Joseph Muscat treats Maltese expats in Dubai to a buffet on “the dhow boat LAMA”

Published: June 7, 2012 at 10:11pm

I know why you love this website: for the news that doesn’t quite make the news. So here’s the latest bit. Joseph Muscat is going to Dubai, and he’s written to Maltese people living there, inviting them to drinks and a buffet supper on a dhow.

His round-robin letter to them is reproduced below.

He’s doing this because, come the 2013 elections, he wants them to fly back to Malta and vote Labour.

The interesting bit is that despite wanting them to vote for the Labour Party, he’s too embarrassed to name it. He signs off not as ‘Joseph Muscat, Labour Party leader’ but as ‘Joseph Muscat, Leader of the Opposition’.

There was a point where I thought these stealth tactics might work: “Vote for us, we’re not actually Labour”. Now I realise they’re backfiring. The implicit message is: be proud to vote for a party we’re too embarrassed to mention by name.

——–

First and foremost I trust this email finds you well.

I would like to inform you that I will be shortly paying a visit to Dubai, during which I would like to take the opportunity to meet the Maltese expat community in the UAE.

This meeting should primarily serve to express my personal appreciation for your contribution and efforts to serve as true ambassadors of Malta in the UAE.

I would like to invite you to meet over drinks and buffet dinner during an event organized for the Maltese expat community on Saturday 9th June 2012 at
1900 hrs on board the Dhow boat “LAMA” which will be moored in front of the British Embassy on the Bur Dubai creek side.

Whilst looking forward to meeting you in Dubai, it would be greatly appreciated if you kindly confirm your attendance, or otherwise, via the email to my office on ray@josephmuscat.com .

Best regards,

Joseph Muscat
Leader of the Opposition




26 Comments Comment

  1. Paul Bonnici says:

    I thought you had to be resident in Malta six months prior to an election.

    [Daphne – No, you don’t. That’s been determined by a law suit. The fact that a Maltese person lives and works out of Malta does not mean that he or she no longer has a direct interest in who runs the country. That was the court’s decision.]

    • Paul Bonnici says:

      I left Malta over 30 years ago and I never voted in Malta.

      I was struck off the electoral register soon after I left Malta but now I am back on it, though I would hesitate to vote in the next general election because I don’t want to get in trouble should the Labour Party win.

      • RJC says:

        You’ll probably be in trouble if the LP wins in any case. So would all of us.

      • Antoniette says:

        Please come back and vote. Some of us cannot leave Malta if Labour win.

        How can you not have pity on us?

  2. maryanne says:

    If he really wanted them to come and vote for him he wouldn’t have Joseph Cuschieri with him.

  3. Simon says:

    Well, that’s not fair is it? What about us (Maltese) here in the Netherlands? Don’t we get smooched?

  4. TinaB says:

    Jahasra – issa Joseph dawk il-flus ma jmissux nefaqhom biex jitma lil dawk il-Maltin foqra li tant ilhom ihambqu bihom hu u shabu, minnflok mar jaghmel il-baffitt ghal expats li hemm id-Dubai.

    X’ipokrezija ta’ partit.

    • FlyingGoat says:

      Tina,

      Pity the boat will be moored in front of the UK embassy and will not do the rounds picking us up from some place further west of the UAE too.

      Just kidding.

  5. xmun says:

    ray@josephmuscat.com

    Who’s Ray?

    Expect Joseph to come back boasting that once he is prime minister, Smart City will become the best investment ever, etc, etc. Another u-turn coming our way.

    [Daphne – Probably Ray Azzopardi, the master – make that mistress – of ceremonies.]

    • Riff Raff says:

      Ray Azzopardi’s involvement confirms that it’s just a photo shoot.

      • ciccio says:

        All Labour activities are just a photo shoot. It’s all a stage managed show, with the help of Super One resources, with a couple of teleprompters thrown in.

    • mandango70 says:

      Mistress? How dare I delve into the private life of individuals that want to keep their sexual inclinations private?

      [Daphne – Ray Azzopardi’s sexuality is not private. He was Alfie Rizzo’s consort for years, which is why the Labour Party practically held a state funeral for him, with all Labour’s leading lights in attendance. Please do keep up.]

  6. Manuel Camilleri says:

    Isn’t he the one, together with his Progressive-cum-Jurassic Park-Party, who is against those Maltese working and studying abroad from coming over to vote?

    Or am I living on another planet?

    [Daphne – He must have classified information that Dubai is to Maltese floating voters what Port Said was to Maltese whores.]

  7. Grezz says:

    Aren’t “drinks” in that context (in the British English kind of way) alcoholic ones? Isn’t alcohol banned in Dubai?

  8. GD says:

    Who will be paying for this jolly jaunt? The starving masses li jaghtu ftit minghand il-hafna?

    • maryanne says:

      Most probably they are selling their Golden Years – Zmien tad-Deheb – for cash. Gold is fetching a good price.

  9. Numerus says:

    One very worrying question – from where did he get the email addresses?

  10. Noel D'Emanuele. says:

    Can’t they get anything right? A dhow is a boat. So it should have read “on the dhow named Lama”.

    [Daphne – That’s what I thought. A bit like saying “a lorry motor vehicle”.]

  11. canon says:

    I wonder who is going to pay for hiring the boat and other expenses. We have the right to know,

  12. Angie says:

    The Dubai expats must all be reds if they still have a vote. The PL takes any expat who ever voted PN or any other opposing party to court to ensure dissidents are struck off the register.

    This happened to me and my husband and we’re only gone seven years.

    [Daphne – You can file a suit to have your name back on the electoral roll. There’s been a court ruling to the effect that Maltese citizens who live overseas should still be permitted to vote because they may well still have an interest in helping to decide who runs the country. This is especially so now that we are EU members and part of that is living and working elsewhere in Europe with no hassles.]

  13. Jozef says:

    Joseph Muscat declared his movement to be identical to the one formed on the 7th June 1919.

    What does he plan to do, commandeer a cruise liner with the Josephjani and threaten passengers with one of his monologues?

  14. Thomas Pullicino says:

    If I were resident in the United Arab Emirates, I am not sure whether I would attend.

    But having said that, I see no harm in organising a meet-up for Maltese ex-pats. I think it is actually a nice idea. Or am I missing something here?

    Now all I need to do is get some politician to hop over to Frankfurt and organise a Main Cruise for all the Maltese living in the Rhein Main region.

  15. Spiru says:

    U iktar dawk ta’ Tecom investments. Had they been otherwise they’d have slammed the door in his face.

    Hasn’t he had enough, him and his cronies, asking where the jobs at Smart City are ?

    I hope this is not going to be another Emirates flight kept waiting for His Majesty.

  16. Francesca says:

    Ha ha…why was I not asked? Now I wonder? I wasn’t even aware that Muscat was here…and do I care? :)

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