Ma jafux kif imorru l-affarijiet, jahasra

Published: September 22, 2008 at 11:35pm

Here’s some more of the Labour Party’s creative approach to protocol. It’s what happens when the rednecks take over the asylum. The protocol with the Independence Day ceremony is for the president to lay a wreath first, followed by the prime minister, then the leader of the Opposition (ah, but we don’t have one of those yet). Though the ceremony is at noon every year, the Labour Party announced that it would be popping by with its bouquet at 10.30am, because its people had to be somewhere else at noon – where, I hate to imagine. The protocol people tactfully explained that there’s – well, protocol, and something called order of precedence. But the Labour Party people – probably that empty vessel with the teeth – said tough, we can’t be there. We’re busy. We’re all going to be at lunch or at the beach. It’s a public holiday, you know, and a Sunday. We’re taking our flowers when it’s convenient for us. And the protocol people said fine, but that means we’ll have to remove them before the president arrives and we’ll put them back afterwards. And what happens next? The Labour Party issues a statement claiming that its flowers were abusively removed from the Independence monument. It’s exhausting.

The Times, Monday, 22nd September 2008 – 20:07CET

Controversy over wreath-laying ceremony

The National Festivities Committee said this evening that flowers laid at the foot of the Independence Monument by an MLP delegation were briefly removed from the monument yesterday during the wreath laying ceremony by the President and the Prime Minister. The committee stressed that the MLP had been told beforehand what would happen, since it was the practice for the President and the Prime Minister to lay flowers first at official ceremonies. The committee was reacting to a statement by the MLP yesterday.

The committee said it had been informed by the MLP that its delegation would place flowers on the monument at 10.30 a.m. Since the President and the Prime Minister were to place flowers at the foot of the monument at Noon, after Pontifical Mass which started at 10 a.m. it was suggested to the MLP that its delegation should lay their wreaths after the wreath-laying ceremony by the President and the Prime Minister. The committee pointed out that it was always the President and the Prime Ministers who placed flowers first. Since the MLP said its officials could not be present at that time, the party was informed by the committee that its flowers would be temporarily removed from the monument during the official ceremony, the committee said.




20 Comments Comment

  1. edgar gatt says:

    I do not expect that young JM should know anything about the protocol for the Independence wreath -laying ceremony. Dr Charles Mangion, Leader of the Opposition, who is more mature, definitely knows his protocol. So how is it that he decided to push JM to make such a gaffe.? My feeling is that he either wanted to ridicule JM or worse still to ridicule the ceremony.
    JM must distinguish between an official ceremony and a party at Ic-Caqnu.

  2. rene says:

    imma dawn x nies huma.U ghall quddiesa kif m`attendiex,bhala kap tal oppozizjoni(dalwaqt)ghandu jsib il hin biex ikun prezenti ,Alfred Sant bil hazin kollu tieghu il protokol kien isegwih sal punto u l virgola.Mela lura sejrin flok l quddiem,possibli ma jafomx dawn l affarijiet

    [Daphne – Sant, bil-hazin kollu tieghu, muhiex redneck.]

  3. Corinne Vella says:

    Protocol doesn’t matter when all you’re after is a publicity photograph for the news and for the party archives. The tactic works, after a fashion. I still have a vivid memory of that absurd parade of flower-laying gestures on every monument in a bid to whip up public sentiment against EU membership…or was it in favour of partnership?

  4. Luca says:

    I asked about this under another story, but no one tried to enlighten me. Those supporting Labour couldn’t make up some petty excuse for the epitome of ignorance, irresponsibility and stubbornness their party is symbol of. It’s like they want to give their utmost to look pathetic and pitiful.

  5. Amanda Mallia says:

    Seeing that these people have no sense of protocol at the very least, it comes as no surprise that they appoint certain people as ambassadors when they are in power. One particular bearded twerp comes to mind … and what an embarrassment he was!

  6. David Buttigieg says:

    ” Sant, bil-hazin kollu tieghu, muhiex redneck”. Mind you, the display he gave when he was arguing with Mintoff was quite redneckish.

    [Daphne – I don’t think so. It was just loss of control. We’re all susceptible, especially when faced with excrement like Mintoff.]

  7. carlos bonavia says:

    Its not a case of just being a redneck, this mindless propensity to dispense with official protocol and etiquette goes to show the arrogance this little “twerp” harbours towards all authority. Just when we had started nearly
    considering that this a**hole was truly meaning to give a new meaning to the MLP. Hanzir taqtaghlu denbu hanzir jibqa.

  8. David Buttigieg says:

    “I don’t think so. It was just loss of control. We’re all susceptible, especially when faced with excrement like Mintoff”

    True enough, but that excrement finally did something good for his country!

  9. Corinne Vella says:

    Edgar Gatt: At 35 one is not young, but middle-aged. In any case, age isn’t really an excuse for this sort of embarrassing “L’etat c’est moi” type of behaviour. JM isn’t even the leader of the opposition, but having Charles Mangion clutch that cellophane-wrapped bouquet all alone in front of the cameras wouldn’t go down well, would it?

  10. D.A. says:

    Its like watching a bunch of kids trying to play a role in a grown-up world.

    [Daphne – My thoughts exactly! You should have seen the Super One ‘hentofer’ over a parliamentary seat from Cuschieri to Muscat. No gravitas.]

  11. David Buttigieg says:

    @Corinne

    “At 35 one is not young, but middle-aged”

    Hey hey hey hey hey!!!!

  12. FB Aquilina says:

    Incredible! The boundless arrogance of the Labour Party! The same people who accuse the PN of believing in ‘a divine right to govern’!!! An outstanding case of the pot calling the kettle black….

  13. Neil Dent says:

    Surely the new Lijder needs a course in protocol, among many other things! There is no doubt!

    But that is not my main worry……….

    @ Corinne Vella
    Ms. Vella! Surely middle-aged starts at the 40+ mark, doesn’t it? WELL DOESN’T IT!!?!?

    Neil – nearly 39yrs old ;)

  14. Gerald says:

    I was told that you are still a youth at 35! Joseph is 34 going to be 35 in January 2009.

  15. Stacey says:

    18, 34, 35 or 50! It’s Joseph Muscat’s position not his age that matters.
    What concerns me is whether it is lack of knowledge (ignorance) when it comes to protocol or complete and utter indifference.

  16. Antoine Vella says:

    I do not think it was a question of not knowing the correct protocol but of the usual sitting on the fence. The MLP did not want to take part in the Independence celebrations but did not want to not take part either.

    What they have done means that they cannot be accused of ignoring a National Day (they did place a wreath after all) but, at the same time, their supporters have not seen them on television in the company of the President and the Prime Minister.

    They must have thought it was a very cunning solution but the price was that it made the new leader look like the hillbilly of Maltese politics.

  17. Michael A. Vella says:

    David Buttigieg: “True enough, but that excrement finally did something good for his country!”

    Yep! Mintoff did do just one thing “good for his country”, he forced Alfred Sant’s MLP government out of office at just about the right time to enable us to get back on the road to EU membership.

    Not that that just one good thing wipes out the considerable damage caused to the country and its people through 16 long years + a further 22 months of MLP crass ineptitude in government.

  18. Corinne Vella says:

    Neil Dent: No. But life begins at 40.

  19. Pat says:

    “Neil Dent: No. But life begins at 40.”
    …and here people keep claiming it starts at conception ;)

  20. jim says:

    JM knows exactly what he’s doing. He wants to attract the young generation by not going to mass on Sunday and defying the rules.

    [Daphne – Well, for every young person he attracts with that one – and they’re not all as inane as he thinks – he’s going to repel a few adults. I haven’t been to Sunday mass for the last 23 years or so, but it doesn’t mean I have any commonality with Muscat. Gonzi is openly religious but attracts young people in droves. If there’s anything that makes a teenager suspicious, it’s an oldie like Muscat – and 35 is old enough to be their biological father – acting rebellious and ‘cool’. I can still remember when I was 18 and there were these two women who used to come to Saddles to hang out, wearing bustiers and short skirts. My friends and I thought they were sad, ridiculous and really, really old. Looking back, I realise they can’t have been more than 35.]

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