VETERANS FROM THE ASSEMBLY BENCHES

Deputy Privileges

Privileges of the Political Establishment

AIM Banja Luka, 7 December, 1996

If Branko Copic were alive today we would read the local "Heretic Story" whose hero would be one of his countrymen, an Assembly delegate, and on top of it a Cabinet Minister and a member of several Managing Boards of large state enterprises. If the Serbs got a part of the sea, then the plot would most certainly be located at the seaside. Since that is not the case, in this story one will recognize Banja Luka or some other town in the Republic of Srpska in which a national deputy gets a villa belonging to a rich Moslem or Croat who had "abandoned" his house to live somewhere abroad. The hero's chest would be adorned with the Medal of Nemanjic's and Karadjordje's Star of the First Order. Sisters-in-law, brothers, cousins and friends, all civil servants, would play supporting roles in this satirical story.

Apart from all its similarities the present day story would differ from the one from Copic's times in one important aspect. While his peasants first became fighters only to occupy the Assembly benches and ministerial armchairs later on, today quite the reverse happened: men first became national delegates and after that proclaimed themselves combatants. And all that after the war was already over! Such difference will mark these times as an epoch of tragic political and human dishonesty.

Unfortunately, there is no Branko Copic of our times, but there are many of his stories. Everywhere where the politics leaves its trace there is a story for such a somber chronology. The Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska No.19/96 published the Law on Amending the 1992 Law on the Manner of Realizing the Rights and Duties of Deputies of the National Assembly. According to these amendments national deputies of the first convocation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska are granted equal rights as the first category combatants, while the families of deceased deputies will have the same rights as the families of killed combatants. According to the Law on the Rights of Combatants, War Invalids and Their Families, the first category combatants are "fighters who were engaged in war operations as of August 17, 1990".

The rights of combatants from this war have been equalized with those from the previous one. The only difference is that the present rights are same as the results of their struggle - they only exist on paper and in the politicians' rhetoric. The combatants are entitled to: veteran allowance, retirement allowance, regular monthly payment, health care, free of charge or privileged use of transportation means, priority in employment and allocation of flats, tax and customs exemptions, allowances in case of death in the immediate family, compensation of food and accommodation expenses, have pensionable years of service doubled and to participate in privatization. After their death their families are entitled to pension allowances, regular monthly payment, health care and assistance in case of death in the immediate family. According to the letter of the Law national deputies are also entitled to all these privileges.

Since the combatants have been granted priority in using the abandoned property, which refers to the property of Moslems and Croats who have "abandoned" the Republic of Srpska, according to the Law on Amending the Law on the Use of Abandoned Property the legislator has recently granted this same right to deputies of the National Assembly, holders of the highest state functions and other officials of the Republic of Srpska enjoying the status of refugees or displaced persons. Consequently, deputies and officials of the Republic of Srpska who have come from territories that now belong to the Federation, might soon "legitimately" occupy the Moslem and Croat houses. Rumour has it that there are many of them in the state and party leadership of the Republic of Srpska. There is no point in trying to prove to what extent this is in contravention of the Dayton Agreement.

This legislative move of the national deputies may seem absurd to those who took part in the war. Many will ask how can someone who never saw the front, never smelled death or experienced the horrors which bring sleepless and restless nights, be a combatant. "This is the worst and sorriest thing that could happen", complains Darko (30), who spent four years in the war. Many will see it as an immoral political act. "This is absolutely impermissible and such a law has to be annulled. It is as if a literary award has been bestowed upon someone just for being in the war", comments these combatant rights Slavko Zupljanin, President of the Serbian Patriotic Party whose election aspiration was to rally the combatant population. In essence, the move of the legislator is quite logical. There is no doubt that the war started in the Assembly benches and the politicians were the ones to engage combatants into war conflicts. According to the logic, they are the only ones who deserve the combatant status and veteran's privileges.

The introduction to the adoption of the "combatant" laws was self-decoration of the national deputies already during the war while the true fighters were still waiting for their medals. President Radovan Karadzic, according to his own assessment of his merits, adorned himself with five medals: Order of Nemanjics', Medal of Njegos of the First Order, Order of the Service to the People, Medal of the Karadjordje's Star of the First Order, Order of the Cross of Mercy. All the medals of the greatest heroes of the Serbian and Montenegrin history! Even Broz would envy him the number and rank of these honours. There is probably no other person in the Serbian nation who have received more decorations in such a short time. By self-decorating himself he clearly made it known who should get all the credit for the war and war accomplishments. Therefore only incorrigible dupes could be surprised with the new laws.

According to the number of combatants the Serbian nation deserves to be included in the Guinness's Book of Records. According to the mentioned law combatants in the Republic of Srpska are all those who "have participated in the anti-fascist and liberation struggles during 20th century as members of the Serbian, Montenegrin, homeland (Chetniks) or Yugoslav armies". Practically all families have either a living member or an ancestor with a combatant status. Both a hundred year old man and a 19 year old youngster will stand side by side and receive the same honours. Behind the fact that combatant status has been recognized to Chetniks too is either recklessness or a great desire to clear one's own conscience. Many survivors of the bloody fratricidal war will have difficulty in reconciling themselves with this "reconciliation" so that new disputes and divisions can be expected among the Serbs.

In all probability right are those who say that this war is but a continuation of the II World War. Are not the Law on Veterans and deputy privileges sufficient proof?

(AIM) Branko Peric