Swedish Documentary: Scandal of Swedish Social Democratic Party / 瑞典紀錄片：瑞典社會民主工人黨醜聞
Preface:
“Uppdrag Granskning” is a documentary journalism program on Swedish National Television, SVT. The program was first launched in 2001 and has been one of the most popular programs in Sweden since then. Uppdrag Granskning mainly focuses on issues about Swedish society, including politics, environment, humanitarian, etc. In the first two episodes of the autumn season, the program reveals a scandal between the biggest political party in Sweden, the biggest construction company, and the local group leader in a municipality called Sigtuna in the early 2010s.
In this article, you will be able to see:
Concept explained regarding the Swedish political system and those who were involved.
What was the relationship between those who were involved in the scandal?
What happened after the program is published to the public?
Background information of those who are involved:
Before analyzing the program, there is something we need to understand about the scandal. This includes the people involved and the organizations they represented.
- Anders Johansson, the chairman of the Sigtuna municipality board at that time. Anders Johansson is one of the rising political stars in his party, Socialdemokraterna (Social democrats). He is the youngest chairman of a municipality in Sweden, only with the age of 25.
- Thomas Andersson, CEO of PEAB. PEAB is the biggest construction company in Sweden. Aside from Sweden, PEAB has branches across the neighboring countries as well.
- Ismet Karademir, leader of the Syrian group in Sigtuna municipality. He is also an entrepreneur of a pizza house and the president of the local football club.
So here we begin with the summary of the documentary:
Sigtuna municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in the eastern part of Stockholm. The region is known for its growing population in the early 2000s with a higher percentage of Syrian residents. With the influx of residents, the municipality planned to build many buildings for residence to fix the problem of lacking housing.
Anders Johansson, chairman of the municipality, was a politician with a bright future career. He was not only the youngest chairman of the municipality in Sweden but also a charming politician who received high supporting rate despite the fact of the party he belongs to, Socialdemokraterna (Social Democrats), had a terrible performance in the national election. Being the rising star in politics both locally and nationally, Anders Johansson planned to lead the Sigtuna municipality to grow by massive construction.
Thomas Andersson, CEO of the construction company, PEAB, hoped to earn a huge profit by getting the build projects in Sigtuna municipality. In normal cases, the municipality will give out information on the projects to the public so companies can compete with each other to get the project. However, it is not the case in this scandal. PEAB got the right to build most of the projects in Sigtuna by “sponsoring” both the politicians and the residences. PEAB “donated” two houses and materials for election to Anders Johansson and his party Socialdemokraterna. Meanwhile, PEAB “bribed” the main voters in Sigtuna, which is the local Syrian group by constructing a new church, renovate a local leader’s pizza house, and even sponsor millions of kronor to a local Syrian football club.
Under the circumstances of receiving benefits from PEAB, the voters prone to vote for Anders Johansson, which was sponsored by PEAB with numerous propaganda materials and promising policies. Once Anders is getting elected and maintain his higher management job in the municipality, he can make PEAB win the projects easily by leaking information to PEAB before public release.
The relationships between the three sides were not revealed until the investigation of the TV program. All three people involved in the scandal deny all the accusations even though clear evidence. Soon after the publication of the program, Anders Johansson resigned from his current job as the chef of Åmål municipality. Thomas Andersson is no longer serving as the CEO of PEAB, but working in a company related to the PEAB group.
Link of the video: (with Swedish Subtitle)
Name of the film: Uppdrag granskning — Makt till varje pris
“Uppdrag Granskning”是瑞典國家電視台SVT上的紀錄片新聞節目；該節目於2001年首次播映，並成為瑞典最受歡迎的節目之一。 Uppdrag Granskning 主要關注有關瑞典社會的問題；包括政治、環境、人道主義等。節目在秋季的前兩集中揭露了2010年代初期瑞典最大政黨「瑞典社會民主工人黨」、瑞典最具影響力的建築公司「PEAB」，以及當地團體在一個名為Sigtuna的城市的醜聞。
在本文中，您將能夠看到：
解釋有關瑞典政治體系和有關人員、組織等概念。
捲入醜聞的人與團體之間的關係
該節目撥出的後續影響
在文章開始之前，我們需要了解有關該醜聞的一些訊息，包括相關人員及其代表的組織：
- Anders Johansson：時任Sigtuna市政委員會主席。Anders Johansson是他所屬政黨Socialdemokraterna（瑞典社會民主工人黨）中的政治新星之一；他憑藉著其人氣在25歲時成為瑞典史上最年輕的市政委員會主席。
- Thomas Andersson：時任PEAB執行長。 PEAB是瑞典最大的建築公司；並且除瑞典外，還在鄰近國家設有分支機構。
- Isgt Karademir：Sigtuna市敘利亞團體的負責人；同時他經營當地一間批薩屋，以及當地足球俱樂部的主席。
以下為正文：
Sigtuna市是斯德哥爾摩東部斯德哥爾摩縣的一個城市。該地區以其2000年代初期的人口增長而聞名，其中敘利亞居民比例更高。隨著民眾的湧入，市政當局計劃建造許多建築物供居住，以解決住房短缺的問題。
市政府主席Anders Johansson是一位當地政壇的人物，前途一片光明。他不僅是瑞典最年輕的市政當局主席，而且還是一位迷人的政治家。儘管他所屬的政黨Socialdemokraterna（瑞典社會民主工人黨）在全國大選中慘敗，但他仍然以個人魅力獲得了極高的支持率。作為當地和全國政治上的明日之星，Anders Johansson計劃領導Sigtuna市通過大規模建設來發展。
PEAB建築公司的執行長Thomas Andersson希望透過在Sigtuna市獲得建築計畫來取得豐厚的利潤。在正常情況下，市政當局將公開提供有關計畫的資料，以便各家建商可以相互競爭以獲取該計畫；但是PEAB透過「贊助」當地政客（Anders Johansson）和選舉辦公室以取得Sigtuna大多數建設計畫的承包。 PEAB向Anders Johansson和他的政黨Socialdemokraterna「捐贈」了兩棟房屋和大幅競選海報。與此同時，PEAB利用捐獻新教堂、免費翻新方屋，甚至贊助數百萬瑞典克朗給敘利亞本地足球俱樂部來「賄賂」敘利亞當地民眾的支持。
在從PEAB獲得利益的情況下，選民傾向於投給由PEAB贊助的Anders Johansson，其中包含許多競選文宣與有空頭支票；一旦Anders當選並維持其在市政上的高級管理職位，他就可以通過在公開發布之前向PEAB洩漏消息來使PEAB輕鬆贏得承包計劃。
三方之間的關係被該節目揭露，儘管有明確的證據，但涉入該醜聞的所有三個人均否認了所有指控。該節目播出後不久，Anders Johansson辭去了他目前在Åmål市擔任chef的工作；而Thomas Andersson不再是PEAB的首席執行官，而是在與PEAB集團相關的公司中工作。
Link of the video: (with Swedish Subtitle)
Name of the film: Uppdrag granskning — Makt till varje pris
