ŽELJKO KOMŠIĆ From a hero of the future to a spent force

By: Rasim Belko

The path to the top is much easier than staying at the top. Sometimes opponents corner you and force you to fall, and sometimes you fall unstoppably due to your own thoughtlessness. And you can't stop. You fall deeper than where you were at the beginning.

This is roughly how the path of the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and president of the Democratic Front, Željko Komšić, could be described. From a hero for a normal future to a spent hope and a disgraced figure.

Željko Komšić should be included in political school and academy textbooks for all progressive political students, as an example of how stubbornness and lack of principles after success lead you to an abyss. He started as an honorable and brave fighter in the war, decorated with the highest recognition. He entered politics in that manner and won the hearts of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who were tired of ethno-nationalists. He very quickly went from municipal mayor to president of the state. In the red jackets of the SDP, he was elected to the BiH Presidency twice, from the Croatian people.

And then fame went to his head, and instead of fighting for what we loved him for, he decided to leave Zlatko Lagumdžija's SDP and found a new party. And even then, despite everything, he remained a political idol and hero.

In 2018, he returned to the BiH Presidency. However, all indications are that this will be the last political victory for the predecessor of hope for a multi-ethnic and civic Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Although he publicly put his finger to his forehead, saying that he would never deal with nationalists, Komšić nevertheless broke his own word and entered into a devilish dance with nationalists. He will never extricate himself from that mire.

For the first time since the beginning of his political career, all those who unconditionally believed him and placed their hopes in him turned their backs on Komšić. The people, friends, comrades, citizens, all felt betrayed and sold out when, on the witching day, Friday the 13th, he signed a pact with the devil. Komšić's story that he did it because of the ANP, later the Reform Program for BiH's NATO path, was in vain. No one believes him anymore.

It seems that he no longer believes in himself or in what he says. Željko Komšić was a guest again on Friday evening in the Centralni dnevnik with Senad Hadžifejzović. This time, more than ever before, he did not send a single meaningful message. Moreover, he sent no message at all.

He talked about his principle and idea being “state, EU, NATO”. But he forgets that this is the principle of all of us who want Bosnia and Herzegovina to be a united and normal country, a member of the world's largest organizations. A country where that membership will mean the end of internal conflicts and disputes, but also the end of hopes for our neighboring countries to tear apart our homeland.

These are not his goals, they are ours. And he entered into a coalition with those who are doing the exact opposite and who say at every opportunity that BiH is impossible. But there are worse things than that. Željko Komšić has put himself in a situation where he has to frantically and nervously defend himself from questions, not accusations, from questions about whether he was bought and how much he was paid. This is the final stage of the political downfall of the hero of our future.

A party in disarray like a defeated army, and he is caught between himself and his bad actions. In deep division between what he knows is right and what he has to say so as not to be left in a political storm. Perhaps that's why he told us nothing last night, which is a clear enough message that Željko Komšić lost his political compass long ago and is waiting for his mandate in the Presidency to expire so he can hang up his political boots.

Because after the pact with the devil, there is no turning back. And many warned him in time not to sow discord with the nationalists from the SDA and their partners SNSD and HDZ.

Today, those seeds are backfiring on him, but there is no turning back today. Even if he withdraws, it will not save him from an electoral debacle, whatever the elections may be. All that remains for him is to spin the record of empty promises and wait for the end of his political journey.

And I remember, on the day he agreed on the BH bloc with Nermin Nikšić and Peđa Kojović, he walked past me and when asked, “Will you say at least something?”, Željko Komšić replied: “What is there to say, everything is clear”.

It seems, however, that nothing was clear to him.

That is why he will end up as the one who was the hope for a better future and ended up as a symbol and victim of the political Halloween of nationalists.

Fairy cleans the garbage, but not the honor.