigmatizing of people and the abusive practices that prevailed then.  Such practices are dangerous and should not be tolerated in a society that respects human rights and freedoms.  Silence on this matter by the head of state as well as the chairman of the political party gaining popularity in the country indicates the presence of the time-honored „silence means consent“ position.  Also, when the Director of Ethics Centre at Tartu University was asked for her opinion she replied that the Report cannot be criticized for the stated facts not being true (sic). At the same time, she does not ask why the Report does not include the residence permit sales, organized crime’s business, and money laundering – all of them threats to state security. 

The resultant situation in the country can be rightly called a crisis in confidence.  Even sports are not excluded when one considers last year’s drama surrounding the nation’s Olympic medal winner Andrus Veerpalu.  Summer Olympics will be played in London soon and Estonian athletes will be competing there.  My daughter and son-in-law have been invited to the games as VIP guests and I would be glad to ask her to wave Estonia’s flag among the guests, but I cannot do that because trust in our nation’s decision-makers is gone. 

New Year - 2012

On the way from Singapore to the US, I made a stop in Tallinn and welcomed the New Year at home.  Shortly before the end of 2011, I had been e-mailed Estonian news that involved three young Pro Patria and Res Publica Alliance (a nationalist-conservative political party) politicians - two of them members of Parliament and one a member of Tallinn City Council - who were instrumental in registering 147 Russian businessmen (some of them members of organized crime groups) in Estonia, thus granting them residence permits.  Such permits also allow the person to travel in the Schengen room (territory without inner borders). The Minister of Economic Affairs and the Interior Minister, both members of the above named Party, were accused of complicity.

To my surprise, President Ilves did not address this issue in the traditional New Year greeting to the nation, nor call for the resignation of these politicians.  He has become quite unpopular with an increasing number of Estonians, largely due to his and his wife’s apparent greed, and his aloofness.  As a consequence, he lacks moral authority which is considered a President’s major role in the republic’s parliamentary system of government. Addressing the issue of accountability by our political leaders and the President’s lack of moral authority, I wrote an article that appeared in Delfi after it had been rejected by a nation-wide weekly.  After that, articles by several noted commentators also appeared in the media, pointing out the lack of accountability and unethical behavior by the country’s leaders.

By the end of the year, one of the above parliamentarians and the City Council member had resigned (also left the Party), but the other parliamentarian is still in place.  There were calls in the Party ranks for the two ministers to resign, but when it came to a vote in the Executive Committee, the motion did not receive any Yes votes.  The two ministers remain in office.  However, quite a number of long-time members of that Party cancelled their membership over the scandal, but interestingly enough, the Party reportedly acquired a considerable number of new members.  The Party is also in the Coalition Government, and the Government has not fallen, either.

One would think that the above state of affairs would have been enough for this little country to digest, but at the beginning of April the President attended an event organized by a member of Parliament in Tallinn to criticize Russia’s authorities for arresting the punk rock ensemble “Pussy Riot” who had entered Christ the Redeemer Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow and shouted anti-Putin phrases in front of the altar. For lending his support by his presence at this event, President Ilves and the members of Parliament who had sent a protest letter to the Kremlin were criticized by the Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, who saw these actions as condoning desecration of a house of worship and offending the faithful who do not see “Pussy Riot” performance as a political act.  

Then we celebrated Easter peacefully and the ground was covered with snow.   

Been away

                                          Sipping Singapore Sling at the Rafferty Hotel

I was away from Estonia for quite a spell which caused me to neglect the blog.  Neglect may not be the accurate word for it, because I was traveling and largely preoccupied with personal and family matters.

About a week before Halloween last year, I left for Singapore to visit my daughter’s family.  My son joined us from the US.  It happens that he and I have birthdays one day apart, and my son-in-law’s is five days after mine.  My daughter’s birthday is only some weeks later, and she had organized for us to celebrate them together at a resort in Indonesia.  

I traveled on Finnair to Singapore. A comment on Finnair’s non-stop service between Helsinki and Singapore which was launched in May.  Given that the flight is about 15 hours long, I decided to use Business Class. Leaving the cabin upon arrival, I thanked the stewardess for her service and added that I took Finnair first time 40 years ago and I have never been disappointed by the airline over the years that I have flown.   She replied that this year marks the 40^th year at Finnair for her and I said, “In that case, you probably were the stewardess on board when I took the plane from New York to Helsinki 40 years ago!”

Before my departure from Estonia, I participated in a conference on promotion of women in the business world, and decided that with some re-working the presentation makes a suitable article for a newspaper.  I submitted the article to one of the dailies and, after it was rejected, Delfi (Online news portal) posted it on November 17. 

In the article, I pointed out that in March EU’s Commissioner Vivane Reding had called on businesses listed on the stock exchanges of Europe to increase voluntarily the number of women on their boards of directors to 30 percent by 2015 and to 40 percent by 2020.   In July, the European Parliament approved the Commissioner’s recommendation. 

I suggested that in Estonia it would be sensible to start the implementation of the Commissioner’s recommendation with state owned businesses:  Eesti Energia (energy company), Eesti Raudtee (the railroad), Tallinna Sadam (the ports), and Estonian Air (the airline).  These four major businesses do not have a single woman on their boards. 

There is no doubt that qualified women exist in Estonia to serve on those boards.  More women than men are studying at the Estonian Business School and it is significant that this is true on the Masters and Doctorate degree levels.  Also, sufficient women are studying economics at other institutions of higher learning.  It is the “good ole’ boy” politics that prevents their advancement to decision making positions.   

Empirical evidence shows that businesses with women in decision making positions are more innovative and successful in the market place.  Why is that?  A major reason is the fact that women make the purchasing decisions - including the purchase of computers, automobiles, financial transactions and high-cost services. I said in the article that I am willing to be a candidate to the Board of Directors of Tallinna Sadam.

There is no question that the topic will not go away.  Commissioner Viviane Reding has said that if measures are not taken voluntarily, she will introduce legislation.  While I was away, the American Chamber of Commerce Estonia sponsored a luncheon for business women on February 14 as a ground-breaking event.  As a member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors I praised the move, but when I later saw coverage of it by a daily (including photos), placing the event in the Society rather than the Business section and had received negative feed-back from friends, I became critical.  The article referred to the women as „edukad“ (successful) and to many that term translates in the Estonian political culture into success for taking over another woman’s husband!  In addition, I learned later that men were excluded from this „business luncheon“.  Having been against segregation in the US, this revelation was quite unpalatable.