The Role of SPUS: Instead of Students' Voice, an Organization Playing the Role of SDA's Spokesperson

The Student Parliament of the University of Sarajevo should be an organization exclusively responsible for fighting for students' rights and improving their educational conditions, writes the Patria agency.

In the last few years, the role of SPUS has been anything but concern for students. The work of SPUS in the post-war period has taken place far from public view. Student representatives held meetings with little or no media fanfare, mostly discussing issues related to teaching.

However, with Haris Zahiragić taking over as president of SPUS at the beginning of 2016, this organization has become a daily fixture in all BiH media, mostly thanks to Zahiragić's controversial statements.

SPUS has become a daily reality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in Sarajevo, and worst of all, public attention has not been drawn by any action related to the fight for students' rights. On the contrary.

SPUS, led by Zahiragić, was completely silent when the proposed restructuring of the healthcare system in the Sarajevo Canton included the closure of the Student Health Protection Institute of the University of Sarajevo, which directly affected students.

And that was not the only such case. They also did nothing regarding the adoption of the new Law on Education, which numerous representatives of the academic community assessed as a bad law for students and the academic community, and good only for politics. Quite the opposite, instead of speaking with a unified voice alongside the academic community, SPUS supported the new law. It is no wonder that Rector Rifat Škrijelj publicly stated that he would not allow "political cells" among students and SPUS.

The latest situation regarding GRAS has once again shown that SPUS is anything but an organization for students' rights. The announcement from this company that all students will be obliged to pay an annual ticket for the use of public transport services has completely exposed the role of SPUS.

SPUS representatives are ready to negotiate with GRAS representatives about the annual ticket price, which is beyond reason, because the only thing SPUS representatives should have done in the interest of students is to tell GRAS representatives that students are not a population that should save a collective, which has served the ruling SDA for years to employ its cadres, with their money.

That SPUS does not care about the interests of students is also shown by the reaction of the Association of Students of the Faculty of Philosophy, which stated that they do not want to pay for the failures of failed cantonal politicians. Some time earlier, representatives of the Association of Student Representatives of Psychology also reacted, clearly distancing themselves from the public statements of the now former president of SPUS, Haris Zahiragić, stating that his views do not reflect the views of all students.

All this shows that SPUS, instead of being the voice of students, has become a microphone for the ruling SDA. Instead of fighting for students' rights, SPUS uses media space to settle scores with opposition representatives, which is another clear indication of whose hands SPUS is in and for whose interests it works.

After his term as president of SPUS expired, Haris Zahiragić was rewarded with a job in the Sarajevo Canton Health Insurance Fund, and the position of SPUS president went to Zahiragić's former deputy, Merim Serdarević, another student of the Faculty of Law.

One of the complaints from students from other faculties was precisely that SPUS is mainly run by students from the Faculty of Law. A month and a half ago, Haris Zahiragić intended to become a member of the UNSA Management Board, but he did not receive enough votes from the Senate members. Zahiragić was nominated by SPUS, led by Serdarević, which caused a fierce reaction from representatives of other faculties of the University of Sarajevo.

In his public appearances, Haris Zahiragić often invoked the values of democracy and freedom of speech, and accused the former communist regime of being totalitarian. In that totalitarian regime, students easily took to the streets and demanded their rights, even in 1968, demanding greater rights for students directly from Josip Broz Tito, which they eventually received, while in today's democratic system, students led by SPUS have the exclusive right to silence and approval of all government actions, which the government knows how to recognize very well.

The job for Zahiragić is the best proof that silence and support for the system pays off.