SDP members from Banja Luka in camouflage clothing: Political games and loss of ideals

Written by: doc.dr.sci.iur Nermin Alihodžić

I watched last night on one of the local TV stations those Teletubbies from the SDP in Banja Luka. An interesting quartet that came to the studio wearing camouflage shirts and for just over an hour they boasted about Bosnian-Herzegovinian patriotism, the great work they are doing in spreading brotherhood and unity in Banja Luka, the lion-like struggle they are waging as the opposition against Dodik's regime,
praising the courage of Nermin Nikšić to come at the height of the greatest crisis to the National Assembly of the RS and tell everyone how things stand, all the way to insulting anyone who does not fit into their vision of a multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is already clear to everyone that nothing is left of the SDP, not even the last letter, because Nermin Nikšić and his crony Vojin Mijatović, with a narrow group of semi-literate camarilla, managed to finish off and kill even the last crumb of social democracy that might have remained after the departure of Zlatko Lagumdžija. After Nikšić, if this man ever leaves the helm of this party, which I seriously doubt, nothing will remain but an empty shell, and yet they boast that this is the only
party in Bosnia and Herzegovina where members directly elect the president.

The fact that Vojin last night publicly broadcast the prejudiced electoral will of SDP members and what will all happen at the party bodies and the Congress in the near future should not surprise members or make them doubt their electoral will. Everything is already pre-arranged - "Panem et circenses" as the ancient Latins would say.

Vojin is not ashamed to talk about how they, with a vision, deliberately brought Dodik into power two years ago in order to prepare, pack, and set up what is now happening to him. If we didn't know before, now it should be clear to us that this is all part of the troika's plan and that we are currently witnessing its finale – the removal of Milorad Dodik from the political scene. Vojo winks slyly as he says this into the camera and, shaking his head, says "this is the work of our hands, yes, yes."

The fact that the constitutional order is threatened, that Milorad Dodik is humiliating the institutions of this state, that we are witnessing the greatest security and political crisis since 1995 is less important for Mijatović, because the troika is implementing its plan. The fact that returnees live in fear in the RS, who cares, the goal is important, and the goal justifies the means.
We will not now, to whom this story is served, split hairs and doubt this, God forbid.

Just as they efficiently repaired 72 meters of railway four months after the floods in Donja Jablanica, or how they renovated the tram line without anyone knowing the real cost, or how they record-breakingly indebted the Sarajevo Canton during their term, so will the troika finish this expertly and swiftly. It is ours only to watch and learn how to love and lead the state and state policy.

And of course, we listen to how they insult individuals who, according to them, came from the province, finished high schools somewhere in Malaysia, and now want to build a state honorably and honestly. It cannot be that way. With the fine city folk like them, it must be wrapped, packaged, hidden. You should suspend the constitution for twenty-four hours in order to enter government, rather than having citizens elect you honestly by a large majority in elections.

You have to be "imposed" to know how to love the state and build a multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was sad to watch last night Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po dressed like that and think that this is the future with which a better Bosnia and Herzegovina should be built. Vojin is not material for something like that, believe me, just as the SDP is no longer.

They are making fools of us, as if we don't follow the media, don't travel, don't have friends in both the RS and Serbia, as if we live on another planet, so we wouldn't know that there are honorable and honest Serbs who love this Bosnia and Herzegovina with all their hearts and see it as their homeland. They love but are silent. They are silent because, as the great Ivo Andrić once wrote, "there come, thus, times when wisdom falls silent, the fool speaks up, and the scoundrel gets rich."

And when the honest and wise are silent, then we watch people who won 688 votes in the Banja Luka electoral unit in the last local elections, a result that is quite enough for Nikšić to reward Mijatović with a ministerial position, but in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Imagine what Vojin would have gotten if he had somehow managed to cross the census and now have the pompously announced two councilors in the Banja Luka City Assembly. Maybe he would have become "the first man of the party from
the shadows"?

Fortunately for all of us, 2026 is not far away, it will come very soon. Then we will democratically count ourselves and see in the elections how many votes the "imposed" will win this time and manage to get support from citizens in both Sarajevo and Banja Luka, and where Vojin will be able to be a minister again.

Maybe he will enroll in studies in Malaysia, who knows, if he gets a scholarship from a man on a special mission.