HDZ in Sarajevo is distributing letters: Do not support false protectors of Croatian national interests

Robert Pleše, a municipal and city councilor from Sarajevo, sent an open letter to Dražen Trlin, president of the Vrhbosna cantonal board of HDZ BiH, after he found a letter from HDZ BiH addressed to him in his mailbox, reports the Patria news agency.

We are publishing Robert Pleše's open letter in its entirety:

Dear Mr. Dražen Trlin, President of the Vrhbosna Cantonal Board of HDZ BiH,

I cannot help but respond to your letter, which I received yesterday (August 6th) in the afternoon, in which you address me and other Croats of Sarajevo, promoting Croat identity, with the aim of gaining a certain number of votes in the municipal elections on October 2nd, even though the official campaign has not yet begun.

This letter reminded me of a similar one from the 90s, and consequently, it evoked a storm of negative emotions in me, all through the recollection of the herding and separation of Sarajevans.

I am a Maltar, a Novosarajlija, who believes in the non-national coloring of streets, schools, pedestrian paths, parking lots, and all other constituent elements of city life, and I will never agree to Sarajevo becoming a hostage to national interests, as is the case with Mostar, which is in the state it is currently in, all due to the policies that you and those like you support.

I was astonished by the following indicator of how "serious" your organization is: looking only at our surname, you sent a letter addressed to my family and thus to me, a member of Our Party, a candidate and councilor in the Municipal Council of Novo Sarajevo and the City Council of Sarajevo, who represents ALL citizens (including Croats, but not only Croats) in the municipality of Novo Sarajevo and throughout the city of Sarajevo.

It is evident that your committee consists of people who do not possess enviable knowledge, for example, about the municipality of Novo Sarajevo, its citizens, and their elected officials, and are making such cardinal mistakes. The question arises whether individuals who are so uninformed should sit in council seats to "represent the interests of the Croatian people in the municipality," or be suitable hand-raisers with your coalition partners from SDA and SBB.

It is indeed impolite that you address us, with the apparent belief that you know better than we ourselves, the citizens of the municipality of Novo Sarajevo, who we are, what we are, and what we need. It seems to me that you know nothing about us, to whom you sent the letter, except our names that you read from some list, and we are just numbers to you. And instead of offering us solutions on how to have nicer streets, parks, facades, and similar things – for which municipal authorities are responsible, not "national interests" – you want our surnames to be a cover for carrying out political actions and transactions similar to those you conduct at higher levels with your coalition partners.

I know your logic – that we who disagree with national policies are "illegitimate representatives of the people" because we do not play games with collective traumas and frustrations to gain votes, which then turn into financial injections for companies owned by "Croatian" tycoons.

Your sentence – "Let us not allow individuals who have so far presented themselves as protectors of Croatian national interests in Sarajevo, whose work has resulted in our worse position in this city, and their personal profit, to be supported in the upcoming elections" – I understand, and at the same time, I hope that your guiding star at the local level in Sarajevo will not be the creation of parks for Croatian children, two or three schools under one roof, a Croatian promenade, or Croatian parking spaces, or ensuring containers only for waste from Croatian homes, nor that drinking water must be supplied to the Croatian people from a Croatian water supply system.

Dear Sir, I believe that this letter of yours has caused similar or the same dissatisfaction, perhaps even anger, among most true Sarajevans among those to whom you sent it, and that they will reject your "exceptional" concern for the national interest, because it has been proven that the greater the national interests, the fewer citizens of Sarajevo there are, it states at the end of the letter signed by Robert Pleše,
municipal and city councilor and citizen of Sarajevo.