"Documenting the life of the Hungarian community in New Zealand"
- Az új-zélandi magyar közösség lapja.
When József Antall, Hungary's first democratically elected prime minister after the fall of communism, declared that in spirit he was the prime minister of 15 million Hungarians, he fired up Hungarians throughout the world with enthusiasm. Hungarians the world round had waited 70 years for someone to dare to affirm what so many felt in the depths of their hearts: that Hungarian is not defined by borders, rather by the spirit.
“Do you think Parliament should pass a law allowing Hungarian citizenship with preferential naturalization to be granted to those, at their request, who claim to have Hungarian nationality, do not live in Hungary and are not Hungarian citizens, and who prove their Hungarian nationality by means of a "Hungarian identity card" issued pursuant to Article 19 of Act LXII/2001 or in another way to be determined by the law which is to be passed?”
This was one of the two questions put to 8 million eligible Hungarian voters in a referendum on 5 December asked. Sadly too few people – less than 40% - exercised their right to vote. But what was even more alarming: of the 3 million who did vote barely more than half said YES.
The referendum was declared invalid. Altogether 18.90% of all eligible voters voted YES and 17.75% voted NO. A minimum of 25% of all eligible voters needed to have voted one way or the other for the referendum to be valid.
That the dual citizenship issue became a question to be put to popular vote is in itself upsetting. Hungarian citizenship for every Hungarian! This was the slogan of the World Federation of Hungarians when they initiated proceedings to hold a referendum. They held that the free and democratic government of Hungary was incapable of facing this issue that had become so dear to the hearts of Hungarians worldwide. They managed to collect a sufficient number of signatures for the referendum to proceed, and they believed that that “the Hungarian nation's dignity” would now be put right. After all, it is our common history that links us all…
Sadly this was not what happened. Instead the Hungarian nation's dignity received a huge slap in the face, and the Hungarians beyond the borders – yes, the same ones who carved our very own symbol of Hungarian-ness, the Magyar Millennium Park székely gate – let down yet again, have been left to themselves.
We don't need to be particularly mature in years, or wise to observe through the course of our lives, that we learn to really appreciate the value of something or someone, when that something or someone is no longer. It is often said, for example, of Hungarians spread throughout the world, that some are more Hungarian than the Hungarians back home. And it's true, because it's when we end up a long way from home, that we realise who we are, what we are, and then we strive somehow to preserve our identity. If what's more, we end up in a community where being different is not tolerated, or is maybe even forbidden, then our instinct for survival becomes all the stronger.
This is precisely why visiting Transylvania made such a big impression on me in 1998. There, in spite of decades of being oppressed and struggling to survive, people speak Hungarian more beautifully than Hungarians in Hungary. There they strive to preserve the old folk customs and traditions much more actively than most in Hungary. Undeniably they hold their Hungarian-ness in high regard.
As far as our own Hungarian-ness is concerned here, we have a much easier time of it, especially in this day and age when New Zealand society is not only curious about, but also celebrates differences. We can be as Hungarian as we like. We can speak our language, we can organise Hungarian celebrations, we can even obtain financial assistance in aid of our Hungarian causes – such resources played a significant role in bringing about the Magyar Millennium Park. We don't have to struggle to be accepted. We don't have to live in constant terror, as they do in some parts of Serbia, they we will be beaten up because we are Hungarian.
And – something many of us take for granted now – we can have duel citizenship.
So then, what's fair about that? Is it conceivable that the citizens of Hungary would deny us this, if we were to ask them? Is there really “Hungarian” vs “Hungarian”? Or are there actually 15 million of us?