12 March 2015
This week, Lajos Simicska, a former friend and political ally of the Hungarian Prime Minister, gave an interview on mandiner.hu in which he raised his suspicion that Viktor Orbán might have been recruited as an informer of the old regime. This recruitment, suggested Simicska, most likely took place when Orbán and many of his Fidesz colleagues were conscripts in the early 1980s. The inference was that this was having a detrimental effect on the country.
Of course Simicska was not in a position to offer any evidence to support his insinuation. The Hungarian public was asked to share his sincere gut feeling that somehow his suspicion warranted a public airing.
Hungary has been here already of course. Who could forget the unmasking and eventual resignation of former Socialist Prime Minister, Péter Medgyessy? Would it not be poetic justice if the icon of anti-Soviet agitation also turned out to have been in the pay of Moscow?
This issue is, I believe, very important for Hungary’s future political stability and integrity but not for any reason of the specific guilt or innocence of Viktor Orbán. It is important because the Simicska claim once again exposes the fact that there has been no public exercise in attaining truth, justice and reconciliation with respect to Hungary’s recent political past.
The Simicska case perfectly illustrates a fault line in Hungarian politics – deep polarisation and a feeling that significant elements of the population colluded with an external occupier in order to maintain the Soviet order. The accuser of course speaks in abstracts and intangibles whilst the media – or at least sections of it – insist the Prime Minister speak in absolutes. I for one have no idea if there is a case to answer. The one document in the public domain that does reflect the internal communication of the government apparatus does seem to suggest that Orbán was not recruited, although approaches might have been made. Indeed, if a successful recruitment operation against Orbán had been made and Lajos Simicska new about it, then his refusal to reveal this before now is damning and arguably makes him complicit. He never thought of alerting his other friends?
Such behaviour however does not make his inferences any less important. Simicska’s very public spat with Orbán and the form and timing of these accusations does, however, raise questions about their substance.
How will younger voters react is also important. Many were born after these events were supposed to have taken place. Do they resonate with a voting segment, which is more interested in education, employment and living for today?
Actually it is because of this that I believe that the Orbán government should once and for all seek to expose the facts of what happened under the former regime and break the back of the tainted legacy of communist totalitarian rule.
By following the example of states like South Africa, the Hungarian people should be encouraged to once and for all open up its knowledge of who did what to whom and why. This might be embarrassing and sometimes painful for individuals. It might open fissures between families and generations. It might put to rest false allegations. It might also, however, reconcile Hungarians to their past, encourage not a clean break with history but an appreciation of what it meant and crucially, might lead to an acknowledgement of what truth is. There will be winners and losers but there might also be justice. Let young people know that terrible things were done but that justice is not a foreign country.
Viktor Orbán is unlikely to be damaged by the Simicska affair, although the reputations of innocent bystanders could be tarnished. However, should the Prime Minister seek to recognise and respond to the wider issues at play here, then he should show political courage and maturity and seize the moment and announce the creation of a Hungarian Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Committee to heal the fractures of the past and take Hungary into the future as a united country free of lingering suspicions of your family, friends and neighbours.