Yet another good comment
Posted by PWG:
Simon Busuttil is too negative. He should have:
– accepted the Sale of Citizenship in its undiluted form;
– turned Engerer from hero to super hero;
– proposed that every minister’s wife is given a job with a salary equivalent to that of Mrs Konrad Mizzi;
– proposed that every Labour backbencher’s government-generated income tops that of a minister;
– proposed that the individuals who corrupted the Enemalta officials are granted Gieh ir-Repubblika;
– encouraged Michelle Muscat to open business outlets in London, Paris and Milan in addition to that in New York;
– endorsed all the prime minister’s dealings negotiated behind the people’s back with undemocratic regimes who fund his campaigns;
– proposed to extend Willie Mangion et al’s contracts indefinitely;
– suggested that the next Commissioner of Police is promoted from the lower ranks provided that he doesn’t earn more than five promotions within a six monthly period.
Way to go, Simon.
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This is a very good comment not just a good comment.
There we go again! You see? You’re being negative
Hilarious. We need a lone ranger like “tal-Ajkla” to parody the government in this way and actually propose this sort of stuff with a straight face.
Joseph Muscat has really managed to pull a horrible trick with his “Malta energija posittiva” mantra. It may sound like the harmless hippy kind of crazy, but this is really textbook totalitarian mind-control tactics in disguise.
The slightest criticism of the “energija posittiva” government is now of course negative and harmful and will be beaten down by a rabid pack of dogs.
So yes. Let’s agree with everything Joseph Muscat says and take his absurd proposals to their ultimate logical conclusions. With some luck, we’ll come out on the other side.
And whilst he’s at it, he should have rented his car to himself and earned 70,000 euros.
It took the Labour Party 25 years to recover. So why are people expecting the PN to recover within 1 year. Is it because they know where the brains are? And why are people expecting Dr Busuttil to step down? He sacrificed a dream job in Brussels for the good of Malta. Every so often the Maltese enjoy a good clobbering on the head then when they’ve had enough they vote PN.
Because it took 25 years for the PN to become arrogant and less than 25 months for Labour to become arrogant.
No, actually Labour was arrogant from way before. Ask The Great Architect. They just didn’t have the power to show it.
They expect that PN win so quickly because, deep down, that’s what they wish to happen. I know of people who have voted PL or did not vote because they thought this would renew PN.
Furthermore, it seems that the ‘clobbering on the head’ has already started and they know they would need the PN to save the day at some point.
Simon Busuttil should have made it his duty to personally go out and find a large garage with superb acoustics for Willie Mangion and picked up the tab for its rent.
Although PWG’s comment is spot on, it ignores a crucial factor which the PN lack. After the PN’s dream of an independent democratic Malta firmly in Europe materialised in 2004, the party and many of its traditional supporters no longer know what it stands for.
The PN desperately needs to set up a think-tank to help it formulate a mission statement and a policy framework. The PN’s criticism of government policies is perceived to be negative because it lacks policies of its own.
Its policies should be differentiated from Muscat’s Labour Party. It should emphasize the common good over self-interest. This should be done before any PR exercise. The content comes before the wrapping.
I take it that what you mean is for the PN to declare that it has a roadmap. Just like that. Come on.
Are the one thousand and one things that the PN governments achieved for the well being of all the Maltese people not a good legacy of what the PN stands for?
The Malta Labour Party under Joe Muscat changed the visible symbols but more than reverted to the Mintoffian style of politics. The ‘suldati ta’ l-azzar’ recall more than proves my argument.
The PN should retain its principles no matter what. Only God knows how Malta is being perceived in the international scene.
The ‘partit negattiv’ phrase is the mantra skilfully spun by the Malta Labour Party to the gullible, but however, if repeated affects also those on the borderline who may be swayed.
The PN is divided down conservative/liberal lines. They might do better if they split up into two parties with consistent brands that appeal to different types of voters. In this way they would be able to avoid the contradictions in their message and direction and win enough seats back from Labour to form a coalition government.
No, it needs to work common good into self-interest. Or vice versa. Something Muscat isn’t capable of, because all he did was gather around him those who can’t.
I agree. It worked for Labour, but people expect more from PN.
If you think the government will have less arrogance, you’re mistaken.
If you think the government will be more open, you’re mistaken.
If you think the government will not discriminant, you’re mistaken.
If you think the government will have more respect for the opposition, you’re mistaken.
If you think the government will not do more secret deals, you’re mistaken.
If you think the government will not play political dirty tricks, you’re mistaken.
The Nationalists Party should be the guard of these threats and not succumb to intimidation.
If you think the government will have less arrogance, you’re mistaken – PL is not the one mocking the others with a sticker album (or is that a sense of humour ?)
If you think the government will be more open, you’re mistaken – PL is quite innovative and is doing all it can to bring more money in this country
If you think the government will not discriminant, you’re mistaken – PL DID NOT abstain from voting for civil rights.
If you think the government will have more respect for the opposition, you’re mistaken – PL did not create a sticker album in respect of the opposition.
If you think the government will not do more secret deals, you’re mistaken – Like what ? Direct orders ? watching football matches with private jets……
If you think the government will not play political dirty tricks, you’re mistaken – Like refusing to step down after being trashed twice in a year ???
The Nationalists Party should be SERIOUSLY considering new people in its party and a good marketing campaing !!!!!
MarLi, your arguments are exactly why I keep choosing PN.
If you cannot understand Joseph Muscat’s dirty, hitting below the belt (an expression he used) scheming, then no wonder you endorse him. Or maybe that is exactly why you endorse him.
MarLi, Are you one of the golden soldiers or are you still waiting for your reward?
Speaking of private jets, MarLii, would you ask Muscat why he took a free ride on Gaddafi’s private jet rather than flying Air Malta?
By the way, there were the EU elections over the weekend http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27575510
Simon Busuttil should have campaigned for the gas storage tanker to be berthed further in at l-Maghluq, closer to Marsaxlokk residents so that they will get a better view of the magnificence of the tanker.
It is ironic that the PL’s slogan was positive energy. Prior to 2013, the PL were not only negative but downright destructive on so many issues (for example Arriva and City Gate project).
The PL attitude towards Simon Busuttil in the run-up to the European elections was also destructive.
They say one thing and they do the exact opposite.
Arriva actually was a self-destrction service from the beginning looool….. City Gate Project….. there is NO city gate anymore THERFORE it destroyed itself too.
MarLi, watch it mate, you are being negative!
You are wrong on both counts. Arriva was a massive improvement and could have been improved further. City Gate is a fantastic project if only you had eyes to see.
From you destructive attitude, I can only conclude that you are a PL supporter wanting to show off your positive energy.
Oh sure, because transport is so much better now, there are no patients in the hospital corridors and no out of stock medicines just as everyone is absolutely blissfull in North Korea.
Would you like to tell everyone how high to jump or when to clap or laugh as well?
Let us respond to their mantra of PN is negative with our own mantra – u intom IPOKRITI
I do agree Simon Busuttil needs to prove that he is different, stop being negative and against every decision the government takes.
Busutill needs to work closer to Joseph Muscat, and try to gain back the trust the Nationalist lost from Nationalist supporters.
[Daphne – I hesitate to point this out lest I be interpreted as patronising, but Busuttil is the leader of the Opposition and the Opposition is not the government’s collaborator. It is the Opposition precisely because democracy requires the government to be opposed. Opposing government policy that is intrinsically wrong is not negativity but positivity and common sense.]
Daphne, I do agree with you on this argument. The Opposition is the check and balance of the government but on the other hand people are fed up of hearing the Opposition’s harsh criticism. Perhaps Busuttil needs to change the style he is delivering his criticism.
[Daphne – There has been absolutely no harsh criticism of the government by the Opposition. I have barely noticed any criticism at all, and I hog the news sites all day.]
Comment, you too are believing what Labour wants everyone to believe, mainly, that the PN is negative.
Listen to everyone, read everything then think for yourself. The PN is the Opposition. This country is too used to the PN as government that they don’t seem to know how to evaluate it while it is in Opposition. So unwittingly they take up what Labour wants everybody to think.
But never forget that Labour has an agenda. It always does.
Harsh criticism? Well excuse me for being straight to the point, but all that PL supporters have done was simply compare the bad things now, with the ones done when PN was in government, and arrogantly enough (because that was the flack they gave PN before the election) say that it’s OK.
Did you ever hear that two wrongs never made a right? Or wasn’t it part of the ‘Taghna Lkoll’ commandment?
So spare us the word ‘harsh’ and you cannot point a finger, when you’ve got three pointing back at you…the most ridiculous being the EUR 500 storm you raised, when in actual fact this government will end up costing the people some EUR 42 million more in five years.
And up till now, all we’ve seen are billboards and hyped up people from their ‘conversions’ – when projects are indeed started (finished is still a long way), then you can say that that PN are being negative.
Acceptance and evaluation of criticism is the better way of good leadership.
Were you born after the last election perhaps or did you just learn Maltese and English? Where you around to follow the tactics of the LP in opposition? Or do you perhaps define negative and positive according to whether it is coming from the LP or PN. After all the govenment has redefined most other key words!
It is an exceptionally good comment. For Labour, being positive means accepting their shit.
Well said indeed!
Spot on!
Simon Busuttil also needs to start taking care those who already have been hurt by Joseph Muscat and keep his promise by true will and not just bla bla ones in government again.
[Daphne – ‘Hurt’, that word and sentiment again. My God, what a southern Mediterranean peasant society this really has remained, beneath the glitz. It’s a damn shame Mount Etna doesn’t blow up and cover this benighted place in ash so that people finally get to grips with what a real problem looks like.]
When will those who want things they are not entitled to realize that iced buns are the PL’s speciality and that if people want that sort of government they do not need to try and change the PN, they can just switch to labour?
Daphne, one of the objectives of the PL was to fish for those who were abandoned by the Nationalists. That’s why he has been so victorious and for the second time again.
You can interpret our society as you wish but all politicians in Malta need those close to local societies to gain their success and when those people are abandoned once in power yes it is called hurt.
In that case the P.M. and prof Scicluna would be two very happy men.
Just imagine the amount of tourists who would flock here instead of going to Pompeii.
It would solve all our money problems.
Good thought Mrs. Caruana Galizia
HURT? You mean people who do not have it their way, even if it means an unsustainable or illegal want?
Cut the crap with this ‘hurt. Malta is undermining its possibilities of becoming a self-sustaining nation by all these wants and hurts and other petty requests.
Government does not work in the long term if it is trying to find work for a gidra – one of the best sounding insults in Maltese – it only works on long term re-education.
I do not meet people in Malta wanting to create anything, just reselling junk made by some other country and dreaming of a 2c decrease in petrol price. Now, that is a real hurt.
Some Maltese act like spoilt brats. In this case, they say if you do not give me what I want they threaton to vote for the opposing party.
[Daphne – It’s not a specifically Maltese trait but a specifically southern Mediterranean one. The phenomenon was studied and written about by anthropologists in the heel of Italy in the 1950s. That is where the mentality of the Maltese elector is today: the heel of Italy circa 1955.]
There was a time when I took umbrage when the phrase ‘peasant society’ in reference to Maltese society, was used.
Now I endorse that description.
The PN is frustrating a lot of true Nationalists by apologising for hurting people. How did the PN hurt people? Did it hurt people by turning Malta from a third world country to an EU member state?
The real issue that has to be addressed is why this election has shown no significant disappointment with a government that has committed a number of serious mistakes and shown in a blatant manner that it is not living up to the promises made to the electorate.
To any straight thinking person the answer to whatever is the reason is not to copy Joseph Muscat and his tactics, but an alternative has to be found and adopted.
This election has only confirmed that the majority of the Maltese electorate prefers iced buns or favours to rights.
Given that envy appears to be one of the main motivators in play, I will rest my hopes on it raising its ugly head against Muscat and friends. Sorry, the positive energy tonic doesn’t seem to be working on me.
With all due respect to all those commenting here.
People like me who have more than read the history of the Malta Labour Party are really baffled.
Can somebody remind me when the Malta Labour Party was NOT a ‘partit negattiv’? Even as recent since Joe Muscat became the leader of the Opposition. Do not anyone of you remember one of his very negative traits if not his very first declaration:
NO WAY FOR THE PAIRING AGREEMENT.
Please do not get impressed by their marketing spins and repeated lies.
Thank you for saying this. Only around 11 years ago we used to see Muscat as a journalist running around Malta covering news for One TV. This is within living memory of everyone around 30.
However many people wanted/want to believe he is now the new statesman in the making instead of the maverick he truly is. Why? Because that is what One TV and Times of Malta fed us.
There are other reasons too but this might be one of the main ones. Unfortunately too many fell for it.
Comments such as this give me faith that people with brains still exist. Top marks PWG!
My sentiments exactly. I am not disillusioned by this government; this is exactly what I expected from them.
I cannot understand how people cannot see that Joseph Muscat is the most dishonest and self-serving individual, and that he is in it for himself. Do you expect Simon Busuttil to just sit back and let him run our country and reputation to the ground?
People are saying that Labour had a better campaign, more money etc. They would be better off asking where that money came from and whether they sold our souls for it.
What concerns me are the party’s policies, the leader’s integrity and my children’s future.
If you can all be swayed/blinded by Euro 110, 2c or what you can personally gain from the government to the detriment of our country, you all need your heads seeing to – such a fickle lot.
I just saw the press conference given by Simon Busuttil at the counting hall, in which he said he will not be chickening out. What struck me most was his reply to Kurt Sansone’s question “is this a four year project or a ten year one?” Busuttli didn’t have an answer ready and just said “nippruvaw”.
Nippruvaw. That most awkward, enthusiasm-deflating word.
[Daphne – Well, did you have a more positive reaction to Gonzi’s ‘let’s go for it’ in the general election last year? Probably not. Is it necessary to do the Labour Party’s work for it and rip to shreds the very people you should be shoring up? Have you not noticed that Joseph Muscat rarely lays into the Opposition any more because he’s got its own supposed supporters doing that for him? Many dismiss Labour Party supporters as gullible, easily influenced and suggestible. Over the last few years it has become apparent that PN supporters who think they are bright, perceptive, intelligent and ‘above it all’ are by far the most suggestible of all, and very prone to group-think. Muscat’s greatest achievement in using group-think has not been in influencing his own people, but influencing those who aren’t.]
Where did Simon Busuttil leave his self confidence? What has happened to him since a couple of years? It seems he has somehow lost his bearings.
[Daphne – Are you surprised? He has to wake up every morning with a mountain of terrible problems, from financial to organisational to political, and instead of receiving support from PN electors, and encouragement, and the confidence and security to forge on, he gets dissed morning, noon and night by whingers and whiners who are busy doing Labour’s job for it. How would you feel in his position, facing routine dissing like yours every day? Like you really want to work hard for people like you? Eddie Fenech Adami made it because he had the emotional, financial and organisational support of people who gave him the moral courage and fortitude he needed to carry on in the face of immense adversity. In 1996, when he lost the election to a freak in wig, people didn’t diss him and tear him to shreds. They massed at PN HQ and gave him the support he needed. But at the first meeting at PN HQ after the electoral loss last year, the place was deserted. Is that how you give people support and courage – by disappearing for most of the time and then dissing them the rest of the time? Let’s say you have a friend who’s struggling against massive adversity to get a job done well – do you get on the phone to run him down and tell him he’s hopeless and doesn’t stand a chance? Do you work to demoralise him further or do you do the opposite? I am astonished at this level of spite and nastiness. The scale of the PN’s problems is absolutely massive, not least the financial aspect. If you think that some selfish sod of the likes of Joseph Muscat is going to come pirouetting out of nowhere to take up the leadership baton from Busuttil, you are really mistaken. At this point, with the likelihood of another electoral loss in 2018 and an army of supposed supporters who behave instead like detractors, it takes a real hero to do the job. And I don’t see any heroes on the horizon. I’m sorry if I sound like I’m telling you off, but I really can’t stand to see this level of playground bullying of a good person trying to do a job nobody else wants to do, on their behalf, while the Labour Party benefits from group-think whining.]
I do not want to sound like a broken record, but the way you say things is more important that what you say. Both Busuttil and de Marco admitted defeat. But de Marco didn’t look defeated.
He could still smile genuinely. He remained strong, forward-looking. Busuttil had to use words in order to try to show how he felt. But he failed to come across as genuine. To me that remains his biggest problem. He’s a goldfish in a tank full of piranhas.
[Daphne – You said it, not I. Mario Demarco could still smile because nobody’s dissing him chronically despite the fact that he is part and parcel of the PN leadership and was part and parcel of this defeat. Busuttil has been clearly demoralised by the loss and is no doubt further demoralised reading views like yours, from people who should be raising his moral courage instead of bringing him down. Yes, you should not be a gentleman with those who are not, but you should most definitely be gentlemanly with those who are. It is absolutely ghastly to keep kicking a decent man when he’s down. If you’re in the mood for kicking people about, do it with those in power, who are making the decisions they shouldn’t be. And I say this at a personal level, not at a political level: kicking somebody who’s trying hard to a job nobody else wants to do, and who is down right now, is beastly, small-minded, spiteful and ungentlemanly. This is not like you, so don’t do it. To quote the Labour Party: stop being negative. Even with their sh*t leaders they manage to win elections, precisely because they always back them.]
Thanks Daphne.
Guys, we’re the PN.
Mr Peter Mallia, you are definitely NOT a Simon Busuttil supporter. And in supporter I mean one who supports. Ciao
Well said, Daphne. I could not agree with you more.
Peter Mallia is advocating what Joseph Muscat wants. If Simon Busuttil were to give up, it will be a step back for the PN.
It would become a party in disarray with in-fighting until a new leader is elected. With a constantly weak Opposition, Joseph Muscat can do as he pleases and that is very dangerous for democracy in Malta.
2018 will be difficult but not impossible for the PN. The past 12 months have shown that the PL is prone to massive blunders. Fifteen months is not enough for switchers to wake up to the fact that they have been made a fool of. It will take another 2 or 3 years, but come the next election they will realise that the PN is far better at managing the economy and governing the country.
Malta will be far better off with Simon Busuttil as Prime Minister in 2018.
Many PN voters (foolishly) give little importance to the European Paraliament elections. In the general elections, the PN will be better able to get its voters to the polling booth.
Let’s not start pitying Simon Busuttil; that’s another thing his detractors may want.
It’s fast becoming apparent that the Maltese public needs a persona whom it loves to hate. Someone on whom to channel the frustration, boredom and anger of living too comfortably on an island a few miles squared.
His quiet demeanour and proper manners don’t help in a society of self-entitled savages.
This was epitomised when Busuttil was booed for no apparent reason at last year’s Rockestra. It was done purely out of spite, and it was palpable that the audience enjoyed humiliating him.
Unfortunately, his soft stances (as another commentator rightly put it “treating the government with kid gloves”) add up to this “weak man/leader” perception.
Perhaps people should stop trying to pin everything onto Simon Busuttil and ask what each of us are doing to put Malta on the road to having a government upstanding citizens would be proud of!
And Simon should throw himself at Muscat’s feet and grovel for mercy…
Your reply to Comment is spot on. What is the meanng of “hurt”? A building permit? A promotion expected but not materialised?
A yellow parking box in front of the house? A phone call from candidates to listen to personal grumblings and grudges?
Envy for something my neighbour has but I do not? Sheer jealousy?
Leader or deputy leader on home visits begging for forgiveness? OK, PL has promised everything to everyone. Sure, all will be accommodated. Are we not already hearing of Labourites expecting their iced bun?
Do we really want the PN top become identical to PL? What would then elections be needed or?
Yes, a majority of people are thinking that way, at least for the moment. But how long can this last.
The sooner we wake up from such idiotic stupor, the better for this country.
Which is why Labour isn’t sustainable. The PN needs designers, engineers, architects and innovators soonest.
Expose Labour for the pyramid scam it is. No way does it project the creation of wealth, indeed it’s just forced redistribution, and figures show it.
The crux here is Labour’s insidious centralisation of an economy verging it to collapse.
I am actually half expecting a road, bridge or sqaure to be called Ponzi.
Voter participation across the globe has been waning for decades, with some countries registering less than 50% participation in general elections. Malta remains the exception, but in time this will settle almost at par with other countries albeit not necessarily as low.
The difference is that in those countries, when elections are over, there is no in-the-face whining and leader criticism because a party did not do so well and when government policies do not mesh with people’s expectations, almost universally, the press gets on the PM’s back. Not so in Malta. Not so when Labour governs simply because intimidation deters non-leaders from daring to make their voices heard.
Simon Busuttil is a ‘work in progress’ with only one year of leadership under his belt. Joseph Muscat has six times the experience at leadership, but even so, where does that place him in terms of substance?
The biggest mistake, thanks to the 18,000 people who still do not appear to appreciate the damage they have inflicted upon themselves and others, seems not mitigated but repeated. They do not understand that worse is yet to come, the surrender of national assets to the Eastern powers will continue, the long term contracts binding Malta for years to come will continue and Labour’s complaints about the EU ‘dictating’ to Malta will vanish into thin air while dictation by China will become the order of the day.
I think that there is only one reason why the PN did so badly: Over-apologetic behaviour.
Let’s be honest, would you take advice from anyone who apologises (for no valid reason – after all the opposition was doing its job) after every other sentence of their argument?
Agreed. Busuttil has nothing to be ashamed of.
Reminding the electorate of the Nationalist Party’s past mistakes was destructive. Gonzi did it and now Simon Busuttil does it in regular doses.
But Busuttil does not need to apologize – he has not had the opportunity to screw up, except of course, for repeating needless apologies and saying that the party now listens. Humility in small doses is useful, but in politics there is rarely a place for humility. Nice people never hack it, rarely succeed.
Busuttil has a mammoth task of getting the parliamentary group to follow faithfully, free to express various opinions but not forcing his hands especially when it comes to voting in parliament.
The pro-gay adoption advocates forced him to ‘order abstention’ of the vote which should have been ‘against’ both in principle and the massive public’s opinion.
He should assert himself as leader and those (if any) who don’t like it should leave now so that the party will have the remaining four years to establish itself, new faces included.
I couldn’t stand to see Busuttil sit among candidates answering questions as though he is ‘one of the boys’. He isn’t. He is the boss, so he should stand and take a prominent position when discussing or answering questions. Leadership needs to be established physically, too. Hopefully these ‘little’ details will be sorted out immediately.
Communication through the Nationalist Party’s electronic media is also lacklustre, full of ups and downs (mostly downs) and access to print media (In-Nazzjon and Il-Mument) has been out of commission since the new MRN format was introduced before the MEP elections.
So many comments have been written here and spoken elsewhere that it would take a lifetime to answer them one by one.
Let’s be Alexandrian about it and sever the Gordian knot with one stroke. Life is all about choices. It’s about making the best choice – not the perfect choice, but the best choice.
We vote to choose our government. In the Maltese context, the prime minister has always been the leader of the majority party. So the choice of leader is actually a choice of prime minister. The choice of first-preference vote is therefore a choice of prime minister.*
Right now, the best choice for prime minister would be Simon Busuttil. And you can take it from me. I’m not one to lavish praise, and I will criticise him just like I criticise Joseph Muscat.
To the logical-minded, there is no other choice. Simon Busuttil is not perfect, but he is the best choice.
(* Now these were not general elections for the Maltese parliament, but European elections. Get the point? We were not choosing prime ministers here, but MEPs, so all talk of resignation is hogwash.)
The issue is not which ideological leanings are prevalent at the present moment. 80000+ entitled to vote did not do so.
It is a given and agreed by most commentators that the Labour Party activists managed to mobilise their vote, contrary to the Nationalist Party which did not manage to get its supporters off their sofas.
What must be worked on is getting PN supporters to vote and not just to convince them of policies.
Those who vote Labour believe in a cause: “biex ikollna l-gvern TAGHNA.”
For that cause they are ready to suffer any pain or discomfort, physical as well as monetary, “basta l-gvern taghna”.
Joseph Muscat said it himself before the general election: “Lanqas mill-infern ma’ bzaghjna”.
Their allegiance to the party can be expressed in terms similar to those of the marriage vows: ” for better and for worse (and in politics under Labour it has usually been worse), in sickness and in health.”
Those who vote PN believe in policies and planning and looking ahead to a better future and the good of the country. They will and do castigate a Nationalist government if it does not follow the policies and principles they believe in.
That is also why Labour supporterse are easily satisfied and happy when a Labour government gives them something “for free” not realising that to get a 20cent free gift they spend 50 cents on a bus ticket.
In another post someone mentioned the beggar mentality. Many still talk about “how much do we get from membership of the EU.”
They would do better to concentrate on the idea that being in the EU makes us so much better that we can actually contribute more to help others catch up on our standards.
We should not be like Cyprus, begging for a bail-out, but more like Germany, contributing so much to provide that bail-out. But it seems that KMB’s message has really taken root in the minds of labour supporters: “Jew b’xejn jew xejn” applied across the board.
Surely there is something good that the PL is doing if in the election it won by 36K votes, and in the MEPs elections (with a lower turnout) won with more than 30K votes.
OR perhaps there needs to be a reshufflement in the PN? Let’s face it AND BE HONEST (and not biased) the marketing campaign of the PN sucks big time….. and the sticker album, that was such a gaffe.
PN’s ‘glorious’ times are over!
[Daphne – It doesn’t say much about electors, does it, if they need a marketing campaign to work out who to vote for, as though they’re buying a soft drink or a new car. Tragic. I suppose Eddie Fenech Adami only won the 1987 general election by a few thousand votes because he had no billboards?]
Labour won because its core vote always votes Labour come hell or high water and the rest are mainly shallow thinkers, if they think at all.
I am constantly taken aback about how much highly educated, professional people don’t know and how poorly they analyse what they do know.
The PN did not lose because it was negative, but because it has been handling this government with kid gloves.
It has let this government get away with practically whatever it wanted.
It has allowed the government to impose a president who is unfit for the role, a person who was the secretary-general of the MLP when it was at its worst, when democracy, the rule of law and human rights were systematically abused.
Instead of putting its foot down and objecting, it voted in favour of her appointment and played its part in the circus of her “coronation” – to ‘be positive’. What a mistake that was.
Simon Busuttil`s role in a democracy is not to be the government`s cheerleader but to expose its wrongdoings and its abysmal standards.
Democracy is being systematically eroded. The Maltese media has been practically domesticated, and instead of keeping the government on its toes, it is undermining the Opposition.
The police corps and the army have been taken over by the MLP. Can anyone imagine the police investigating any allegation of wrong-doing by the MLP or its officials?
During the electoral campaign, the government has used and abused its power of incumbency in spite of knowing that it enjoyed an overwhelming advantage over the PN, in order to humiliate Simon Busuttil, bring the party to its knees and demoralise its supporters.
It wants the PN to be ‘positive’ to render it as ineffective as the Opposition in Putin`s Russia and to eliminate any checks and balances to its increasingly autocratic behaviour.
The MLP did not win the last general election by being positive, but by being as negative, destructive, vindictive and dishonest as it could. Was its collaboration with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, John Dalli, Franco Debono and Jesmond Mugliett positive? No, it was reprehensible.
Was the Labour Party’s television station (and its radio station too) ‘positive’ when Labour was in Opposition? No, it was completely vile and it persecuted and attacks individuals who stood in Labour’s way, including journalists – which can only be interpreted as a direct threat to freedom of expression.
I do not believe that Labour tried to convince the socialists in the European Parliament to vote in favour of Tonio Borg`s appointment as European Commissioner. I`m convinced the socialists had a plan to give him a false sense of security and then undermine him by withdrawing support at the last minute.
The PN and its media should go on the attack. It should put the government and its members and lackeys under the microscope. Nothing should be off limits.
The press in Britain and the USA put the private life of their public figures in the spotlight, not because the British and Americans enjoy gossip more than the Italians or the French, but because their democracy is stronger and more sophisticated. And the press in those countries know that by divorcing the public persona from the private persona of their politicians, it would be colluding with the political class in hoodwinking the electorate.
Off with the gloves. The PN should go for the jugular. It has got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
I totally agree. You cannot play by the rules against someone who fights dirty.
One of the very few things on which I did not agree with Dr Lawrence Gonzi before the 2013 general election is that he promised Muscat that he will keep his private life out of the campaign. And if I am correct it was Muscat who asked for this.
[Daphne – There was no private life to speak of, to keep out of the campaign. Don’t feed the myth that there is some big secret, because there really is not.]
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303749904579577382889637954
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nicolas-sarkozy/10848895/France-is-dumping-ground-for-EU-migration-and-visa-free-Schengen-area-must-be-scrapped-says-Nicolas-Sarkozy.html
The above is an interesting development in view of the large number of MEPs who are Eurosceptic. Sarkozy seems to be suggesting that Schengen should be renegotiated so that a revised version of it would restrict free movement of labour for countries like Malta and others that have recently joined the EU.
Northern European countries do not see immigration in terms of asylum seekers from Africa but consider the free movement of labour between poorer EU countries and those with a higher standard of living as a threat.
If Schengen 2 as it is being called becomes reality, Malta can kiss goodbye not only to its sale of passports but also the freedom to work abroad that many now enjoy.
Now there’s a conundrum for Alfred Sant.
Daphne, frankly I am all the more seeing you trying to clutch at straws defending the indefensible with regard to Busuttil (your long reply to Peter Mallia, and to mine in an earlier post).
[Daphne – Long replies are not ‘defending the indefensible’. They are simply according you and Peter the basic courtesy of considering your views and replying to them. You can’t win, can you. If I had ignored your comments or brushed them off, I would be called ‘arrogant’. When I take the time to reply amid uploading several hundred comments, I’m ‘defending the indefensible’. I’m sorry, but I think pragmatically and not in terms of fairy tales. Simon Busuttil steps down and then…what, exactly? A fabulous leader emerges out of nowhere, a deus ex machina, to whip the Nationalist Party to glory? This is real life, not fantasy. The Labour Party had to scrape the bottom of the barrel with a Super One reporter in bad clothes who was inarticulate in two languages. And what was the result? Yes, Muscat was lucky because standards are much lower for Labour and because he came in when the Nationalist Party was on its death-bed and anything would have got elected by default (including, almost, Alfred Sant in 2008). The fact you can’t seem to face is that there isn’t a choice between Simon Busuttil and somebody fantasticaly glamorous and with a powerful personality. There is only a choice between Simon Busuttil and one or two other people who are more or less the same. And in that case, you don’t change your horse mid race. What strategy are you proposing – something like the UK Conservative Party’s disastrous procession of five leaders between 1997 and 2005?]
Oh I see, so now its the dissing from PN supporters that’s wearing down Busuttil – and this is a lot worse than what Fenech Adami faced in Dom Mintoffs days . Fenech Adami probably was never too sure if he will be seeing his family again with bombs going off on a monthly basis; his home ransacked; burning of PN clubs, police raids on the Stamperija.
I was at the St Julians club when the bomb exploded, in numerous meetings when tear gas was fired. And I was NEVER demoralised, quite the contrary.
[Daphne – Yes, that is EXACTLY what I said, and you haven’t listened. Fenech Adami could deal with all that because he had tremendous moral support from members of the public and the unconditional backing of his party. When you have a supportive network, you can handle pretty much anything that gets thrown at you and you can forge ahead. When those who are supposed to be backing you are instead dissing you, it wears you down. You need people’s support, and not their denigration, to deal with massive problems – and this in every area of life and work, and not just in politics. It’s basic psychology. If Fenech Adami had to deal with bombs and beating and fires while being routinely dissed and insulted by his own party and ‘supporters’, he would have probably packed it in and told everyone to go f**k themselves. I certainly would have done.]
This is not spite or nastiness, Daphne. The truth is that Busutill did not work up through the party structures from MZPN upwards, as Borg Olivier, Censu Tabone, Louis Galea, and Fenech Adami did. Indeed not even Gonzi.
[Daphne – Those days are gone, I’m afraid. Look at the people who HAVE worked themselves up through the party structure. Are they even remotely tempting? Are they magnetic? Can they speak? Are they articulate? Do they have brilliant ideas? Forget it. Most of them can’t even dress properly or articulate a sentence in English.]
The problem is that Busuttil found himself thrown in straight into the position of Deputy Leader, and in a short time Leader. He never face the long and hard road of not being elected to parliament, and still struggling with house visits, and finally getting through a by election, and eureka getting elected to parliament after some 10 years. That is what gives you stamina, and immune to any dissing.
[Daphne – You cannot be serious. Have you already forgotten that your current prime minister did not even have a seat in parliament when he became party leader, and had to literally filch one off the ‘class cretin’ so that he could be sworn in as Opposition leader? At least Busuttil had a seat in parliament when he became Opposition leader. And exactly how does standing for election repeatedly make a good politician? Test your theory against Franco Debono, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Jesmond Mugliett, or take your pick from many of the current or recent-past crop on both sides of the house.]
I can tell you a true story about an MP, who was contesting the first time. No one knew him, and many did not bother to open doors to him, except one woman who greeted him very heartily. As he was about to be pleased with himself, she told him, “Please mind my child till I go for 5 minutes to the grocer.” And he did so. He eventually made it, and was a minister for about 20 years. That’s the tough life in politics.
[Daphne – I would say it’s even tougher to give up your comfortable seat and life in Brussels, your salary and pension, to return to Malta to take up a deputy leadership post in a party that’s heading for massive defeat, on no remuneration, and to spend the next few years tackling a Mount Everest of debt, organisational problems and carping constituents and backstabbers.]
Even Mario has much of the exposure I mentioned because he was in the thick of it all, with his father. He lived through some most difficult moments (just as Beppe did).
I don’t know Peter Mallia’s background, but I am no armchair critic, as I had spent most evenings at the Stamperija from 1981 till May 1987 – so I don’t criticise out of spite or to be nasty.
[Daphne – I never said YOU did. But you also need to understand that those days are gone and that part of the reason for the PN’s weakness over the last few years is that many people who shared your experience won’t let them go and feel they ‘own’ the Nationalist Party and that it was ‘taken over’ by others who didn’t fight the 1980s wars. Look at the way some of those individuals resent me, for instance, and regard me as alien. They hate that I am associated with the PN and would probably much rather I didn’t vote for it. But in reality, I represent the new breed of PN supporter that has brought the party to power in the last few elections. And that’s why so many PN supporters identify with me and with my views but not with PN politicians and their views.]
The facts are simply devastating: the 9th district for the first time PN polled less than 50%, 48 % to be exact. Likewise Gozo was lost for the FIRST TIME – (in first count votes PN still got more votes than Labour in 2013). This time Labour got 49% to PN’s 45%.
[Daphne – It’s an election to select members of the European Parliament and not the government of Malta, so I wouldn’t over-hype the drama. 80,000 people couldn’t be arsed to vote. A significant number (I wish somebody would tell us how many exactly) of people on the electoral roll for this election are not Maltese, and do not have a vote in general elections. An even bigger number of Maltese are also on the electoral roll of other EU member states and chose to vote there. Thousands of people voted for Norman Lowell and the other fringe candidates, but wouldn’t do that in a general election. The comparison is not accurate. In the 2004 EP elections, Labour polled 48% of the vote and the PN polled 40%. Was that reflected in the 2008 general election? No, it was not. General election results have to be compared with general election results, and EP election results have to be compared with EP election results. The messages delivered in EP elections have to be read because they are a clarion call to action, but that is what they are: messages. They are the result of people not giving a damn who represents them in the European Parliament and using their vote for another purpose.]
This is like reading the litany of bad records of David Moyes.
This was meant to be a yellow card to Muscat, as Busuttil put it.
THE WRONG ONE, BUSUTTIL.
[Daphne – I would stop that. It really isn’t helpful. You have certain Labour (women) friends who host a show on Super One. Six years ago, in the height of the general election campaign, one of them sent me an email message that was so rude and vulgar that I didn’t think she was capable of such language until I remembered that for all her pretensions and her ex husband’s surname, she comes from the wrong side of the tracks. Do you know why she sent me that message, out of the blue? To stick up for and defend Alfred Sant, who I had mocked repeatedly. There was your friend, insulting me horribly when the matter had nothing to do with her at all, so as to stick up for ‘her’ party leader: a weirdo in a bad wig, who had just lost two general elections and a big referendum, and who only the previous night had been drunk on stage at a mass meeting. And you can’t even keep quiet about Simon Busuttil – not defend him, but just don’t undermine him. I am a big believer in maintaining a common front. For six years, the Nationalist Party has been a big bunch of ferrets fighting in a sack. Do you really have to perpetuate that? Can’t you draw a line under it and pull the same rope? It’s called esprit de corps.]
Freedom5, are you saying the ‘Stamperija’ is your exclusive territory?
Hilarious, Muscat really got under your skin.
Have you noticed how you’re blaming Busuttil for last year’s result?
As for being in the thick of it, I was 12, what am I supposed to do?
Din tan-negative ma niflahiex.
Issa irid jippriedka Muscat li l-Oppozzizzjoni ghandha tkun posittiva, meta l-unika haga li ghamel mill-Oppozizzjoni kien li kull xahar jipprova iwaqqa gvern legittimu bl-ghajnuna ta’ JPO, Mugliett u Debono, li issa kulhadd jaf x’kien il-hsieb ta’ mohhom: konfoffa ma’ Muscat biex la jitla jiffangaw.
When I mentioned leaders, I inadvertently omitted Guido de Marco.
It seems that the vast majority of the Maltese don’t give a damn about the manoeuvres, arrogance and hamallagni of this government as long as it doesn’t affect their personal life directly.
And let’s be honest – up to now no drastic measures actually pinching the people’s pockets have been employed.
I believe the worst is still to come. The coming three years will be tough as hard decisions undoubtedly have to be taken to make ends meet.
Unluckily a dissenting electorate would easily be duped to trust Labour with a new mandate if peppered with trivial bonuses in the last year of this legislature.
Forget about principles and values. Forget about coherence in party vision. Forget about “is-sewwa jirbah zgur”. Selfishness reigns supreme.