Big businessmen put business first. Politicians should do the same with politics.
Some situations are best avoided - and it's not a lesson that has to be learned the hard way.
I have read Tonio Fenech’s interview in The Times today, and I am wringing my hands in utter despair. Yes, he comes across as honest, but he also comes across as extremely naive and literal-minded. If he weren’t the latter, the likelihood is that he wouldn’t have become an accountant. Many accountants are like that, in the way that many lawyers are legalistic.
For a cabinet minister to be thought naive is almost as bad as being thought to be dishonest. Clearly, the finance minister cannot comprehend what he has done, because in his mind, ‘doing something’ is doing something dishonest and not merely stupid.
I am surprised enough that he had to ask the prime minister’s advice before accepting that invitation, but I am even more surprised that the prime minister failed to tell him: “No cabinet minister of mine will ever accept such an invitation, because there will be consequences and quite frankly, we don’t need them. If you want to watch Arsenal play, organise it yourself and pay for it. If you can’t, don’t go.”
I can’t see the prime minister ever doing something so damned silly, pointless and damaging as accepting this kind of invitation. Why, then, did he think it was all right for his finance minister to do so?
Why create problems that can be avoided when there are so many problems that can’t be avoided?
I had to grit my teeth throughout the interview, I was so very annoyed. The finance minister mentioned that one of the businessmen, who I know and like (but that is irrelevant) constantly emails him with invitations to football matches, and this was the first one he accepted.
Does it have to be me to tell the finance minister that there is only one possible response to that kind of email? A telephoned – never emailed – request that no such emails ever be sent again, as they are deeply compromising and cause embarrassment.
At that level of operation, people put their business interests first, before politics, before friendship, and before any imagined loyalties associated with either. Before issuing invitations to finance ministers, they do not think ‘Will I compromise him?’ but ‘Is this good for my business?’
What do cabinet ministers and top opposition politicians imagine – that the big-business players seek out their company and offer them things because they really like their personalities, think their company is fabulous and they have no one else to play with?
There is always something wrong in accepting an invitation like this, and I’ll carefully explain it in words of one syllable if possible. If you’re a present or soon-to-be cabinet minister and somebody with considerable business interests offers you something, it’s not because they think you’re great. It’s because you’re a cabinet minister or likely to become one in the next few years. It’s because they want something in return. Whether you’ll give them that something is irrelevant. Just say No. Stick to lunch, but pay the bill yourself. That way you’ll be keeping the relationship at its proper level: one where the businessman is useful to the cabinet minister in terms of the cabinet minister picking the businessman’s brain and getting his support for government policy, rather than the other way round.
“Don’t I have a right to watch Arsenal play, and take my son?” the finance minister asked. Yes, sir. You do. But you also have the duty to choose your companions carefully, and to pay for the frigging thing yourself.
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Well said. A good article with exactly the kind of insight every minister should have when making such decisions.
I think, in the end, minister Fenech was just blinded by the thrill of it all. Travelling in a private jet, going to watch a premiership game in (probably) a private booth. It all fuels the ego. As you said, once the job as a minister goes away, so will such invitations. I think that he fully knew the consequences and ramifications of his decision and didn’t need anyone to tell him that. He just thought that he would get away with it.
Naivety is not something I would expect from someone who is in such a position.
I don’t have any doubts about the Minister’s honesty. People in his position should not only be honest but also should cast no shadow of doubt on their integrity. I understand that for him it was very convenient to go watch his favourite team play and come back to Malta in no time.
Narrow academic focus typical of St. Aloysius, that’s the problem. No life skills.
[Daphne – My thoughts exactly, but when I say that, my husband gets offended, even though he’s completely atypical, which is why I married him.]
Et tu Tim?
They’re just tossers who think of politics as just another job, like being a CEO. Nothing to do with St Aloysius.
I guess old Edwardians are much more suited to such offices then.
Wow Daphne, your husband is completely atypical also? And, over all these years, I was always thought opposites attract. Where have I been all my life? Must make for some interesting fireside chats.
“[Daphne – My thoughts exactly, but when I say that, my husband gets offended, even though he’s completely atypical, which is why I married him.]”
Maybe that’s why HE married you. Sorry, couldn’t resist that!
@Tim Ripard
I wonder where you came to that conclusion Mr. Ripard. For your information St. Aloysius College has produced quite an array of successful politicians, businessmen and other professionals. I would have liked to enumerate all of them but it would take all day to do so. I’m curious to know, which “illustrious” school you attended. Probably you’re one of those who failed to get sufficient marks to get into such a reputable school and instead ended up in one of those barely known wishy-washy private schools where students speak English all the time and yet only manage to scrape a D in their English ordinary level exam.
[Daphne – As I recall, but I might be wrong, Tim was at St Aloysius, hence his views.]
@Old Aloysian: maybe things are changing. I know of many high-flying students who had sufficient marks to be accepted by St Aloysius College, but opted for De La Salle instead. It says a lot when ex alumni of the same school start shooting from the hip at each other.
@ Tim Ripard
Yes, it takes one to know one: the guy who pointed it out, Franco Debono, is also a St Aloysius old boy, who was in the same class as Joseph Muscat.
Do you really believe this fodder being fed to the press? So the man with the country’s financial reins in his hands asks: “Daddy, is it okay if I go with Mr. Bigshot in his hot-rod plane to watch Arsenal play?” Daddy says: “Well ok, son, but DON’T talk about gambling. And take your thermals with you. It’s chilly over there right now.”
You outline the compromising implications and hazards of politicians accepting ‘treats’ from big businessmen, and you’re spot on. How is it that you can see this, I can see this and probably the majority of the country can see this (well ok maybe 49%, i.e. the minority who voted PN and therefore obviously are politically savvy, unlike the remainder Untouchables).
How is it therefore that the PN and the finance minister couldn’t see this, and now have to appeal to the people’s softer in-touch-with-their-feminine-side sympathies with this lame-duck defence that is as good as saying to one’s AA sponsor: “Look, I swear I’m clean -I REALLY wasn’t at the Okoberfest to drink beer; I went to enjoy the music”…?
You defend Minister Fenech’s faux-pas by assuring us that he’s not dirty, he’s just a wee bit naive. Good grief, I don’t know whether to be relieved or scared. Will that be one of the next PN election campaign slogans: “Naive is just another name for honesty, my friends” (sung to a Patsy Cline tune).
Really and truly this is a pushing suspicion to the limit, seeking comfort in the ostrich’s characteristic embodied by the Italian saying (and probably not only their’s) l’occhio che non vede e l’occhi che non piange.
But thinking aloud, if we interpret such events with this belief:
1. Are we suggesting that if a minister does not board a private jet with a prominent businessman then he should be trusted?
2. Like it or hate it, we need to acknowledge that certain business people are fundamental to the economy and if they maintain a private relationship with ministers that may be beneficial. What needs to increase is the transparency of such events. There were times in history where such invitations were made public – a sort of thing like the “president’s engagements” on the Sunday newspapers.
3. Does this eternally eliminate small fish from establishing a relationship with ministers – with creative networking, no.
Need to go……but I think I have said enough to be lambasted.
How nauseating trivial you all are. Here, read something different for heaven’s sake – you look like you’ve just been unearthed from beneath 19th century cobblestones:
http://theflucase.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=999%3Avaclav-klaus-stands-defiant-against-the-fourth-reich-under-the-eu&catid=1%3Alatest-news&Itemid=64&lang=en
[Daphne – Kevin ta’ Sharon! I was wondering where you’d got to.]
I got to the point where I couldn’t stand your trivial blog. But once in a while it’s interesting to check where you’ve gotten to. Not much improvement, I’m afraid. Lilliput sucks.
[Daphne – I know. It must be terribly galling to have to deal with the fact that the Lilliputians preferred to elect hu Manwel Cuschieri when they could have had your Sharon. Never mind. Ghal darb’ ohra. Just make sure he presses the wrong buttons and he’ll go the same way as Glann.]
The prime minister should have told him, ‘go and read your code of ethics and you will have your reply’.
Good article, Daphne. He’d have to be a donkey not to know that they’re sucking up big time.
Naive my a**!!! U ejja trid tghidilna li hu daqshekk cuc? Mela kieku kif gie inkarigat bil-Ministeru tal-Finanzi????
[Daphne – Calm down. If he were canny he wouldn’t have gone. And if he were canny, he wouldn’t have given that ill-advised interview, but would have taken the line – he should have been told to take the line – that he realises he made a serious mistake, that he was foolish to make it, and that it will never happen again. Instead, we got defiance and self-justification – such a rotten idea.]
Maybe he’s arrogant enough not to listen to the advice of the people around him.
As pointed out in a previous thread, half-assed politicians make half-assed decisions. Appears to apply to both sides of the fence.
I have passed remarks on every news report about Tonio Fenech’s miserable and pitiful story, on timesofmalta.com. I would like kind permission to repeat one particular remark on this blog:
In recent years in Germany, for example, a CDU prime minister of the state of Baden-Württemberg and an SPD prime minister of the state of Lower Saxony resigned their respective office after stupidly indulging in adventures similar to this one.
If Tonio Fenech, in his defence, now states that he had clearance from prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, one should then ask whether it would not be appropriate, and politically correct, if Lawrence Gonzi and Tonio Fenech both resigned from their office.
This very abominable story reflects the well known cliche in Malta:
FLIMKIEN KOLLOX POSSIBLI
“Yes, he comes across as honest, but he also comes across as extremely naive and literal-minded. If he weren’t the latter, the likelihood is that he wouldn’t have become an accountant.”
Holy words.
Daphne, please send this article to every MP. They could use some much needed common sense. I don’t think they heard about the “appearance of impropriety.”
[Daphne – No need. This blog is compulsory reading, apparently. Anglu Farrugia must get somebody to translate it for him.]
I am an employed pharmacist and over the years around Christmas-time my regular customers come to the pharmacy with gifts. Some of them feel compelled to show their gratitude for the service I give them throughout the year. Politely, I never accept these gifts, because I never want to feel a sense of obligation towards anyone who might ask me to do something that compromises my licence. And I am nobody.
Daphne, can you please write an article for The Malta Independent about how much the government spends on single mothers with “unknown fathers”?
Same thing happens to bank managers, etc. (Ghal meta nigi bzonnu..)
A famous man once asked a woman ”Will you sleep with me for a million pounds?” to which she replied ‘Yes’. Then he asked her whether she would sleep with him for ten pounds, and she said: ”Sir, what do you take me for, a prostitute?” His response: ”Madam, we have established what you are; it’s only the price we’re haggling on.”
Dear minister, re your statement ”God forbid that I am so cheap as to be bought by a pair of football tickets”: Oh really, what about 20 tickets or maybe a hundred tickets? I seriously think that following that silly remark alone you should reconsider your position. Sir, you have embarrassed us all, and let your prime minister down.
The Times reported that Tonio Fenech went “with his son and nephew”, Joe Gasan “with his son”. What they omitted was the fact that Gasan’s son is old enough to be the father of Tonio Fenech’s son, or maybe they tried to give the impression that it was a “father and son” bonding trip of some sort.
Minister Fenech said that the “tickets and flights” were free but he paid for the accommodation. Presumably, he comes from the kind of background where the cost of the accommodation would be considered a small price to pay for the (dubious) honour of being “invited” to travel with certain people.
There are some who can see no further than the tip of their nose.
A little humourous diversion, brought to us by hunting lobby – taken from timesofmalta.com’s comments board, naturally:
“My children planted enough trees, and cared for them without any cameras; teachers should teach the children not the leave a mess behind, vandalizing trees for BBQs, and wasting energy and water. Anything wrong with our camo gear? Or you prefer us with our trousers down to our knees?” ( http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091013/local/teachers-harming-hunting )
I must be out of touch with events or something for I haven’t yet understood how Joe Gasan or George Fenech are supposed to have benefited from their trip with the Minister of Finance. Were they awarded some contract or given a permit they shouldn’t have received?
Not yet but……the whole point of the story is that Tonio’s position was compromised and he was the one to allow it to happen. God, isn’t the guy aware of the code of ethics?
Antoine, you were not out of touch with events. You are, unfortunately, out of touch with political realities.
@Mr Antoine Vella
Yes you are out of touch with events big time. Read the papers my friend and weep.
[Daphne – Tkunx drammatiku, ‘Ray’, qalbi. I weep at the reality of a 34-year-old egomaniac MEP and former Super One hack of no great intelligence, political conviction or principles, who has never held a seat in parliament, being spirited into the Labour leadership through the back door and into the premiership by popular vote. What a screwed-up country this is.]
Daphne, can’t happen, won’t happen. The little s–t would be a disaster. Don’t capitulate, even though you have a much better feel for the undercurrents than I. The country is screwed up, but not suicidal.
@ Daphne
Indeed a screwed-up country! Most veritable!
Maybe, just maybe, Tonio Fenech wanted to show his son how cool he is. Some parents are ready to do anything to impress their children.
To a certain extent Tonio Fenech got away with this ‘mistake’. Some new news next week will as usual take centre stage. Nonetheless, just imagine if it was another minister who travelled on this trip? Someone like Austin Gatt, perhaps?
What a mess we are in. Your title says it all. Politicians should put their country first, not their politics.
[Daphne – That’s if you assume that their politics are not about putting the country first.]
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091014/local/code-of-ethics-does-not-allow-ministers-to-accept-gifts
Very well said, Daphne. I too am saddened by this latest incident. This faux pas is yet another example of how thick-skinned and/or naive and/or arrogant a politician can become if he/she is not very careful. The interview the Minister gave shows a total lack of sensitivity to people’s feelings. I have been harping about ethics etc for years but to no avail. In Malta “xejn mhu xejn”. Public figures on both sides of the political divide don’t seem to understand that they are not free to do as they please like the “man in the street”. What is even more worrying in this particular case is the fact that the Prime Minister seems to have given his blessing although I take this with a pinch of salt.
Ahna l-Maltin kollha nhobbu nilghaqu – u kollha nahsbu li nbieghu l-verginita. Nahseb li kollha kemm ahna konna nghidu le …li kieku is-sur George Fenech stieden lil xi hadd minna biex naraw loghba football Londra. L-ministru ma ghamel xejn hazin.
[Daphne – The flaw in your reasoning is that you equate a cabinet minister with a private individual.]
@John Xuereb: minn kif qed nifhem,tigi li int laghaqi. Ghandek stima baxxa tieghek innifsek u meta tikteb titfaghniex fil-keffa mieghek, xbin.
@Daphne
In-neguzjant tajjeb meta jinnegozja dejjem jara kif fin-negozju jirbah kullhadd. mJoe Gasan iddobba t-tickets b’xejn, staqsa lil ta’ Tumas iridx imur u la kien hemm post ghax ma’ jghidux lil Tonio jigi? Dak ma’ l-Arsenal, zgur li jiehu pjacir. X’hargu izjed milli setghu hargu?
Tal-Marsovin kien jiehu ‘l Mintoff kull sena’ fuq il jott u hadd ma kien jghid xejn.
[Daphne – Mintoff u n-Noneta: hadd ma kien jghid xejn? Mhux fl-ambjent li kont nghix fih jien, nassigurak. Kienu jghidu hafna. Daqs kemm kienu jghidu, kont biss tifla l-iskola u kont naf l-isem il-yacht tal-Marsovin. Il-gazzetta ma setghu jghidu xejn ghaliex ma kellnix liberta tal-istampa. Fil-fatt, niftakar sew li l-Oggi jew Il Gente li kienet tixtrih in-nanna tieghi darba kien mizmum milli jidhol Malta minhabba li kien hemm go fih ritratti ta’ mistiednin fuq il-Noneta, fosthom Mintoff u mara li kienet girien u habiba tal-familja tieghi. Jghidu li fir-ritratti kienet bla top tal-bikini, imma n-nies jesaggeraw. Dan bhal meta hadd fl-irhula ma kien jaf dwar il-hajja privata sensazzjonali tal-prim ministru Borg Olivier, u n-nies tal-pepe kienu jafu d-dettalji kollha.]
@John
Naccertak li ma’ nilaqx.
Niskuza ruhi talli qed l-Maltin kollha……….biss xorta nghid il-maggoranza tal-Maltin….tajjeb hekk, John?
John skuza ruhek mieghek innifsek. Jien ma’ nihux ghall nies bhalek. Kont qed niccajta, imma qabel ma’ tikteb ahseb u qatt tiggeneralizza. Kont se nghidlek li t-Tajlandizi huma l-iktar nies laghaqa li qatt ghamiltha maghhom, imma ahjar ma niggeneralizzax.
But he’s a ‘committed Christian’! Why should we doubt him. When ever did a committed Christian do anything immoral?
[Daphne – Don’t misquote. He didn’t say that he didn’t do anything immoral because he’s a committed Christian. He said that as a committed Christian he is against gambling. Significantly, he said Christian and not Catholic, which I like – Maltese Catholics tend to forget that, first and foremost, they are Christian. They behave as though it is a separate religion with laxer rules and a more easy-going attitude than those ‘puritanical’ Christians. I still think it was a foolish thing to say (though not a foolish thing to believe): he is the finance minister.]
The inference was obvious. Committed Christian = high moral standards.
[Daphne – The finance minister may have faults, as we all do, but I don’t think one of them is the belief that only Christians have high moral standards, or that Christians have higher moral standards than anyone else, or that it is necessary to be religious so as to have high moral standards. It is significant that his religious identity is Christian rather than Catholic. He was merely pointing out what lots of us forget:that real Christians don’t gamble and object to gambling, because it is not consonant with strict Christianity. It is the equivalent of a Muslim politician saying that if it were up to him he would ban all alcohol, but obviously can’t because this is a democracy and politicians don’t legislate according to their religion.]
Tell the average Maltese voter you are a committed Christian and you are assumed to be a good person. Tell them you are an atheist and they will look for signs of a tail or a horn.
[Daphne – I completely disagree with you. In Malta, it is politicians who say they are Catholic who get all the flak. What you say might be the case with old people of no great education, but not with anyone else. And I don’t imagine even they think like that, hence the expression ‘jibla l-ostji u jahra x-xjaten’, which wasn’t coined yesterday.]
Heard the Italian saying ‘mangia santi chaga diavoli’ before but never the Maltese version.
[Daphne – Maybe you didn’t have a grandmother like mine.]
In-nannu tieghi kien jghidhom it-tnejn.
You repeatedly go on about how the Labour camp is heaving with blithering idiots, that they collectively possess as much efficiency as a ward full of lunatics during a fire alarm practice, that their leader spouts truisms and inflated promises ad nauseum, that this party can’t and won’t change its (dark) spots no matter what it fallaciously professes today. All may be true. But err umm…can’t all that equally be said of the current government? If you’re so vehemently opposed to hypocrisy and corruption and ineptitude, why aren’t you applying your formidable talents to urging the government to clean up its stables? In this post, you define the finance minister as a sweet but naive man who made a political faux-pas.
[Daphne – I never said he was ‘sweet’.]
Your criticism of his defensiveness goes so far as to call it a “bad idea”. A BAD IDEA?
[Daphne – It’s called understatement. Maltese overstates. English understates. This is one of those cross-cultural, cross-linguistic difficulties. It’s one of the reasons many of the comments on timesofmalta.com’s comments-board sound hilarious. In Maltese they would pass muster. Translated into English, they are hyperbolic and sound hysterical.]
That’s like what paraplegics at a three-legged race would say. Its true, but damn its a lame way of putting it.