February 1999
Following a seven-day strike by 350 printing plant employees at the Fórum Publishing House in Novi Sad/Újvidék, the only Hungarian-language daily in Serbia, Magyar Szó appeared again on the stands. The workers demanded and received their September 1998 pay, but have threatened to strike again in 15 days if their outstanding salaries for October are not paid. None of the newspaper's demands have been met: remuneration of five months back pay and financial independence from the publishing house. [Magyar Nemzet (Budapest), Feb. 25, 1999]
Due to a strike by the 350 printing plant employees at the Fórum Publishing House in Novi Sad/Újvidék, the only Hungarian-language daily in Serbia, Magyar Szó did not appear on the stands. The paper’s workers have also announced plans to strike unless five months of back pay are disbursed and the paper gains independence from the publishing house. Magyar Szó s leadership has cautioned its founder in the past, the Voivodina Provincial Parliament, that ever since restructuring at the Fórum four years ago, when the newspaper lost its internal independence, it has become financially insolvent because of the other entities. Serbian Minister of Information met with leaders of Magyar Szó and the Fórum Publishing House, who promised emergency funds of 500,000 Dinars, of which 50,000 was actually paid, not enough to cover the telephone costs. President Slobodan Milosevic had previously promised the Alliance of Hungarians in Voivodina that the paper would not fold. [Napi Magyarország (Budapest), Feb. 22, 1999]
A committee consisting of ethnic Hungarian leaders from Croatia will make recommendations to the Hungarian Government Office for Hungarians Abroad on disbursement of the 200 million Forints in the special restoration fund set up following Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to Croatia. [see report of Feb. 1, 1998]. Committee member and Korog/Kórógy Mayor József Kell commented that first to be restored will be the churches in Korog/Kórógy and Kopacevo/Kopács and probably the cultural house in Laslovo/Szentlászló since no local budgetary monies exist for these buildings. [Magyar Hírlap (Budapest), Feb. 10, 1999]
In a lengthy interview with the Budapest daily Napi Magyarország, Associate Professor at the Department of History in the University of Novi Sad/Újvidék Tibor Pál reflects on the state of history teacher training, and history teaching in Hungarian-language lower and middle schools in Voivodina/Vajdaság. General Hungarian history, and that of Voivodina in particular, is not taught as a separate subject for university students training to be history teachers, but as part of the Serbian-language curriculum. So, while the future history teacher can gain familiarity with the main events of Hungarian history, comprehensive knowledge of this subject area is left up to his/her own discretion. Lack of specialization is compounded by the severe and chronic shortage of trained teachers — most elementary and high school classes are taught by senior university students. In fact, no ethnic Hungarians have applied to the history department during the past few years and while eight of the 80 candidates for the 1998/99 academic year were Hungarian, only five actually began their studies. Furthermore, of these students, merely two actually spoke Hungarian. The situation at the lower and middle education level is similarly happenstance: the curriculum prescribes a mere two-four hours of annual elective material on Hungarian history. [Napi Magyarország (Budapest), Feb. 2, 1999]
Following a three-day visit to Croatia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that the Hungarian government will establish a special fund in support of the Croatian government's efforts to restore two churches and a civic center (housing a school and cultural facilities) in the villages of Korog/Kórógy and Kopacevo/Kopács. Along with Laslovo/Szentlászló, these 900 year-old, predominately Hungarian-inhabited communities in Slavonia are still suffering from the ravages of the 1991 war. Although most of the population has returned and, in Korog, for example, 42 new houses have been built and 68 restored with Croatian government assistance, the pace of restoration is not in line with European norms, determined Orbán. [Magyar Nemzet (Budapest) and Népszabadság (Budapest), Feb. 1, 1999]