With the wrong policy, from 19 MPs today barely 5: The state of BiH is defended in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska too

Who represents the interests of Bosniaks in the smaller BiH entity? What is the vice-president Ramiz Salkić (SDA) doing, who has subscribed to appearances on certain TV stations in the Federation of BiH and who spends more (working) time in Sarajevo and the party headquarters than in Banja Luka, writes the Patria News Agency.

 

From the comfort of the party headquarters or his home in the Federation of BiH, Salkić called on Bosniaks not to participate in the unconstitutional referendum and to "remain calm and collected".

We had the opportunity to see him at the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of Buroj Ozone in Trnovo. Bosniaks in RS would probably prefer to see him laying the foundation stone for the construction of a factory in the places where they returned to live.

The other vice-president of RS, Josip Jerković, who is supposed to represent the interests of Croats, is not only doing nothing to improve the status of his compatriots and ensure their return to their pre-war homes, but he is almost non-existent in public. Almost no one knows him by name, let alone what he looks like. 

Few people care about Bosniaks in the smaller BiH entity. Quotas for the employment of Bosniaks in RS institutions have not been met. They are completely unequal and discriminated against in RS. They are denied education in the Bosnian language. The situation is the same for Croats.

Also, "Dodik's Bosniaks" sit in the RS Government, who neither represent Bosniak interests nor were appointed for that reason, as well as "Dodik's Croats".

The only indigenous minister in the RS Government is Davor Čordaš (HDZ BIH), who was appointed thanks to the friendship between his leader Dragan Čović and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik.

The wrong Bosniak policy, led from party headquarters in Sarajevo over the past two decades, has led returnees into an extremely difficult position.

The best indicator of how Bosniak politicians have treated the smaller BiH entity, and how their interest in helping Bosniaks in RS has decreased year by year or is almost non-existent, is the number of parliamentary seats in the National Assembly of RS.

The same can be applied to Croatian politicians, who fought in previous years, but with the taking over of the "political bank" by Dragan Čović, the interest in compatriots living in RS no longer exists.

This is not just a wrong policy towards returnees in RS, but a wrong state policy that has set a matrix where the "state is from Baščaršija to Marijin Dvor".

And the state is very much defended in the parliamentary benches of the NSRS. Because when Bosniaks and Croats had 19 MPs out of a total of 83 in one convocation, they were an important political factor that decided many important issues. Today, their number is minimized and they have no say in anything.  

In the second convocation of the NSRS, from 19.10.1996 to 27.12.1997, SDA had 14 MPs, the Alliance for BiH 2 MPs, and 2 Social Democratic Party - Union of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Social Democrats - Muslim Bosniak Organization - Croatian.

In the third convocation from 27.12.1997 to 19.10.1998, the Coalition for BiH had 16 MPs and SDP BiH had 2.

In the fourth convocation from 19.10.1998 to 16.12.2000, the Coalition for a Whole and Democratic BiH had 15 MPs, SDP BiH 2, and NHI and HDZ one each.

In the fifth convocation from 16.12.2000 to 28.11.2002, SDA had 6 MPs, SDP BiH and Stranka za BiH four each, and NHI one.

In the sixth convocation from 28.11.2002 to 09.11.2006, SDA had 6 MPs, Stranka za BiH 4, SDP BiH 4, and NHI 1.

In the seventh convocation from 09.11.2006 to 15.11.2010, Stranka za BiH had 4 MPs, SDA 3, and SDP 1 MP.

In the eighth convocation from November 15, 2010, to 24.11.2014, SDP BiH had 3 and SDA 2 MPs.

In the ninth and current convocation of the NSRS, elected in October 2014, the Homeland Coalition, around which all pro-Bosnian, Bosniak, and Croatian parties gathered, barely managed to secure five MPs.