Malays are people from Malaysia
Published:
June 11, 2008 at 10:30am
Watching Joseph Muscat on Dissett last night, I couldn’t help noticing that he had strict instructions to keep his facial expression serious and steady. Only the night before, on Bondi+, he was grinning like a lunatic. I’ve cast my mind over both shows in a vain attempt at trying to remember something worthwhile that he might have said, but I can’t. My notes don’t say much, either. I sat there with my pen and notebook, ready to jot down details of his projected earthquake and vision, and was left with just a few words on an otherwise empty page. Here they are:
- The man who has lived and worked in a French-speaking environment for four years can’t pronounce ‘malaise.’ Somebody should tell him that Malays are people from Malaysia, and that “a Malays” is not something that you can provoke in your colleagues by getting an endorsement from a German politician who spent years running a bookshop before deciding to become a councillor.
- The man who was against VAT because Alfred told him it was bad and naughty and that it would help them win the 1996 election is now putting his party leadership responsibilities on hold so that he can write a report on VAT for the European Commission, in which he claimed, because Alfred told him so, that Malta would never have a voice.
- The victory film-clips showed him to be backed by a cabal of Sant’s ghouls, and embracing the ghastly Manwel Cuschieri of Radju Super One, whose brother Joe’s parliamentary seat he will be taking, leaving him in the political debt of the Cuschieri brothers.
- The apology he made for Labour’s hideous past in the 1970s and 1980s was fatuous, facile, unfelt and unmeaning, and passed by unnoticed and unremarked upon, except by me here and now. He praised Mintoff to high heavens and then in the next breath apologised for Labour’s ‘mistakes’, all of which were caused by the man whose bottom he had just licked.
- He seems to think that it doesn’t matter if you take the wrong decision, however grievous the consequences, as long as you say sorry. His views on EU membership? He was mistaken, and he has no trouble admitting it. What he doesn’t seem to realise is that if he had achieved his aim of keeping Malta out of the EU, the consequences would have been catastrophic for this country and its people. A facile ‘I made a mistake’ is insulting to us because he could have ruined our lives.
- When Lou Bondi pointed out to him that George Abela had been prevented by Sant from standing for the MEP election under the Labour ticket, Joseph Muscat said that Sant hadn’t wanted him to stand either. Lou wanted to know why, in that case, Sant hadn’t prevented him from standing under the Labour ticket, and the Ginger Frog (apologies to all ginger people, but I couldn’t resist that) said: “Sfidajtu!” Oh yes, I’m sure. If that’s really the case, then we have to ask what sort of relationship those two had. No one can defy the party leader and stand for election under the party ticket, because to stand under the party ticket, you need the express permission of the party leader. Sfidajtu my eye. Excuse my language, but what an a**hole.
45 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
ma·laise /mæˈleɪz, -mə-; Fr. maˈlɛz/
Spelled Pronunciation[ma-leyz, -muh-; Fr. ma-lez]
–noun
1. a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.
2. a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.
[Origin: 1760–70; < F, OF; see mal-, ease]
[Moderator – Fr. ma-lez]
The more you write this sort of crap about Joseph Muscat, the clearer it gets that you just can’t bear to write about la republique and its tax-efficient government. You’d rather just stick your pathetic little pins in your collection of Labour dolls. Is there anything to comment about Gonzi’s first 100 days? No, of course not. Everything’s going just perfectly fine. Our main source of worry for the next five years should be Joseph’s tie rack.
[Moderator – Joseph’s tie is deeply disturbing to the natural balance of things and could well lead to the downfall of Western civilisation. Oh, come on, aren’t we allowed to laugh at politicians anymore?]
both pronunciations are acceptable, if anything probably the one sounding like “malays” is better adapted to English vowels (or diphthongs in this case) … even the usage is correct.
if you have to attack the man attack him on facts not impressions …
I don’t know anything about his policies or why they are valid or not valid … but for your own sake keep it objective
Sfidajtu my foot!!
Kieku sfidajtu kien ikekislek il-Board tal-Vigilanza ghal warajk kif ghamel lil haddiehor!!
Zizzu, Muscat wasn’t speaking English. He was speaking Maltese. And no, the usage was definitely not correct. I need very few lessons in English usage, and certainly not from somebody called Zizzu.
Nice to notice that my old friend Abel Abela is back. Guess what, Abel? I’ve managed to hold my readers’ attention for 18 years because I have a fairly unerring instinct for the things they want to read. And right now, what people want to discuss is Joseph Muscat, not the government’s first 100 days in power.
Aqta qalbek Daphne hi! Alxejn se jhallsuk in-Nazzjonalisti bix thammeg il-Laburisti ax did darba mandekx cans! Andek xi haga ohra xi tejt kontra joseph??? EEE!!!! fuq gismu jonqsok tikkumenta ax il-bqija kolox ilqattlu…. tal-misthija ta !
Dear Daphne,
I’d like to thank you for 18 years of intelligent reading. I was living in ignorance until i started reading your blog a few days ago. I can only thank the person who invented exams and gave us all this feeling of intense need to do something other than study during exam days. Thank you Daphne, you fill me with hope, the days of Dostoevsky are over. Thou who art more Vain than Vanity Fair and more unbelievable than Harry Potter. Thou who hatt more prejudice than Elizabeth and more pride than Darcy, yes you will be my sociopathic leader from now until forever.
Always in debt with you (and the person who invented exams),
Mel
P.S. Dan Brown sold milions of copies, I guess you also think he is the most intelligent of men (after Gonzi of course)
@DCG
pretension does not mean proficiency, more quixotic … but anyway …
@R. Pace – If you’re going to write in Maltese, please spell properly. Your writing is atrocious. I’m an English speaking person, brought up in an English speaking family and attended an English speaking school but even I can write and spell Maltese better than you can. What are these words: alxejn, andek, bix, ax, tejt… Maybe you meant ghalxejn, ghandek, biex, ghax, tghid ???
Daphne you are right.
You do have a knack at writing about the right subjects at the right time, and you have generated a great following along these 18 years.
And Moderator, you are right too. It is fun to laugh at politicians. And it’s also fun to say funny things like:
“I need very few lessons in English usage, and certainly not from somebody called Zizzu.”
It’s this sharp wit and funny side of Daphne that gives her writing its edge.
However I think there are a few points that both Mod and Daphne are forgetting:
Daphne, in the past you used to have 5 topics which you wrote about incessantly, but always in a refreshing way:
Alfred Sant, The Church, The Gift of Life Campaign, the PN and it’s disgustingly servile attitude towards the Church, and Illegal Immigration.
Again – you were very right in thinking that these are the topics most of your readers wanted to read about. Twice a week you churned out articles filled with humour, wit, sarcastic remarks, intelligent observations and crticial analysis. You appealed to many different readers, and you weren’t afraid of pissing off anyone. And you always balanced your articles out with an almost perfect blend of bitchiness and wisdom.
In fact, I follow your articles religiously. For the same reasons that I follow South Park religiously (don’t take it as an offence – I’m sure Mod agrees with me here). Whenever I read your articles I feel like I am intellectually stimulated AND entertained at the same time.
Then the elections came. And you got scared. You knew there was a chance that Labour could win, and that Alfred Sant, the man who you so publicly HATE, could be your prime minister. So you changed your agenda slightly, and threw the other 4 topics out of the window. This was a time of war, and you needed to arm yourself.
So, not only did you donate all your wit and writing skills to the PN’s political campaing, coming up with all those great slogans and English-newspaper ads, but you dedicated almost every article of yours to Alfred Sant and why he shouldn’t be prime minister. (One out of every six or seven articles was about how voting AD could give us Alfred Sant as prime minister.) Heck, you even set up this blog because time was ticking out and it was still too close to call.
Then March 8th came, and the PN won and everyone calmed down and went about their everyday lives again.
Alfred Sant resigned, and the country breathed a sigh of relief.
Then the leadership race began and Joseph Muscat won. And this generated lots of interest, and again, it is what everyone wanted to speak and read about.
Only a few days have passed and everyone you meet, even young teenagers, are discussing Joseph. Diehard Nationalists are laughing at him in almost the same way they did with Michael Falzon during the election campaign. PN politicians are talking about their excitement in finally having a potentially decent opposition. Labour supporters are trying to decipher whether their party made the right choice or not. Independent voters are thinking, is this the Messiah sent to save us from our political status quo? Everyone is eager to listen to him and analyze his every move in an attempt to foresee what sort of change he can bring about.
But what are you doing?
1) You’re still running your emergency blog in the way you were running it a week before the dreaded election – as if you have 5 days to convince everyone not to vote AD or Labour.
2) You’re publishing many posts that are purely piss-taking and you’re ignoring up your trademark ratio of humour and intelligence – like an episode of Family Guy rather than South Park. :D
3) You’re insulting your reader’s intelligence by giving very selective and superficial criticism of Joseph Muscat.
4) You are avoiding all the other important issues that still require discussion in the country – generally the same ones you used to discuss, since GonziPN has not really done much about any of the issues you used to talk about.
5) You are losing your credibility.
As you know, I am one of your biggest fans. And I would like to continue reading you for many decades to come. But seriously, I don’t want to spend these next 5 years reading about Joseph Muscat’s frog-face or rainbow tie or hair pubes. Those are funny and they could work – but only to complement a good argument, not as the main substance of your articles.
@ Berta…
Nispera li tifhima hekk! Ghax peress li inti “English speaking person, brought up in an English speaking family and attended an English speaking school” nahseb ma tifhmux il-Malti miktub hazin!
Aqta’ qalbek Daphne hi! Ghalxejn se jhallsuk in-Nazzjonalisti biex thammeg il-Laburisti ghax din id-darba m’ ghandekx cans! Ghandek xi haga ohra xi tghid kontra Dr. Joseph Muscat?? EEE!!!! Fuq gismu jonqsok tikkumenta ax il-bqija kollox ilqattlu…. tal-misthija ta’ !
aaa! sorry… insejt inbiddel nikteb ‘ghax’ minnflok ‘ax’. Sry:D
@DCG
You left out the bit on Bondi+ when discussing George Abela’s declaration that JM’s campaign will not be awarded the Fair Play trophy and JM’s response was “Fair comment”!
@Berta
No, he meant għalxejn, għandek, għax and tgħid.
R. Pace, bil-kitba tieghek turi li int tahseb li Joseph Muscat se jkun is-salvatur tal-Partit Laburista minhabba li int injorant li lanqas biss taf tisspelli – ahseb u ara kemm taf tahseb u tirraguna b’mohhok minnflok b’parti ohra ta’ gismek. Naf xi trid tghid meta tuza l-kelma ‘gismu’, imma kun af li ahna l-puliti ta’ Tas-Sliema nghidu ‘zobbu’. Issa mur u tpaxxa bil-wicc frisk u l-mohh ta’ tigiega tal-leader gdid li ghandek, forsi ikaxxkrek minn mniehrek xi ftit iehor, kif jaghmel lil mara tieghu Lil Din.
@Moderator: “aren’t we allowed to laugh at politicians anymore?”
We weren’t ever allowed to do that. That’s why there are so many po-faced objections. And that’s why it’s fun.
R.Pace’s – You said “fuq gismu jonqsok tikkumenta ax il-bqija kolox ilqattlu”.
Since I take it that the “gismu” is the base Maltese connotation for the English “dick”, comments regarding it certainly wouldn’t interest any of us, including Daphne herself, but including, perhaps, people like Caphenni, Uncle Fester and one particular frustrated, post-menopausal woman. :)
@ Amanda.
You mean the one who considers JM to be ‘cuddly’? Or rather, the champagne socialist with a bun?
Am I really naive in thinking that R.Pace simply meant that the next thing you have to criticize is his body?
I find it funny that Amanda compared me to a frustrated post-menopausal woman and insinuated that I want to hear about Joseph Muscat’s genitals simply because I’m gay.
After all, I’m not the one who thought of “zobbu” as soon as I heard the word “gismu”.
Also, that’s verging on the homophobic. Something I do not expect to hear from a Daphne follower.
It’s also interesting to note the intense personal attacks going on from anti-JosephMuscat users. I really don’t get what everyone is angry and frustrated about. After all, we’re 5 years away from an election – this is the time when we, yes even you Daphne, can all be objective.
[Moderator – We’re just having a laugh. As you said, the election is 5 years off so poodle-lovers should be less likely to go on the defensive when their choice is made fun of. Unfortunately, it seems they aren’t.]
Seems like Caphenni’s comment worked. Goodbye pink ties, hello C-Section.
I’d say it’s been more than long in coming, given recent comments by certain people on this blog, including the author’s. I may not agree with anything Joseph and Lawrence say, but their style of respecting the people around them is always inspiring. Which is more than I can say for some people’s outdated – and blatantly disrespectful – way of expressing their opinion.
[Moderator – It seems that you don’t care what people think, as long as they don’t express it.]
Caphenni. Surely you’re not THAT naive| It’s common knowledge that the two words are synonymous.
I think I like “a**hole” better than “poodle”!
I wouldn’t be on this blog if I didn’t care what people thought, now, would I?
[Moderator – Are you Mary Whitehouse?]
@Eve
Of course they’re synonymous. You’d think that whenever people in Malta say “Aw gisem, they’re saying Aw ****”, right?
Honestly I had no idea. I’ll blame it on the English-speaking upbringing and hide my face in shame lol. But again, shame on Amanda for that homophobic remark!
Marku – who is asshole?
@Caphenni, I’ll be back to those topics in good time, don’t worry. Right now, it’s poodle-time. There is very little that can be said in the way of intelligent comment about the fact that Joseph Muscat is now MLP leader, because that fact is in itself a farce and an insult to our intelligence. Turn your party into a joke by electing a silly and self-obsessed piece of work as leader, and that’s what happens. You know as well as I do that there wouldn’t have been this kind of hilarity if George Abela had been elected. He’s the kind of man you just have to take seriously. I’ve thought of Joseph Muscat as an utter and absolute prat since I first encountered him 14 or 15 years ago, and I don’t see any reason to change my opinion just because 571 headless chickens thought he would make a great leader.
@Caphenni, there’s no need to tell everyone here that you’re gay. I don’t see anyone declaring that they’re heterosexual. You don’t even need to say whether you’re a man or a woman.
Tri.
It depends on the context in which it is spoken. If someone tells me ‘Aw gisem’, being a woman i’m safe in the knowledge that he’s not referring to my genital area.
Whereas when the word ‘gisem’ is used in relation to a male it’s obvious that it refers to the dick.
And Caphenni, Daphne, as well as numerous other bloggers for that matter, are of English-speaking upbringing, so that’s not the reason for your ignorance in the matter.
@Daphne, what sort of argument is that? First of all, we live in a heterosexist society where it is assumed that one is straight until declared otherwise. So yes, in many cases it is necessary for gay people to tell everyone that they are gay whilst heterosexuals need not do that because it is taken for granted that they are straight.
Secondly, I never mentioned the fact that I am gay. You first implied it when you said that I am in love with Joseph Muscat, and then you said that most of the people who like Joseph Muscat are gay men, and then Amanda said that I (together with Uncle Fester, the other openly gay man on this blog) want to hear about his “gisem”, which you all seem to think means “zobb”, obviously implying that just because I am gay and I do not hate Joseph Muscat that I would be interested in what you have to say about his penis.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying this as much as the rest of you. Beats studying, that’s for sure!
If when people say aw gisem them mean aw dick, how come they say it to girls…. I refuse to think I was offended like that!LOL!!!
Nope, not Mary Whitehouse (god bless her soul, whilst we’re at it). Having said that, give the woman some credit: she probably knew more about sexual organs than most people on this blog.
(The aw gisem/aw **** cracked me up – what a load of crap).
I’m off. L-uffiċċju divin qed isejjaħ. (I’ll save Daphne the trouble when it comes to archiving me: I’m a 30 year old born again Christian, 5 foot 9, ‘detached father’, genetically predisposed to Alternattiva, love Jospeh’s antics, but prefer JPO’s crying fits).
@Daphne. Apparently your sister does not agree with you. She is insisting that I disclose my first and last name despite the fact that I have disclosed ever bit of relevant information about myself other than that. Glad that you’re not twins.
@ Daphne
And he has proved you right. How can you take a man who acts the innu tal-partit, who kisses everyone in sight, who closes his eyes during the national anthem, seriously? He’s marketed himself to uncritical consumers and made it. c’est la vie.
@Caphenni, from an older gay man to a younger. The PN has done absolutely nothing for gay people. At best it has adopted a “jahasra msejkin, mhux kollha kemm ahna ulied Alla” approach to us. And that is at best.
The MLP has done concrete things to help gay people even at a time when gay rights were unheard of. Because that is what the MLP is about – standing up for the rights of the underprivileged and downtrodden. Prior to the 70s it was a crime, punishable by imprisonment for a gay man (not a woman) to have intimate relationships. The MLP voted to take that law off the books.
The gay lobby in Malta supported the PN in 2003 because the PN was for membership in the EU. The gay lobby believed that becoming members of the EU would give gay people rights we had no hopes of getting from our national government. This was indeed the case because Malta had to adopt European directives protecting gays from discrimination in employment etc. Nonetheless the PN tried to water down the wording of those European laws because it was not comfortable with giving “special rights” to us.
The leader of the PN – Lawrence Gonzi – is on the record as saying, prior to becoming PN leader, that he would never allow a gay person to work with him. The fact that he has not repeated it (or for that matter retracted his statement) is more to do with political expediency and nothing to do with a new found recognition or respect for our rights and dignity as human beings.
The PN members in the European Parliament have consistently voted against resolutions affirming the rights of gay people and denouncing homophobia.
On the other hand the MLP is in favor of extending rights to gay people and you can believe the MLP because it has a track record of doing just that.
So my friend, your natural political home, if you have any self respect as a gay man, is in the MLP led by Joseph Muscat.
Caphenni and others – Apologies. You’re right. Reading my comment again I realise that. The “frustrated, post-menopausal” bit would have sufficed.
@ Mod
I thought you meant ‘erection is five years off’ ya know with all the anatomical discourse going on here…taf int, Lejber using ‘The Only Way is Up Viagra oh I mean Lejberrrr’ thingy song last erec…erm election.
Seems like some are REALLY frustrated with this Joseph business. LOL Carry on the adjectives. And, of course, the Nationalist Party has nothing at all to do with this.
…and take a look at the signs of the future….
http://www.pes.org/content/view/1353/72
[Moderator – What on earth is that press release? ‘In the far north of the EU, Finland’s Social Democratic Party elected a woman …’ Oh, no, they’ve elected a woman – run for the hills!]
@DCG
Only the night before, on Bondi+, he was grinning like a lunatic.
Didn’t Gonzi do just that on Bondi+, the day after he won the election?
I once sat next to Joseph Muscat on a flight to The Continent. He had the window seat and I had the aisle (because I like to stretch me old legs from time to time). I must say I was pleasantly surprised to be mistaken for a Frenchman, because he spoke to me in sign language (“raised finger, finger pointed towards seat, finger re-curled”). Naturally, I responded with a gravelly “Allez-y!” and a Belmondo eyebrow. Muscat was very quiet and well-behaved during the flight, listening to his iPod and reading a book, while I eyed the hostesses (before reeling back in horror) and twiddled my thumbs like a dumkopf. To his credit, neither did he stink, nor did he fart and burp or shriek for an AirMalta freebie pencil. And yes, he travelled in tourist class, just like us plebs. If only I had known that he’d become Leader of the Opposition! I’d have asked him for his autograph an’ all.
Farewell, then, Joseph. If you’re reading this, and ever need to hire a consultant for the party, I’m game. Against a hefty, well-deserved fee of course.
@D. Fenech – Gonzi’s smile is natural; Muscat’s smile is a nervous tic
@Amanda – really appreciate that. I thought we would have to argue it out all day hehe. I have an exam tomorrow so I should take a break from DCG.com lol.
@Unclue Fester – I am fully aware of all the points you brought up. And I do feel that I should vote for the party that respects my dignity and rights as a gay man. However, that is only if I see that both parties are competent to run the country. If I am a single-issue voter and only vote for the party that is ok with gay rights but incompetent when it comes to running a country as a whole, I will be acting very selfishly, like hunters or something.
Then again – I do not necessarily think the PN has proven itself to be very competent either – they’re just better at marketing, and they look so good because we compare them to the disorganised and badly run MLP.
I’m hoping that in the coming months and years Joseph Muscat will change his party enough for me to be able to vote for MLP.
@Caphenni. I hope that Muscat will continue to update and renew Labour. Labour has come a long way from being the Partit tal-Haddiema (as in blue collar only) of Mintoff/KMB days. AS cleaned Labour of its violent elements and broadened its base to appeal to the middle class. The mistake he made was to oppose EU entry. Now that he has paid the ultimate political price for his folly (5 years too late) there is a new leader and a new beginning. You’re going to see him first reach out to his traditional Labour constituency, then clean up the party, set up a parliamentary team and policy groups that will help him update the party for 2013. He will also need to get funding to match the well funded PN machine and bring some professional consultants on board to rebrand and remarket the party. Reaching out to the gay community will be part of his strategy and we will be there to listen to people from Labour and to respond appropriately.
@Uncle Fester: You are even more hopeful than I am. I am still very wary about the Labour party. I really do hope that Joseph has the courage to talk about issues that matter but that aren’t necessarily popular, and I hope he doesn’t lose older traditional Labour supporters for doing so. I also hope he inspires PN to also tackle unpopular issues, although I have much less hope in that happening.
One thing I can say with certainty, if PN goes all out against the introduction of civil liberties and goes all Jesus’-elvesy on us – it’s going to be an all out war! :D
@Caphenni. What are you wary about with the Labour Party? Also if the Labour Party has not inspired the PN to become less hostile to gay people in 20 years it won’t happen. If the PN does something for gays it will be, as Daphne hinted, out of political expediency and not because of conviction. Why should I vote for a party like that and hope that they may someday do the right thing if they think it is expedient for their purpose of maintaining power? Certainly not when my other choice is a party that has done right by us consistently.
Alfred Sant was very up front at the last election when he was asked about gay issues. He said that Labour was against discrimination against gay people and supports civil partnerships but does not support gay marriage. I am sure that Muscat will hold the same positions on these issues and be more comfortable with gay people just because he is from a different generation. Plus he voted favorably on gay issues in the European Parliament along with the other two Labour MEPS.
PN MEPS on the other hand voted against resolution condemning homophobia – what sort of a message is that?! These votes need to be publicized more in the gay community so that the PN is held politically accountable for them. Also all gay people who blindly vote PN because that is what their family tradition dictates need to be given a wake up call. And those gays working with them should be “outed” if they take unfavorable stances on gay issues.
To quote Justyne Caruana referring to the Nationalists “Tahsbux li dawn jixtiequlna xi gid tafux.” Anzi, nzid “jixtiequlna kull deni”. Also don’t forget that Lawrence Gonzi is a declared homophobe – someone that considers us to be so sub-human that he would not consider allowing a gay person to work on his team. The choice is so clear Caphenni. Vote PN you get a party led by a declared homophobe that believes homophobia is a good thing and has done nothing positive for gay people in the 20 years it has been in power. Vote Labour you get a party that is against discrimination and has voted in our favor consistently on gay issues.