National Policy for Single Use

Written by: Sead Omeragić

„What particularly concerns me is the situation in our congregations and communities in the RS. Our people were politically subordinated in the past elections. This is not a momentary weakness, but a long neglect of serious discussion in our policies regarding that part of our country and our people. A comprehensive solution, plan and program of action on the economic, social and cultural level has never been offered“, warned Reis-ul-ulema Husein ef. Kavazović. The Reis is absolutely right. Seizing power in the Federation and a part of the RS has become the sole goal of the alleged Bosniak national strategy, led by the SDA.

The question is, unfortunately, how belated the Reis-ul-ulema's warnings come. Our political strategists have missed all trains to the future. The state-building essence of that strategy has long been lost. Return has become an outdated story of that, so-called, national policy. National parties do not notice either segregation or discrimination against Bosniaks in the RS. These parties treat Bosniaks almost like Dragan Čović treats the disappearance of Croats in the RS: federally casual and with respect for a leader advocating the secession of an ethnically pure territory.

Similarly, international humanitarian organizations do not treat the obvious discrimination and segregation of returnees in the RS more seriously. These people have been left and abandoned to themselves: nationally, economically, socially and culturally, and they are constantly suspected and accused of non-existent terrorism.  

Srebrenica is an example of a poor attitude towards the tragedy of the Bosniak people. Investments there were chaotic and without much strategy. Most of the donation money was left to be managed by local political power brokers. The results of implementing these donations are dire. Why was it difficult for this government to separate money from local politics? Why was it difficult to appoint a capable person, a commissioner for Srebrenica, someone who would bear full responsibility for any illegal spending or any abuses? This could have been done with a strategic return to all cities in the RS. 

All of this is haphazard investment intertwined with the complete atrophy of Bosniak politics in the territory of the Republika Srpska. True political wisdom should have been seen in the RS. This could by no means be done by the mediocre national policy that the SDA and several other national parties have been preaching for a decade.

Pro-Bosnian politics is the only politics that makes long-term sense. Fortunately, it cannot be too late. As we said, the SDA as an expression of national politics in half of the Federation has become redundant and almost mortally ill at its core. It makes sense if our goal is to fence off that area as our own ghetto, to be: “In your own party - on your own land”.   

The politics that Reis-ul-ulema Kavazović speaks of did not build a state even in this predominantly Bosniak federal area. That area could have been an example of the functionality of a rule of law and the governance of the competent. But, even there we remained deprived. The “skill” of strategic wandering and staggering, already proven in the federal part, has simply spilled over into the RS.

Economic, social, cultural and every other strategy must be built on moral foundations and with moral values. Moral responsibility implies the existence of an unquestionable moral authority. On what moral principles, then, does Bosniak policy towards the RS rest?  

It has been shown that two decades after the war and the horrific crimes against the Bosniak people, a re-examination of that return policy is necessary. Where the normal world finishes processes, we start from the beginning.