Mullah Muscat and DebonoPL: Mediterranean democracy
This is my column in The Malta Independent on Sunday, today.
This past week has given us some great lessons in Maltese democracy, the spiritual child of all those other great democracies of the Mediterranean, which gave us Benito Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi, General Franco, the Greek generals, Muammar Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the Sicilian Mafia.
Britain’s version of democracy was foisted on us by the colonial oppressor – so-called oppression which ensured that much of Sicily’s influence was fortunately fended off – at a time when we barely understood it and still do not.
And all these decades later, boy, does it still show – because you can’t really impose democracy on societies which are not culturally attuned to it, as far more recent experiments have shown.
True democracy is a natural development in time and space; it grows out of a particular set of circumstances. Russia has a parliament, but nobody can say that Russia is democratic. Italy changes its governments like it changes its underpants, but it is one of the least democratic places in Europe.
We have a similar problem in Malta. We have the democratic tools, but we don’t really know what they mean. This is because we have no handle on the values and spirit which informed their creation. We bought those tools, so to speak, at the supermarket, but they were the wrong size.
One of the most fundamental democratic tools, the parliamentary vote, was used last Wednesday to perform a supremely anti-democratic act: the lynching of a cabinet minister through the collusion of, on the one hand, a spiteful desire for vengeance and, on the other hand, the opportunistic view that the means justify the end.
This is a first for Malta, a new low. A demand for a parliamentary vote of no confidence in a cabinet minister must be predicated on a specific act of very serious wrong-doing: signing a secret arms deal with Kim Il Sung’s North Korea, for example. It is not proposed on the basis of routine handling of his portfolio.
And even then, it is proposed, and taken, only when the prime minister is not in a position to take the flak himself, as the person ultimately responsible for that secret arms deal, unless it was signed behind even his back, which cannot be countenanced.
So the vote of no confidence would be on the prime minister, and not on his minion or delegate in the cabinet.
What we saw with this collusion between government MP Franco Debono and the Opposition is a negation of one of the fundamental cornerstones in our British model of parliamentary democracy and government: that it is the prime minister’s absolute prerogative to appoint and dismiss the members of his cabinet.
What we have now is a situation in which, if one government MP doesn’t like the prime minister’s choices, all he has to do is ring up Mullah Muscat and strike a deal to have him removed.
The shape and form of the cabinet of government is now decided on by Franco Debono and the leader of the Opposition, and not by the prime minister. This goes against the democratic principle – the people have chosen a prime minister who they wish to take these decisions – and I am astonished that certain people are so poorly educated that they do not understand this.
Not satisfied with this horrendous display of their time-honoured Mediterranean take on democracy, that it is there only to be used cynically for one’s own ends, and how convenient that those naive people from up north put those tools there for us to use in achieving our corrupt goals, both Franco Debono and Mullah Muscat went one further.
With absolutely no understanding of how his thinking and statements would be perceived and reported back to head office by the ambassadors and high commissioners of more democratically sophisticated countries than ours, or why that reasoning and those statements would be considered shocking, Debono announced one of the demands he has been making of the prime minister since the first week of January.
This was that the prime minister should take to an open podium and condemn me before the media for cracking a joke about his appearance with his mother on Malta’s most widely viewed show, Xarabank.
So let’s boil this down to its essence. Here we have a member of parliament who thinks it perfectly acceptable to blackmail his prime minister and who sees nothing wrong in talking about it. In his world view, blackmailing prime ministers into doing and saying things that fly in the face of democracy is normal.
Here we also have a member of parliament who has been making scenes for five months about one humorous line on a blog, which he took literally, and who is not embarrassed to say so and to demand sympathy, garnering opprobrium and further mockery and disparagement instead.
And here we also have a member of parliament who makes a meal of his high values and principles in voting against an “under-performing” cabinet minister but who, in the next breath, says that he would have changed his mind if the prime minister did this or that.
This is a man straight out of the cultural lap of Benito Mussolini. Well, perhaps not. That would be setting standards too high. He is straight out of the lap of a town councillor in Corleone.
Seeking to maximise mileage and get Franco Debono to change his mind about not voting against the government this week, Mullah Muscat joined in the chorus, condemning me for having the temerity to poke fun at Franco and saying that the prime minister should stop me.
The prime minister should stop me? Where does he think we are living, in Il-Guy’s Tripoli? The prime minister can’t stop me even if he wanted to. It would be illegal.
Of course, he could try illegal means in the traditional Labour fashion, like bombs, threats and arson, but I somehow don’t think he will.
Even just speaking out against what people choose to write in their newspaper columns and their blogs is a very bad idea for a prime minister, though perfectly legal. It’s just not done, because it is perceived as putting pressure on those who write them, and falls within the anti-democratic class of behaviour that is frowned upon in societies more highly developed than our own.
A prime minister may criticise the media for illegal behaviour (like phone-hacking in Britain), but he may not criticise journalists for exercising their right and duty to express their opinion.
How does Mullah Muscat plan to stop me when he is the prime minister? This is an important question, but none of my colleagues in the media seem to believe it has to be asked. Unfortunately, the media here are hamstrung by the very same spirit and attitudes which shape our political scene. May people who work in the media have been conditioned by the very same attitudes put on exaggerated public display by Franco Debono. They are from the same cultural background.
I ask you to try to imagine what would happen to a British MP who announced that he had been making scenes for months, and trying to blackmail the prime minister, about a joke cracked on the internet after he paraded his mother on prime-time television. The press and the public would maul him.
He would be mocked, derided and laughed out of town. He would be the subject of television comedy for the next 10 years. And I can just picture what his fellow MPs would say about him in the House.
These past few weeks, and there is more ahead, have been a democratic test for Malta, and we have failed it.
If Mullah Muscat thinks that he is liberal, European and progressive, all he has to do is check his attitude towards the expression of opinion against the reaction of a certain sort of Muslim to the publication of those Mohammed cartoons in Denmark. They literally could not understand how the Danish government could not stop them, or why it shouldn’t stop them.
Franco Debono and his partner Joseph Muscat show the same catastrophic failure to truly understand the values which shaped the other part of Europe, the part in which we do not live, either spiritually or geographically.
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Freedom of speech never was and never should be an absolute right.
[Daphne – Yes, BC. It is an absolute right. Slander and libel are crimes. They have nothing to do with freedom of speech. The fact that stabbing somebody is a crime does not mean that your freedom to own and use a knife is not absolute.)
I didn’t read the article, just a comment on the picture which I must say resembles way too much the Interdett pictures. Daphne, I do however recommend to you, to begin writing on The Times, certainly you’ll be covering a wider span of readers. If you are given permission, that is.
[Daphne – Why didn’t you read the article? Too long and complicated for a Labour voter? As for the rest, I am not a village politician, BC. Nor do I need a wider audience or more attention. I think that is amply obvious.]
This guy hides behind the moniker of ‘BC’? Why not Neanderthal? His knuckles surely scrape the ground.
BC, your message comes across loud and clear.
Freedom of speech should never be an absolute right you say.
You should have added ‘in a totalitarian/Marxist state’.
Everywhere else it should be.
Daphne, please do not ask for permission to write “on the times”.
Please don’t.
If it was to be absolute, then offences such as perjury, calumnious accusation, false statements and others would never have existed.
Can’t really compare a fundamental human right with that kind of right to use a knife. Your freedom is taken away, the moment that same knife is used for illegitimate purposes, so one can’t really do anything he wants with that knife. That kind of right is valid as long as the knife is used for legitimate purposes.
[Daphne – Exactly.]
Excellent article!
What I most admire about the PN is the dignity and civility in dealing with this issue.
Yes, Franco Debono was correct in highlighting the shortcomings in the Ministry of Justice. He upset a lot of PN supporters, including you Daphne, but that is healthy democracy.
I wonder how the LP would deal with such a dissenter like Dr Debono in their midst. They do have a history of violence and intolerance.
Prosit Daphne. You described the Maltese political situation down to a T. Many Maltese especially most Labour supporters don’t have an inkling of what democracy is all about.
For them the main raison d’etre of a minister is to pander to the needs of those who voted for him.
They are bewildered when we talk about the deprivations – both democratic and mundane -that we lived through the 70s and 80s. Mintoff was their god because he gave them “il-laqx” which they thought was manna from heaven.
They were happy to have their children working under military conditions but never bothered to work out what Mintoff was saying when he uttered the famous words “I wish I was as good in job creation as I am good at getting money for Malta.”
I can’t keep up with the number of newcomers to this blog.
I suppose it’s liberal movement.
I really don’t understand this rubbish about being nice to public figures even though they have messed up royally.
Does Debono know about “Mock the week” or “Have I Got News for You”? If we had such television shows in Malta they would have a field day with Debono.
The PM would have done better if he hadn’t mentioned it at all. But this is Malta, and being professional is a negative thing to be since it means excluding people who are no good.
Boris Johnson and Prince Philip would get a breather if they had a Franco there.
Has the command has gone out not to publicise the fact that Franco Debono pockets an extra 7000 euros a year without going in to work?
[Daphne – Well, we can be sure that Super One won’t be mentioning it. Net won’t be talking about it either. So it’s up to the free press.]
I can’t understand why you lump Berlusconi with the likes of Ghaddafi or Mussolini.
You may not agree with some of his antics, but you cannot accuse Berlusconi of being undemocratic.
[Daphne – David, you cannot be serious. Berlusconi flies in the face of democracy. He is the perfect illustration of all I have described here. In a true democracy, he would never have become prime minister in the first place, let alone stayed on while facing criminal investigation and trials.]
Indeed when he realised it was best he resigned during the economic crisis (perhaps triggered unfairly by the markets ), he did so to an unelected technocratic government.
Hardly someone who governed against the will of the people, as those tyrants you associate him with.
[Daphne – Come on now. He hung on despite his multifarious episodes of disgraceful behaviour, terrible embarrassments and corruption, until he was forced out to the sound of a full orchestra literally playing the Alleluiah in the square outside.]
Is David S being sarcastic?
Berlusconi is an entirely Italian phenomenon.
He is the epitome of corruption and is idolised exactly for that reason.
He is not at Regina Coeli, Rebibbia or San Vittore for the simple reason that he was wise enough to use his miliardi to go to Palazzo Chigi instead.
Only in Italy.
This piece made me shiver, as I am dreading what will become of the free press if the Mullah ever becomes PM.
You have to imagine the situation in a long-term perspective, with far reaching consequences in the running of our country; the free press issue is just one of many. Amateurish and verging on dangerous, when the international situation is going from bad to worse and we all really need a sound government.
Dear Daphne,
I concur with all you say, though I’ve had to spoon-feed the fact that your argument is about freedom of expression and not about what you’d actually written to my own mum, who’s 85 and says you’re free to express yourself in any way you like as long as you don’t swear. Bless her.
The one thing that often bothers me about your writings is that you seem certain that a Labour victory is inevitable. I”m clinging to hope here…. but you seem certain.
Up until a couple of months ago I would have said that a Labour victory was inevitable too.
I’m not so sure now.
Joseph Muscat wants to build ‘djar ghall-komunita’
Hopefully, the energy minister in waiting has all her paperwork in order by now, as well as the go ahead from Mepa to demolish within urban conservation areas.
The one in Qormi may require a service entrance at the back, straight through a mature garden.
A good article:
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=145384
Excellent article. Succinct, subtle, yet so damnng of an individual who has not only lost his way, but also has lost all insight, therefore. credibility and sympathy. A hopeless case.
Yet another priceless piece by the most informed, the most eloquent and the most straight forward and respected journalist in Malta.
Today’s Independent also carries another gem, penned by Stephen Calleja about tomorrow’s vote and Debono’s atrocious behaviour in the last few months. It should not be missed:
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=145384
Thank you Daphne and thank you Stephen for speaking out, and more importantly by calling a spade, a spade.
Good article. But, what you say about the Opposition is just as applicable to the party in goverment.
Your commentary is tolerated by goverment because many of your views happen to coincide with those of government.
[Daphne – What in God’s name are you saying? My commentary is not “tolerated” by the government. It is accepted as a fact of life, like the cars in our streets and clothes on people’s backs. What would be the alternative to that? You really do inhabit a different world, one which I can barely begin to understand.]
However, if someonelse’s views were less congruent to those of government, I believe that the PN would be less tolerant and would become quite obnoxious towards that person.
[Daphne – Really? Please explain how. By burning down their house, perhaps? The islands are thick with people who write the most terrible things about Nationalist politicians. They do so entirely without fear, and relish it. On the other hand, practically nobody tears Labour politicians to shreds. What does that tell you – that Labour politicians are perfect, or that people don’t trust Labour politicians and their supporters?]
Intolerance to critcism and lack of respect to a person’s right of conscience and expression of thought is commonplace in Malta.
Even you are quite intolerant towards people writing in your blog who happen to disagree with your comments.
[Daphne – Wrong again, Randon. The one thing I can’t tolerate is that unbearable combination of ignorance and arrogance. I am fine with ignorance alone; I am fine with arrogance alone, but I am not fine with a confluence of the two. People like that bring out the worst in me.]
What an excellent description of the many Labourites I have known over the last 20 years. ‘Haven’t a clue, but think they know it all’.
Poor Daphne.
I dread to think what would happen to her when government stops tolerating her commentary.
I suppose it depends on which government.
They don’t need to burn houses down to stop one from expressing views publicly. You are not that naive and don’t pretend to be so.
[Daphne – That’s true, because others tried it and it didn’t work. So go on, tell me, what else could ‘they’ do? I’m not naive, no, but you certainly seem to be.]
The PN goverment has developed refined ways of censoring public-spirited persons who believe they should go public with their views because they can’t stand the rot around them.
The tactics used by government include hinderance to job promotion (especially in state orgaisations), stunting of one’s private career, unofficial boycott to government tenders and so many other creative ways of making one’s future look dismal to government critics.
[Daphne – I despair. Aren’t we talking about journalists expressing opinions against the government here, or has the subject suddenly changed? Job promotion in state organisations: the ghastly editor of the Labour Party’s official newspaper, KullHadd, is one of the most senior executives at Malta Enterprise. Louis Grech and Marlene Mizzi both HEADED state corporations for years under at least two Nationalist governments. I can think of several others, but don’t wish to intrude on their privacy. As for those who are in the civil service, they are barred from expressing any sort of opinion publicly by virtue of the Estacode, which is practically as old as the civil service itself. As for government tenders, if journalists are applying for those, then that’s a problem in itself. So go on, how can any government, Labour or Nationalist, stop me expressing my opinion in this blog?]
Meanwhile, others who remain reticent (omerta’ type) on all matters seem to have all the luck in the world, even though their badge is mediocrity.
People know what I am talking about and that is why so many who believe in fundamental rights are walking away from the PN.
If you have not figured this out, then you are the one living on another planet.
[Daphne – No, I am not on another planet. I’ve just been around for a fairly long time, and one of the things I’ve noticed is that when people blame their political opinions for not getting ahead, they’re generally looking for some excuse so as not to have to face the fact that they have unattractive personalities, don’t get along with people, and are not as bright or talented as they think. Well, face it, if you choose Labour and its policies (no to EU, etc) that already says a lot about your gifts to a prospective employer. Labour people tend to be extremely difficult to incorporate into certain sorts of workplaces because they come with too many chips and resentments. In other workplaces, they’re fine. But the way I’ve figured it out so far, the one simmering resentfully in the corner is usually Labour, and the prejudices came first.]
Labour people are ‘Unattractive personalities…extremely difficult to incorporate into certain sorts of workplaces… simmering resentfully in the corner’….just like what people in Central Europe were made to think about Jews some 70 years ago.
[Daphne – Of course not. Being Jewish, black or a woman is not a matter of choice. Voting Labour, by definition, is. One’s choices are an expression of one’s personality and level of intelligence.]
No wonder they were sent off to concentration camps in their millions. They deserved it didn’t they? Such unattractive people, especially when you compare them to our local attractive personalites like Austin Gatt and George Pullicino.
[Daphne – Try to follow my argument properly, Randon. What I wrote there is that people tend to choose Labour because of the chips and resentments they carry already, and it is those chips and resentments which make them unattractive. Yes, this is a fact: people with a can-do, positive attitude and no envy or lanzit or iss hej ara dak kemm irnexxa outlook tend not to be Labour. I find it very easy to work out how people vote, merely on the basis of their attitude and outlook and even before they mention politics.]
Have you considered migrating to planet Prejudice? You will find so many personalities who would be attractive to your eyes. You might even bump into Dr Goebbels.
[Daphne – This might come as a surprise to you, but I find it really frustrating that not one Labour supporter capable of rational or logical argument comes in here to lock horns with me. It’s always the yah-yah, nini nini, irrational sort who use non sequiturs and childish accusations. Are Labour supporters born? No, they are self-made. So how can you compare a choice made in adulthood (the decision to vote Labour) with a fact of birth (Jewishness), or even be so insulting to the memory of those millions who suffered and died by comparing their ordeal with that of a Labour voter who reads what I think about his decision to vote Labour?]
A fundamental tenet of Socialism (the ideology of the Labour Party of Malta and Socialist parties in Europe) is that the nation’s wealth should be distributed more equitably.
If the current unjust distribution of wealth is what makes the Laburisti carry a chip on their shoulder, then so be it.
[Daphne – How is the current distribution of wealth unjust, Randon? Those who work earn a living. Those who don’t work earn a living off the backs of those who do, and much of everything else for free. So yes, perhaps it is unjust. But I don’t think that’s what you meant.]
Perhaps they have good reason to carry a chip on their shoulder when faced with prejudice and glass ceilings that limit their opportunities. After all, they were not born in the ‘right’ sort of family bearing surnames like DeMarco, Gonzi and Mifsud Bonnici. And you say that voting Labour is only a matter of choice and not birth?
[Daphne – The families you mentioned tend to operate in politics and law, not the private sector. So what’s your beef, exactly? Or are you simply parroting Franco Debono?]
By the way, the Jews were the foremost ideologists of Socialism (Karl Marx was Jewish too). Guess why this is so? Because European Jews have been discriminated and vilified for a long time. They carried quite a chip on their shoulder those Jewish socialists simmering with resentment in dark corners.
[Daphne – Utter bollocks. The Jews were Europe’s original capitalists, financiers and bankers, hence the spite they engendered.]
So I suppose they really deserved what they got in the Final Solution, didn’t they?
[Daphne – I hadn’t realised you are a Nazi, and I can’t see how you can claim that anybody deserved that fate.]
We were never really ever democratic here and we do not understand the concept.
I was aghast once (during a PN government) when journalists went into a house in Guardamangia to take photos of the St. Luke’s belching chimney. The police went inside AND stopped them IN A PRIVATE residence.
Of course there is also the notorious Catholic Church and the thirties and sixties. Then the atrocities of the 70s and 80s.
Oh boy, do we not have a long way to go?
Like any other church or religion, the Catholic church was never meant to be democratic.
Most of the alleged corruption cases against Berlisconi were the result of HDURA against him by the judiciary, initiated by Di Pietro.
Berlusconi was already a self-made billionaire before he entered politics, and probably was one of the few politicians who did not use politics for financial gain, most notably the corrupt Mintoff friend, Bettino Craxi.
And the very shady connections of Italian politicians with the Mafia.
Moreover, Berlusconi had few friends in the business community, because he did not come from the powerful business families like the Agnellis, Pirellis ….Again even here envy played an important role against the nouveau riche Berlusconi.
If you think Berlusconi was not fit to be prime minister, then what about George W Bush from the “cradle” of democracy USA? From Haliburton big money, to Fox news connections to Bin Laden’s family.
And of course the less said about Japanese politics the better, where commissions to government ministers are given on major contracts.
Berlusconi was never fit to be PM – for the resaon mentioned above and on other media. Neither was George Bush for that matter. They are not mutually exclusive.
Daphne do not attempt transferring, hypothetically, situations in Malta to the UK.
When I first experienced that country at close range 50 years ago my impression was that we, in Malta, lagged behind by two generations.
Now, I reckon, that over the last 25 years the gap has been reduced to maybe one and a half.
At this rate we will be on a par towards the end of the 21st century.
I will have to ask my great-grandchildren to confirm this for me.
Malta needs “Spitting Image” to keep politicians’ egos under control.
I appreciate your sentiment, and from my dual nationality perspective, I would recommend “The Daily Show”: http://www.thedailyshow.com/
HOWEVER, media and journalism have no power to keep the “egos” of any politician under control.
Media and journalism have the appropriate function to represent the truth and to assist critical thought.
Sometime media is used to intentionally distort or misrepresent the truth, according to its particular political agenda. The PL have such a general policy of denial, fabrication, and slander. And falsehoods are readily appreciated in various Maltese media.
The media portfolio was taken under Alfred Sant’s wing, with his particular goals of political narration, as soon as he became PM. The PL currently invents and spins, and my stomach turns at the tunes of Joseph Muscat, Evarist Bartolo, Leo Brincat, and other PL accolades.
Franco Debono may be simply “nuts.” The media never controlled the likes of Hitler, or Facists – rather, it was the other way around: they controlled the media.
There are only two ways for the “egos” of politicians to be controlled: (1) by themselves, by their “self” control, which is in the rational capacity of the “ego”. And the second way (2): by voters, who make rational choices after careful and critical consideration of the alternatives.
In practical terms, the media informs; but “voters” control, except under totalitarian regimes.
This week’s events show the true meaning of Labour’s propaganda of the type: “Mitna ghal-barrani,” “Hlisna mil-barrani” and “Helsien.”
So far, I have never promised my children anything more than I can afford to do for them. Dr Muscat seems to have found the formula to promise and do everything right for everyone. Are 50% +1 of the population really so stupid?
It is my impression that many comments here today confirm (if confirmation were needed) the affirmations made in this article. I wonder how often you must feel like a lone voice drowned in a Xarabank crowd babble.
Tista ddum tikteb Daphne, artiklu wara artiklu wara artiklu biex tipprova tiftah l-imhuh. Have a look at one of the bright sparks blokking on Times of Malta.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120604/local/debono-will-continue-to-be-member-of-pn-group-whip.422612
Censu Filgolli
Today, 10:23
Could someone answer this honest question: if now CMB resigned, how can Gonzi ask for clear vote if it seems the speaker’s casting vote will be put to practice again? (counting on FD’s ok vote)
I can’t speak for anyone, of course, but I very much doubt that Daphne ever had the intention of “tiftaħ l-imħuħ” of the Censu Filgollis of this world.
For a guy who can’t even spell the word figolli, I expect that basic arithmetic would be an uphill struggle.
And you can bank on Labour’s taking advantage of that ignorance to perpetuate its false claims and get the Censu Filgollis to parrot them.
“Today I can say I have the entire Nationalist Party after me,” Gonzi replied.
From Maltatoday’s report on the prime minister’s Dissett interview.
The prime minister, of course, said the exact opposite.
[Daphne – I missed that. Thank you.]