Column | What was once said and written by Martin Bosma cannot be unsaid or erased

He previously had to compete against three candidates, all three women, namely Anouchka van Miltenburg, Khadija Arib and Vera Bergkamp, ​​before Martin Bosma was finally elected Speaker of the House of Representatives on December 14, 2023. You would think that someone who waits so patiently until he can make his move would be driven by a strong urge to prove himself. But then Bosma continued in 2023 after the monster victory of ‘his’ PVV RTL News When asked whether he would run for office, he hesitated: “I am more born to be a soldier in the culture war.”

It’s quite an existential difference, soldier or Speaker of the House, but apparently Bosma only had to move up one step

With the new House of Representatives just installed, a presidential election is on the agenda on Tuesday. All MPs can cast their vote, which is done in writing and is secret. It led to Bosma winning in 2023 with 75 of the 148 votes cast. Narrow, but sufficient.

You hear stories about how skillfully Bosma wields the gavel, how orderly he leads the plenary debates, the House is back home on time: he seems to speak fluent French, reads poems of his own choosing, is pleasant to be around, knows his parliamentary history, and is far from frenetic. Good mood. Generous.

In theory an ideal chairman, one who has the wind underneath him and never has to use hurricane force, but until recently Bosma was still known as that “culture soldier”, and he made himself heard in that capacity. The ‘head rag tax’ is his invention, “The model of party democracy is long dead.” This soldier wanted to withdraw the apology for the history of slavery and was also certain that “Muslim migrants are the shock troops of May 1968.”

Bosma’s election was a vote for conviviality, not for parliament

But as chairman he stands above the parties, and has silenced the soldier in him for the duration of his term. But what has once been said and written cannot be unsaid, cannot be erased. This ‘soldier’ ​​has been a Member of Parliament since 2006. Hence the impossible situation that arose when Bosma spoke on behalf of the House of Representatives on July 1, 2024 to commemorate the history of slavery. That invitation was hastily withdrawn. No one has to completely coincide with their position, but anyone who has spoken disparagingly about , in the past, cannot present themselves as credible.

Moreover, it is quite conceivable that Bosma’s generosity as chairman stems from the fear of holding others to the morals, because he himself has so many corpses in the closet.

Bosma is also the representative of the House of Representatives, at home and abroad. That is a symbolic function, and only the Dutch believe that such a thing is unimportant. This is the result of a disease called symbol blindness. How did it come to this that the majority of the House of Representatives chose someone who has such minimal affection for the liberal democratic legal order? Bosma’s election was a vote for conviviality, not for parliament. That’s called voluntary submission to the radical right. The anti-Islam soldier Bosma would call it this: “dhimmi behavior”.

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