Amorality

Published: March 2, 2008 at 5:29pm

The ugliest part of Alfred Sant’s victimisation of the popular Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has been left unsaid so far. So I am going to point it out here. Marlene Pullicino, Jeffrey’s estranged wife, is one of the Labour candidates on which the party is staking its hopes. They have lived apart for years, and both have formed other relationships since, but they have a daughter together.

I can’t imagine that the daughter, a university student, is delighted to see her father being persecuted and made miserable by the political party which has embraced her mother. I can’t imagine that Marlene Pullicino approves of the manner in which her daughter’s father, the man to whom she was married for some years, is being hunted down by her party’s giant machine in this ghastly manner. She may not like her estranged husband much any more, but surely she has some compassion for her daughter.

This must mean one of four things: (1) Marlene Pullicino asked Alfred Sant not to do it for her daughter’s sake, and he ignored her because he has no compassion; (2) Marlene Pullicino was the one who told Alfred Sant the story, and if she didn’t, she should make this clear at once; (3) Marlene Pullicino knew what was about to happen and didn’t care because she puts political ambition before her daughter’s well-being; or (4) Alfred Sant and his inner circle kept their ‘ammunition’ hidden from Marlene Pullicino in case she alerted her daughter’s father, which makes Alfred Sant even more of a snake than I thought he was.

Whichever way you look at it, it’s hideous. I repeat, he’s far from being an honourable man. A man like this cannot possibly command respect.

Floods of tears

Alfred Sant’s ugly cat-and-mouse game with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has boomeranged. First he made himself look completely ridiculous by refusing to say anything about Pullicino Orlando, even though it was quite obvious that he intended to, while the latter chased him from one press conference to another for 36 hours, ending up in Gozo. Then, when Sant and his entourage got on the Gozo ferry to return to Malta, and realised that Pullicino Orlando had been left behind, they thought of a cunning plan. Sant’s aides called journalists and summoned them to a press conference at Mistra with just 45 minutes to go. They whizzed there and Sant said his bit while Pullicino Orlando was stuck on the next ferry. When a television journalist asked him why the hurried nature of the press conference, and the short notice, Sant smirked like the classroom sneak who has just grassed on the popular kids.

So why has it boomeranged? Simple – people aren’t blind to the fact that if Sant were an upstanding man with the courage of his convictions (he isn’t), he would have said what he had to say in front of the person he was saying it about. He wouldn’t have run like a rat from press conference to press conference, his ‘victim’ hot on his tail, and then waited until he had given him the slip to come out with it. People are asking – why didn’t he have the guts to say what he had to say in Pullicino Orlando’s face? The answer is a straightforward one: Alfred Sant, like all bullies, is a coward, and when somebody is twisting the truth about you, they find it very difficult, if not impossible, to do it with you standing right there listening.

If Sant hoped that this would win him respect, it has done precisely the opposite. All he’s shown us is that he’s not much of a man, far from honourable and seriously devoid of leadership qualities.

Ironically, his attempted hammering of one of the most popular candidates on the Nationalist Party’s list has rebounded badly. If you’re going to pick on somebody, choosing a soft target is not a good idea because it makes you look like a dreadful bully. The fact is that people genuinely like Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. Even Labour people do. So Alfred Sant just came across as the ugly, nasty, unpopular kid trying to cause trouble for the classroom’s popular charmer – not a good move. When Pullicino Orlando broke down and sobbed in public this morning while raging against Alfred Sant’s spite, it would have been a public relations master-stroke had it been planned, but it was genuine. Real tears, real anger, and a real summing up of how people are now feeling about Alfred Sant in this campaign. He enrages us, because he doesn’t behave like a normal person and he seems to have no emotions whatsoever, coming across as being driven by hatred and rage and a determination to fulfil what he sees as his destiny to become prime minister of Malta once more.

Books and misprints

Labour had five years to produce an electoral programme and came up with a shoddy piece of work full of mistakes, items that have already been carried out by this government, and shortcomings that Alfred Sant described to an interviewer as being caused by a computer malfunction.

And yet, at its mass meeting today, the party is selling a new novella from the Sensiela Kotba Socjalisti – all about the biggest scandals Fred and Jason and their merry men could come up with: what purports to be the full whack on Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Ninu Zammit. The Labour Party seems to have invested more time, money and effort in producing this publication than it did in producing its electoral programme.

That should tell you where the party’s priorities lie.

GonziPN is a corrupt liar

At least, that’s what Alfred Sant claims. He’s said it several times over the last few days, and when Lawrence Gonzi demanded an apology, Sant behaved like the gentleman he isn’t and rushed off to Gozo where, after clearly not having had milkshake for breakfast, he told his throng that if GonziPN wants an apology, then GonziPN is not going to get one. Then he made the adult equivalent of a child’s playground neh-neh-neh gesture.

Bad language

First we had Josie Muscat shouting out ‘jitnejku’ and ‘jiehduh f’ghajnhom’ in his political debates and speeches. And then yesterday morning we had Alfred Sant on his Gozo podium, losing control of his tongue and saying that he doesn’t want young people who live in Gozo to be ‘inkazzati’. Not the best choice of word for a future prime minister.

Miscellaneous fees

Some of the most amusing parts of Alfred Sant’s speeches are when he tries to explain technical language and corporate concepts to people at his kowc tal-bidla gatherings. And so it was yesterday morning, when he pulled another health document from his top-hat and tried to explain consolidated funds and miscellaneous fees for hospital services to his unknowing audience. First he read it out in English, then he translated it into Maltese, then he put it into the simplest vernacular, like a fuddy-duddy professor trying to relate to a child and getting it all wrong.

If he is as smart and DBA-ed as he makes himself out to be, then he would have gathered that the miscellaneous fees in question are what non-British non-Maltese people pay when they use our state health services. That’s why they are miscellaneous, and not regular.

But Sant was counting on the fact that none of his people would know this, and that Charlon Gouder and Miriam Dalli weren’t exactly going to challenge him about it either.

Charlon Gouder

Now this is a man with a problem. It’s tough enough doing your work as a journalist when your pay-cheque (without proper overtime payments) is signed by a political party. But sometimes you can find a workable solution within the limits.

Charlon Gouder appears not to have found that solution. His role throughout this campaign has been that of Labour heckler, dispatched to meetings to shout accusations at Nationalist politicians until they crack, lose their temper and snap out something unwise.

So far, Lawrence Gonzi has resisted the temptation to put a rocket under this man, treating him with the kind of resilient patience of a calm and steady uncle coping with a temperamental and rebellious nephew. And the curious thing is that on Xarabank last Friday, even the steadfast Charlon seemed to have ended up charmed by him into a sort of reluctant admiration.

Hare Krishna of Maltese politics

AD’s exponents have taken to calling Malta’s democratically elected governments a system of ‘single-party dictatorship’ or ‘single-party rule’. This is like Alfred Sant declaring that referendums don’t count and that only general elections do. Both statements ignore or disparage the sovereign will of the electorate. Presumably, in their book, tacking a single AD seat onto the edge of a ‘single-party dictatorship’ will immediately make it the sine qua non of democracy.

I can’t help but notice that AD akkaniti are beginning to sound like the brainwashed members of a cult movement, repeating jargon and stock phrases: single party rule, single party dictatorship, tyranny of the oligarchy, coalition works. It’s just too tedious. Alternattiva Demokratika have become the Hare Krishna of Maltese politics, springing out at you with their chants and mantras about coalitions and dictatorships when all you want to do is get on with your shopping.

And like all cults, they just won’t let up and leave the rest of us alone. I wish I had the time and patience to trawl back through the newspapers over the last couple of years and discover exactly at what point the desire for a mere seat in parliament became the fixation on power and being in government purely on the basis of that mere seat.

He’s been inside him

No, this is not my crass choice of expression. It’s that of the surgeon and Labour candidate Anthony Zammit, he who operated on the party leader. Interviewed on one of those Super One sofa-shows, he told his host, who had asked for his views about Alfred Sant (no surprises expected): “Jien l-uniku bniedem fid-dinja li nista nghid li nafu minn barra u minn gewwa…hahahahahaha….u nghidilkom jien, m’hemmx hdura hemm gew.” Oh dear, too much information.

Taken from one of the Internet posts

“Alternattiva Demokratika has declared that it is prepared to form a coalition government with either the PN or the MLP. This frantic effort to assume the power-broker role in the forthcoming general election is, to say the least, nauseating. It amply shows that, indeed, AD is a soulless party made up of political mavericks, whose main aim is to hold to ransom both the PN and the MLP.”

“The PN leadership is correct in dismissing outright AD’s shameful proposal and it would be appropriate for the MLP leadership to follow suit. Malta deserves a stable government so that the full benefits of EU membership are enjoyed by the whole population. What AD is proposing would slide Malta into an ungovernable situation similar to what Italy has experienced over the years since the end of World War II, culminating in the Prodi government of which AD’s Arnold Cassola formed part, until it was brought down due to its fractious composition.”

“AD should be turned down not only by the big parties, but also by the discerning electorate, who have at heart the true well-being of Malta.”

Divorce

Some people are saying that they will vote AD because they want divorce legislation. I’m puzzled when I hear this. They are usually people who almost certainly have an O-level in maths, though of course, nothing in civic education because it wasn’t (and probably still isn’t) a taught subject at school. The reasoning goes something like this: a Nationalist government will not legislate for divorce, and so I will vote AD.

Then I butt in. How will voting AD help you to achieve your goal, or is it just a symbolic protest vote? The suggestion that it is a protest vote is met with annoyance. Oh, so it is a strategic vote, then. You are voting AD because you imagine that AD can somehow amend the Marriage Act and bring in divorce. I prod a little harder. How do you think AD will be able to do this, with a single seat in parliament? Remember that AD had a seat for three years, between 1989 and 1992 (“I didn’t know that!”) and precisely nothing happened. Then Wenzu Mintoff went back home to Labour.

But AD won’t just have a seat, I’m told. It will be in government. Really? How does that happen, with one seat? It will form a coalition. Who with? The Nationalist Party, of course! As if they’d form a coalition with Labour! I explain that the Nationalist Party has ruled out any coalition and that Harry Vassallo hasn’t ruled out coalition with Labour. Meanwhile, Labour hasn’t said what it will or won’t do because Alfred Sant doesn’t answer hypothetical questions.

So let’s imagine, just for the sake of argument because in this election, as in all others, either one of the main parties is going to get a relative or absolute majority and govern alone, that we end up with an MLPAD coalition government. The MLP has 32 seats and AD has a meagre one. The seat ratio, in other words, is 32:1. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party, sitting on the Opposition benches, has 32 seats. To push any of its legislation through, Labour is going to need AD’s vote (remember, this is a fantasy, because it can’t actually happen in reality). This means that AD can derail Labour’s legislation. You may think that this is good or bad – whatever. It doesn’t matter for the purpose of this argument. What does matter is this simple fact: you can bring forward legislation with 32 seats, but with one seat, you can’t. The only way that AD with one seat in a coalition government can introduce divorce is by bullying 32 Labour MPs into voting for it. As any seasoned negotiator knows, to do this when it is so vastly outnumbered, it must have considerable leverage. The only leverage I can think of here is the threat to derail some legislation that Labour really wants to get through. Yet divorce is a very big thing in Malta, and so Labour must really want that other legislation strongly enough to trade it for the introduction of divorce. In other words, it’s not going to happen. And commonsense should tell you that if Labour can be persuaded into voting for divorce to keep AD happy with its one seat, then Labour can also be persuaded to bring in divorce alone, without AD playing dog-in-the-manger. And so, for that matter, can the Nationalist Party.

The secret police spy on Azzjoni Nazzjonali

A keen activist has uploaded a video on YouTube, showing an AN public gathering being photographed by Ben Borg Cardona, the tall, large and policeman-shaped photographer of The Malta Independent. The strap-line reads: ‘GonziPN secret police spy on AN supporters.’

Lots of AN supporters are conspiracy theorists who love the dark world of computer games and belong to all these Internet forums where strange people gather at night. “Who is this man?” the video commentary asked. “And why is he spying on us? He appears at every AN meeting, talks to nobody, takes his photograph and leaves. And God knows where those photographs end up.”

They sometimes end up in The Malta Independent. Maybe AN needs a media officer.

Alfred Sant meets a pig

I happened to be watching Super One when they showed coverage of Sant’s last-but-one trip to Gozo. It was worth it, just for that shot of the Labour delegation giving comments to camera while standing around a giant puddle of bright yellow urine, and then saying hello to a large pig which ignored them (sensible fellow). What struck me most were the downcast faces of the Gozo businessmen summoned to a meeting with their hypothetically future prime minister. They looked as though they had been called to meet the Grim Reaper. By an extraordinary coincidence, I also had the television on when NET showed coverage of a similar meeting Lawrence Gonzi had on our sister island. The very same businessmen looked bright and energised, and at least one of them spoke with electric admiration. I think that says it all.

This isn’t me speaking

It’s a comment posted beneath a story on The Times Internet portal. I thought it was rather good.

”Yes, we do want change. We would like Dr Sant to step down from the leadership of his party. We would have preferred him to do so after the 2003 election, as any democratic leader in a democratic country would have done after three consecutive defeats – two general elections and a referendum – and the record shortest government since Independence. Unfortunately, Dr Sant, with his 16 years of leadership, almost 30 years in the MLP, including his presidency of the party in the dark mid-1980s, his democratic gaffes like ‘partnership rebah’, his political blunders like ‘Svizzera fil-Mediterranan’, the electoral promises he failed to keep, and above all, his administrative mistakes, is not in a position to offer anything new, still less so a New Beginning. He was just never fit for the job.”




30 Comments Comment

  1. Vince says:

    Can anyone enlighten me as to how a member of parliament couldn’t possibly have known that a wrought iron gate on his property was illegal.

    Thank you.

  2. CATherine Desira says:

    1) I would like to convey to you my full solidarity for all the ‘harassment’ dished-out at you from the ‘not so democratic’ factions/individuals.

    2) Well Done for all your writings. You keep them simple, straight forward and you call a spade – a spade, as it should be.

    3) One must surely be in deep despair to resort to such dishonesty, since there is no proof whatsoever of all the so-called ‘corruption’ mentioned on the PN members.

    4) Keep-Up the good job. You are one of the very few columnist I try not to miss reading your articles.

  3. Simon says:

    Daphne

    Congrats for this column and looking forward to read your column during the last week of the campaign.

    You always manage to put my thoughts in words. I like your very well written columns. They are flowing and entertaining / interesting to read.

    I admire your courage to stand up to the mob, and to the man himself. SO now in Malta we have to face the warped egos of these 2 men, one who thinks that he is intellectually superior to the rest of the country and the other, who thinks that he is a sort of god sent civil rights leader, to free us form the dictatorship of this 2 party system. What a waste of time!! Instead of talking about strategy, tourism, goals etc.

  4. Sylvana Magro says:

    hi Daphne, glad to have received this email from you. We all know how smirky Dr Sant could be however, there is one question to ask. Is it true that the land has been given a permit under a 3rd party? a land which could not have building permits? Yes or No is just enough.

  5. Lorna says:

    To Sylvana Magro:

    The truth or otherwise of Dr. Sant’s allegations can be seen from the MEPA website itself. Just look under “applications” and enter the application number, and there you have it.

    However, as you will see from the permit itself, third parties, and persons totally unknown to me, may apply – and indeed obtain – permits on my land without my knowing. MEPA does not enter into the merits or otherwise of the title of an applicant to the land (i.e., whether he owns it). Indeed, any MEPA permit is issued subject to “third party rights” and a MEPA permit is not a certificate to title. If I obtain a permit from MEPA it does not mean that I am the owner. It does not even mean that the owner knows about it. Since MEPA is a Planning Authority, it only examines questions of permits.

  6. Hi Sylvana – Lorna (a lawyer who knows more than I do about these technicalities) is right I have discovered. I have also noticed on another forum a comment from a man whose family rented out a large orchard in Zebbug. They later discovered that the tenant had cut down all the trees and turned the place into a farm in the middle of an inhabited area. It was illegal, but then the Labour government gave him a permit in retrospect and the family who own the land are left without redress.

    I can see this from my own immediate experience. I live in an area where almost all the land – which is agricultural and a green area – is owned by the Joint Office (church-government). It is held by tenant farmers. When they need to build a room, dig an artesian well, or make a cement road for their trucks, it’s not the Joint Office that puts in the application, but the tenant farmer.

  7. Tony Parnis (Ex DOI director) says:

    Well done Daphne. Always has been an admirer.
    How I wish you would write an aricle called
    “Imagine” imagining Malta not independent,
    not within Europe, not within Euro Zone…without
    full utilisation of University, without MCAST,
    controlled imports, without park and ride,
    without Wardens (yes, they are necessary),
    …and, most important, without our peace of mind, full employment ets. etc.

  8. David Buttigieg says:

    These disgusting attacks by Sant have convinced me of the need to be rid of him once and for all. I am voting for the first time in J Pullicino Orland’s district and I will definitely give him number 1. Sant’s credibility is ZERO to me. I now take anything he says as untrue. I have voted both for the MEP elections and the local council elections since then (incidentally a decision I regret) Never again. With all their faults PN are the only choice by far to govern Malta.

  9. David Buttigieg says:

    I meant to Say I have voted AD both for the MEP elections and councils and that is the decision I regret

  10. Nicole says:

    Perhaps you should think about making this blog a permanent feature… for those of us living overseas, it gives us a true insight of what’s really going on…
    Keep it up.

  11. Jenny says:

    First of all well done and keep it up Daphne!
    Another worrying thing about the Labour Party and its supporters.I happen to live in Pembroke so I was exposed to all happenings in the area of Luxol yesterday in all their splendour and glory. The scenario: A car driving down with three labour supporters still euphoric after the speech of their leader shouting out from the car ‘Fejnhom in-nazzjonalisti?’No need to comment further !

  12. Matthew Borg says:

    Well done for the article, Daphne – it sums up the true differences between the MLP and the PN. As a PN-inclined first time voter, I have been at loggerheads many a time trying to help other citizens, like me, set the record straight and proclaim the truth about this electoral campaign, but unfortunately, some people are either too stupid or too stubborn to realise that, to quote myself on an article on which I commented on timesofmalta.com, “A manifesto and political campaign full of lies, and a set of candidates who are liars!”

    I had the (mistaken) honour of speaking to some Labour supporters re: the JPO scandal, after this broke out. I can safely say that their facts are clearly distorted beyond belief, and dare I say that when you mention Karmenu Vella or Charles Mangion to them, and the fact that they have evaded tax on a rented building for 8 years, then they will say that this is once again another lie coming from the PN. Of course, they’re innocent, aren’t they… no one on the MLP side is corrupt…or so we’re led to believe…

    To me, Sant’s actions prove one thing alone – that he is a coward beyond belief. I could use more grotesque adjectives against him, but I won’t put them here because: 1) This is a public site, and therefore it’s inappropriate; 2) I wouldn’t want MLP to open a libel case against me, now, would I, seeing that every allegation against them is false, and that they are indeed opening a case against anyone who says something against them.

    So much for democracy, on their behalf.

  13. Dorrie Galea says:

    Dear Daphne, I have always thought that your writings should be printed in book form.
    Perhaps, one of these days, I might be able to buy your books from the nearest stationer thereby adding to my collection of meaningful Maltese authors.
    Thank you.

  14. Jenny Pullicino Orlando says:

    Dearest Daphne,

    Thank you for shedding a human light on the situation.

    I am now at home, unable to attend University in peace, because I know that if I do I will be bombarded with questions. To add insult to injury, Labour journalists are adding me on Facebook, in an attempt to scrounge up some dirt, no doubt. I call for these people to leave me alone, let me be. Let us be. I was enraged when they used your son for political gain. I was also targeted by Super One on the same day- they filmed me for a substantial amount of time, so much so that I was prompted by my friends to stop gesticulating wildly.

    Obviously, using clips of me showing public disgust at Sant’s behaviour could not be used on Super One, especially once I put glasses on, which made me look all the more like my mother, a candidate for MLP. Hats off to your son for telling them off! You should honestly be proud of him. The unprecedented lows that they have reached- using children for political gain and infantile propaganda, has only attracted disgust!

    I have made it public that I have particular political affiliations. And while I encourage my mother to follow what she feels is right, I have defended my right to an opinion, which she has gracefully accepted. This is in no way an attack on my mother’s credibility as a politician, I think she is a clever woman who can give a lot to the MLP if she is given the chance to so do. No, I was not informed by my mother about the situation, because she seems to not have known anything about it. No, Alfred Sant did not inform my mother. He kept it within an inner circle, ignoring the fact that his candidate’s ex-husband was going to be under fire and her daughter (a first-time voter) would, along with her father, suffer considerably for no apparent reason.

    You are not a man of honour, Dr.Sant. Nor are you a Hero. Nor are you capable of running a country. The ‘hamalli’ at University refused to stand by your side- and I was one of them. Your deceitful tactics have
    jolted you into a low that is yet to be defined. Non, je ne regrette rien? Well Done!

    I hope you did not show the same contempt for your own daughter as you have shown to the daughter of one of your candidates! Thanks for making my father the HERO that he now is. I am more proud of him than I ever was.

    Thanks again, Daphne

    Have a lovely day :)

  15. Eunice Smith says:

    Dear Jenny

    All I can say is that at this point in time, both your parents should be just as proud of you as you are of them. Well done for speaking your mind.

  16. AlphaBeta says:

    My congrats for your latest effort are joined with the long list of admirers out there…I would like to underline one fine point that is perhaps too obvious to be considered by most. Alfred Sant as a leader has reached a crucial juncture. For him, this is a “do or die” situation. So he has turned into a sort of kamikazee, ripping through his adversary (NB, singular, as the other parties are accomplices in this) with all his might causing as much damage as possible. He has absolutely nothing to lose; it’s an asymetric game…Indeed, the 2008 election is his last chance of becoming PM or risk being remembered by historians as “il-PM tal-bankini ta’ Bugibba”!!!

  17. R Agius says:

    Jenny PO – stand up to a tumultuous applause for having the courage of your convictions! In one fell swoop you pulled the rug from under Alfred Sant’s feet for one simple reason. You spoke openly about your feelings – a trait, sadly, our potential PM sorely lacks.

    What we face if this country chooses unwisely and Alfred Sant is elected is 5 years of emotionless, dictatorial rule that will be characterised by insensitivity, mis-calculation, excuses, conjecture, cover ups and general mis-management.

    It is fine to hard sell your product with slick marketing techniques – God knows we are inundated with gloss – however, it is only the products that are of any substance that last – and the same will happen with an Alfred Sant government.

    It is such a pity that we will have to endure the pain, embarrassment and set backs in this country’s progress – the net effect of which will ironically affect workers more than any other sector in our society.

    To Daphne – great stuff – keep it up!

  18. Mark Galea Salomone says:

    Dear Daphne,
    Congrats for the brilliant commentary,

    I’ve just heard on Net News that Sant refused the talk in a press conference this morning due to the presence of JPO among the journalists. This is the stance us Nationalists take: we are fighting the corruption through someone like JPO who isn’t afraid to set things straight. Sant threatened to call on the police and JPO remained there.

    This is unbelievable .. how can we trust the country in the hands of a coward whose afraid to face the person he has been continuously raging against. He is not up to facing someone who has been throwing mud at … at the end of the day some mud will stick.

    Well done Jen … as a close friend I congratulate you on writing about this delicate matter. Your father (and you alike) is a man of principles who is not afraid to fight for the truth. He has commanded much respect and deserves the best. He is definately not in of search personal glory, but we all know that he is doing his all for the party he supports.

    We are a week away, and we could just about wake up to a different party leading parliament. Hopefully, those uncertain voters will be inclined to our party and we can declare a national victory !

    Well done Jen and Daphne .. keep up the great work

  19. David Buttigieg says:

    I must join in with others and appeal for this site to be more permanent.

    To begin with I may not agree with you on several things, for example I am a bit more conservative in religion, however I believe we do share a line of thinking (for want of a better word) and I enjoy reading your articles even though I may disagree with some of them.

    Please keep it up after the elections when God willing sense & decency will prevail and we are not landed with Sant.

    That’s a nightmare beyond contemplation.

  20. Charles Cauchi says:

    It seems that an unholy alliance between the the MLP, AD and the FKNK is now coalescing, with a helping hand from Josie & Co.

    Didn’t Dr. Sant say that he would make an alliance with the devil to achieve his ambition to become Malta’s Prime Minister?

    At least in this respect he is being consistent.

  21. Pat Schembri Wismayer says:

    I’d like to describe an incident that happened in the early 70’s. As far as I know it never made the papers.
    I lived in B’Kara. Across the road from us there was a family with four children. One evening the parents left the two youngest boys alone at home. At the time they must have been aged 8 and 10. The boys began to fill balloons with water and try to see which one of them would manage to hit the Vote No.1 poster of a Labour MP someone had stuck on the wall opposite their balcony. I guess some Labour supporter must have seen them and phoned the Party club. The next thing we know was that a truck laden with crates and crates of empty glass bottles and angry men drew up outside their house. They smashed every single window, broke down the front door, raced inside to get hold of them… meanwhile the boys, scared out of their wits, rushed upstairs on to the roof and began to leap over the dividing walls until a kind neighbour opened his roof door, which, thank God, was made of iron, and let them in.
    Why am I saying this now? Because the MP in whose name this was perpetrated, whose honour was put at such such stake by two children and a few water balloons is an MP still and will become a Minister if the Labour Party win the next elections.
    We’ve had a peaceful run under the Nationalist Government too long. The new voters have no idea just how bad things can become when the MLP are in government. True, we didn’t see such outrageous violence during those 22 months under Sant, but he is seriously ill now, and hiding behind him are the same monsters we had back then. God help us all.

  22. Open Letter to Inland Revenue says:

    Dear Inland Revenue,

    I am not a contractor. Nor am I a director in a business firm. I don’t build houses nor am I a rich person.

    May I kindly ask you whether I can declare my income in 7/8 years’ time please?

    Heqq, since I came to know that you permitted other ‘poor’ kids from declaring their small (minor) income 7 years later, I though maybe you could also give me this opportunity.

    I await your kind reply before the general elections.

    I am sure that you will treat everyone the same. What is good for the goose is good for the gander, since ic-Cittadini are all the same.

    Thanks
    Floating Voter

  23. Mark Laferla Jr. says:

    First of all, well done Daphne for your, well documented, coverage of the up-coming general elections, particularly that which reveals the ridiculous and despicable nature in which Alfred Sant is conducting his political campaign! Secondly, I’d like to show my support to you Jen! Your admirable courage and solidarity you showed your father and the PN is one that further encourages us first-time voters to do our part to safe-guard our country from falling into the abhorrent hands of the MLP!

  24. Matthew Borg says:

    I can’t not comment once again in order to express my admiration towards Jenny PO as well. Having been a close friend of her’s for a number of years, I can’t deny that such a situation has managed to enrage and anger me as well, simply because I know the kind of people that both Jeffrey and Jenny are.

    The fact that Sant walked out of the Press Conference today also makes me believe further that Sant has no guts (no pun intended) to even speak in front of JPO, simply because he has nothing to back up his claims. If he’s so confident that this is a scandal, why won’t he speak to Jeffrey face-to-face, man-to-man?!? I’m sure it’s a burning question that everyone wants to know the answer to sometime or another… I just saw the footage of the continuation of this scandal this morning, and Sant chickened away once more…

    As I stated before, seeing that I know both of them, this has angered me too. Jeffrey is a man of his credentials. I admire Jeffrey for continuing to clear his name and once again deplore the MLP Leader for his actions. He truly is shameful.

  25. Victor Laiviera says:

    L-Istitut tal-Gurnalisti Maltin (IGM) illum hass li ghandu juri d-dispjacir tieghu kif id-Dipartiment ta’ l-Informazzjoni halla ssir parodija tal-professjoni tal-gurnalizmu meta hareg Press Card lil kandidat elettorali, liema decizjoni mbaghad wasslet biex giet sfrattata Konferenza Stampa organizzata mill-Awtorita’ tax-Xandir fuq il-mezzi tax-xandir Nazzjonali.

    L-Istitut ihoss li kienet din id-decizjoni mhux professjonali li holqot bla bzonn il-kwistjoni tallum, meta huwa fatt maghruf minn hafna kemm l-istess Dipartiment ta’ l-Informazzjoni sikwit isibha konvenjenti li jichad il-hrug ta’ Press Card lil individwi li jkollhom kaz ferm izjed konvincenti minn dak ta’ kandidat elettorali.

    Waqt li jikkundanna din il-parodija tal-professjoni tal-gurnalizmu demokratiku fi zmien daqstant delikat ta’ elezzjoni generali fil-pajjiz, l-Istitut jinnota b’sodisfazzjon li l-Awtorita’ tax-Xandir, f’ruling li tat, ghamlitha cara li dak kollu li gara kien imur kontra r-regoli u l-kundizzjonijiet tax-xandiriet politici skjedati minnha.

    Fl-istess hin, l-Istitut jappella lil kulhadd biex il-gurnalisti Maltin, huma ta’ min huma, ma jibqghux jizzeffnu fin-nofs mill-politici qishom xi pupazzi li jridu jizfnu ghall-muzika taghhom, tant li llum gejna fi stat fejn gurnalist spicca jintalab icedi postu biex issehh il-parodija li sehhet.

    [Moderator – Victor, why don’t you publish the press release from the Health Services stating that it was illegal for Alfred Sant to demonstrate the use of a kitchen to the public without the appropriate Food Handling Safety certificate?]

  26. Albert Farrugia says:

    Very good point, Mr Moderator. A very succint, precise and sharp reply to the statement by the Institute of Journalists. I mean, we are Nationalists are we? Truth on our side is-sewwa jirbah zgur and all that jazz. What need do we have for arguments? Some jokes will do nicely. So that we can show that humourless Sant a thing or two.

    [Moderator – who took the jam out of your doughnut?]

  27. catherine says:

    well done Daphne for consistently laying out the truth so transparently, in a country where we sadly and desperately need it. I am giving JPO my number one, because no man can fake the intense frustration he obviously felt at the allegations made against him. I have always voted PN, and will do this time too, because if MLP get in, most people will end up feeling the oppression, frustration, and injustice he is clearly feeling. I will never vote for a party that acted as they did in the 80’s. The past month has shown us that MLP is still capable of such gross miscarriages of justice.

  28. Vic says:

    Daphne.
    First and foremost keep it up and my full solidarity to you and your family for being made a target by the NEW LABOUR (my caps).
    Daphne all I can say about Malta under a Nationalist government is that whenever I needed to change my work or at the end of a contract I needed a new job I always found one with better wages and conditions. The secret which eludes many labour supporters is that you are ready to work hard and be honest, that way you do not need a minister to find a job for you.Self respect and personal sacrifice has meant that from a factory worker I am now in a top position earning higher then average wage, cause while brining up a family I still found time to study (I had to make up for the time the old Labour stole from me when I was young).
    Keep it up and may the good Lord bless Malta with another Nationalist government (at least for the next 50 years).
    Thanks
    vic

  29. Joseph Attard says:

    Dear Jenny,
    I hope that the damage that was a target to your father,reaches the master mind.I believe in your father,but I can’t vote for him because he isn’t a candidate in my district,but I encourage the people in his disticts to vote for him.He is a good candidate and even when the party that he believe in was wrong he went against for example the landfill in Hagar Qim.I hope by time the authors of this lie pays for it.
    Thank you

  30. They all read Daphne, for sure!

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