Post by Erich Griesser on Jul 18, 2011 20:12:54 GMT -5
It is the question on the mind of every single Austrian citizen (seriously, you should see the amount of posts we get in daily because of it). Since his disastrous birthday celebration, the Minister has been under fire for failing to protect the citizens of his country. With his nonexistent public appearances, Minister Raghnall has done nothing to ease the troubled minds of his angry public. “I just don’t get it,” says Armand Erstweiler, resident. “You would think that a government official would want to keep the citizens up to date on the security of our country. After the disaster that was his birthday, we barely even got a public apology for it. We just want to know what’s going on.” Erstweiler refers to the highly criticized press conference Raghnall conducted just days after the Dark Lord and his band of followers invaded his public birthday celebration, which, by the way, this reporter had insisted would be a bad idea (just throwing that out there). The Masquerade Ball had been going on for a few hours before the Dark side invaded, injuring hundreds and killing fifty. Nearly every citizen angrily protested against their government for allowing the Dark Lord and his followers to leave on their own accord.
During the press conference, Raghnall stood at a podium in the press room of the Ministry of Magic for not even a minute. He hurriedly apologized for the incident, promised the Magical Law Enforcement was questioning witnesses and conducting a thorough investigation and answered no questions. No reason was ever given as to why the Minister hastily ran through his short conference, nor why he has made but one public appearance since. No Ministry officials have offered any comments or opinions.
What exactly is going on behind the closed doors of the Ministry? The Timestopper has been made aware of the arrests of five suspected DeathEaters, but none have provided any useful information to Aurors. With the exception of that, there has been no increased law enforcement presence around heavily populated areas of the country. There have been no public notices, no comment from the Ministry in regards to security measures, or government meetings between other countries, although other countries ARE interested and would like to come up with an intercontinental defense strategy against the Dark Lord and his merry band of DeathEaters. Many are speculating that Minister Raghnall’s sanity is slowly deteriorating and that is his cause for not appearing in the public eye. If that is the case though, then why do we continue to keep this man in charge of our country? We are aware that no threat has been made against Austria and its citizens but we were also not made aware of any threat until the public celebration. Concerned citizens want to know if anything is actually being done to insure the safety and protection of their family and friends. And if there is, why is it so bloody difficult for the Ministry to make it known?
On the deadline of this article, I received an exclusive statement from Callista Audler, personal assistant to Minister Raghnall. Here is the statement in its entirety:
Minister Raghnall appreciates the concern of his well-being. He wants to assure the people he serves that everything is under control. He is not at liberty to discuss measures being taken because of the security threat they could impose and does sincerely apologize for the secrecy. He asks that the public does not fret. All will be revealed when the proper divisions find it necessary. He also asks the public to not lose faith in their government as everything that can possibly be done to ensure their safety, is being done. Also, for record purposes, Minister Raghnall has not run off with some supermodel to the Caribbean islands. Nor is he holed up in a secret ward of St. Everdines for the mentally unstable.
This reporter finds Miss. Audler’s statement laughable. It sounds like they just want to make sure no one turns to the Dark side to give the Dark Lord even more followers. There has been no other confirmation that the Minister is even still in the country. Or that he hasn’t been a brilliantly-derived hologram to give a false sense of reassurance to a worried public. All I’m saying is that if Minister Raghnall is so concerned for the people he represents, then he needs to be putting himself out there for all to see. He needs to let us see just a sample of these supposed security measures. The Dark Lord has been inactive for over three years now. No mention has been made of future attacks, but we all know that one is inevitably coming. However, we don’t know when to expect it. It could happen as soon as this issue gets printed, tomorrow morning, a month from now. We do not know. His absence could be just another part of some grand scheme to take the public by storm at any given time. It is the right of the citizens of Austria to know what their government is doing to protect them from the Dark Lord’s next appearance.
Minister Raghnall, if you read this article, we at the Daily Timestopper urge you to come forward and assure us that you are still in stable mind to be running the country and that your Magical Law Enforcement department is legitimately working extensively behind the scenes to prepare a more effective defense strategy. If not, it is in this reporter’s opinion that impeachment will be inevitable.
