Magyar News, 1997. szeptember-1998. augusztus (8. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1997-11-01 / 3. szám
People have a strange felling when the door to their home is open and a stranger walks in. First it is difficult to analyze the situation and it is hard to determine whether the person came with good intention or just taking advantage of the open door. These circumstances are applicable to countries, also. We here in America see it day-byday. People walk through our borders and take up illegal residences. This might not be the worst thmg in the world. Especially if you compare it to those who traffic in drugs, hurt our people, damage the core of our moral fabric, launder money, and the list could go on. We see how it works. In Hungary the people are just experiencing the "open door”. There are criminal elements m every society, among - may I say - all people. But when outsiders enter to make trouble, that is when one has to stop and think. Dunng my visit to Hungary 1 noticed little on the surface. Slowly information started to trickle in. The first amazing encounter with the problem starts in the western neighbors. If you want to rent a car and drive it to Hungary, most likely you will not get an insurance. The western insurance companies shy away because Hungary has a bad reputation. Last year 20,000 cars were stolen. Unfortunately not for loy ndes, not for Hungarian kids to have a little fun. There are many foreign gangs who steal cars on commission. At this time Hungary is in third place behind the leading USA and Italy. Since Hungary is just entenng the realm of technical goods a question really arises; how come that a poor country got so high on the ladder? The answer might be the “open door". When one boards the airplane to Hungary, to kill time, one starts reading the travel magazine in Hungarian, English or German. The name of it is “TRAVEL”. It promotes the many things that tourists can enjoy dunng their visit. It also calls the readers attention to the fact that there is cnme in the streets. Mostly by Ukranians, Russians and Serbians. But if you would like to confront a pick-pocket then you should seek out the Romanian nationalities. These gangs have specialized terntones. In Budapest they work the 4-6 trams, the number 7 bus route. Then the number 2 subway line, and naturally the Castle Distnct and the promenade street, the Váci utca. This group of invaders also pretends to be Tounst Police. So what do they do? Well they are very innovative. They stop the tounst and claim that they were exchanging currency in the street illegally. Or they claim that they saw the tounst sell counterfeit money to somebody. The victim's purses and wallets are searched, the money is taken out, they might say that it is being confiscated. The bottom line is that they steal the money and the poor victim in a strange city doesn’t even know how to get help. The police eliminated two of these gangs, but there is also a replacement. Nowhere, not even out in the villages have I expenenced any problem with making payments either in Formts or in Dollars. If I ran out of Forints then the good old greenback always helped me out. The gang wars also have their victims. They mostly go after each other trying to secure their territory. The statistics are favorable in this field. Last year the deaths of this nature fell from 400 to 300. The taigets are mainly the discos and nightclubs. I have no information about the sex shops, but I am sure that they have their own history. The police are still struggling with their problems. A political change doesn’t mean that everything changes. Police were there before and they are there now. I'm not talking about politically motivated people, I'm talking about professionals who in the interest of the people hold up the law and order. There is an uneasy feeling among them because they were serving a different political system. Fortunately this is wearing off and their effectiveness is getting stronger. The first step the government is taking to control the border crossing without closing them, is to issue a new kind of passport. The present ones are considered unsafe, easy to make counterfeits. Like the American passport, the pages containing the data will be covered with a plastic foil and the data will be branded into it. The ID cards will also be upgraded, making them less suitable to copy. This should cut down on the coming and going of foreign criminals. Despite all these problems, Hungary is still a favorite place for tourists. People visiting Hungary add up annually to over 20 million visitors. This is twice the number of the Hungarian population. This by itself is an indicator that Hungary has many things to offer. There are nice landscapes, rivers and lakes, histoncal cities, cultural programs and good service. What I appreciate the most, are the Hungarian people with their warm heart, friendliness, their heritage that goes back in history, the best tasting food in the world and their outstanding hospitality. Problems could be solved because the Hungarian people want to do so. God bless them all! Joseph F. Balogh PAGE 1 THE OPEN HOOK WELCOMES ONLY THE DECENT PEOPLE
