STAR COMMENT
Sent in by Joe Pace:
“Why Dr. Joseph Muscat is not fit to govern: to govern you have to have FORESIGHT not hindsight.”
This was the prime minister last Sunday at Naxxar. This was the best quote I heard throughout the whole of the seven weeks of election speeches.
We had the forced resignation of Dr Farrugia, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, for some comments he made about some judge’s verdict.
We heard tape recording of Tony Zarb about contracts and precarious work, arguments and counter arguments concerning oil commissions with names of businessmen and politicians thrown in for good measure.
A clock given to the minister took centre stage, because we were told that ministers cannot accept gifts because it might influence their judgement when it comes to tenders. And there’s me thinking that a panel of experts picks out the best tender.
But all this fades in significance when compared to the recording we heard of Dr Toni Abela, who happens to be the deputy leader of the Labour Party, actually telling the police not to investigate one crime at their clubs and then – much, much worse – colluding in covering up evidence of cocaine-dealing at another club, and failing to report it to the police to save the Labour Party’s name.
Now, if there’s anything that we, as parents, abhor it is drug trafficking, especially if it’s done in the vicinity of a school, as this club happens to be.
Dr. Muscat was informed about all this and did nothing. We are talking here of the leader of the opposition, who could well be Prime Minister in a couple of weeks time, failing to report a crime of drug trafficking.
In my line of work I talk to hundreds of parents everyday, and if there’s one crime all parents abhor it’s this one. I meet parents whose children have died of drug abuse, parents whose children have become victims of crime to pay for their drug habits, children who have stolen their parents’ savings and most of their gold to pawn so they can satisfy their habit.
I know of parents who had to sell practically everything they own to pay for their children’s debt because they’ve been threatened by pushers and if they don’t pay they’re worried their drug-addicted sons and daughters will be beaten up or killed. Dr. Muscat, I meet these people on a regular basis and it’s not pretty.
I can forgive someone who, through greed, might embezzle money, or a minister who accepts a clock or a union leader talking to a contractor about work or whatever, because at the end of the day if they commit a crime and are caught out the courts can deal with them. In the end they only harm themselves.
But, Dr. Muscat, with drugs people die, and no one can bring our children back then. This is why, as a parent and grandparent, I will never forgive anyone who, to safeguard the party’s interests, fails to report a drug trafficker to the police.
Dr. Muscat and Dr. Abela: like me, you are both parents, and as such I expected a lot better from the both of you. It’s bad enough if this was an ordinary person, but here we are dealing with the leader and deputy leader of a party which is aspiring to govern Malta.
All I can say is, pity Malta and the Maltese.
Dr. Muscat, in your judgement your party’s interest took precedence over the well-being of your country and its people. You, Dr. Muscat, faced a serious problem and were found wanting.
You do not deserve to be prime minister. You should do the honourable thing and step away from politics altogether.
The people of Malta deserve much better.
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Dear Mr. Pace,
Well said. Kept reading with tears in my eyes.
He forgot way back in 1993-96, how he used to squeal about the “barunijiet” and now they are part of them.
“Barunijiet.” (Barons)
Alfred Sant and Joseph Muscat surely had foresight on this one. In fact, you will find them handling blocks of ice at the Bar of your local Labour Party club.
This comment should be one of the many flyers we’re getting in the post. Perhaps some parents who are not looking beyond their “movement noses” might come to their senses as might those disgruntled nationalist supporters who don’t want to vote.
This election means so much more than just a political party’s victory.
AD sympathizers please note!
Perhaps it could be an idea to a poster.
I read the whole post and agree with all of it, except where you say that Dr Muscat does not deserve to be Prime Minister and that the people of Malta deserve much better.
The people of Malta have had it on a gold plate with a silver spoon in their mouth since 1987 (save for 22 months).
The people of Malta have had economic growth for over 24 years, save for two successive quarters of negative growth which qualify as a (mini) recession. The people of Malta have had a steady level of unemployment, an excellent public health service, an excellent education system and a big subsidy on fuel for most of that time.
Where I live, a butane gas cylinder costs 67€ right now, but let’s not get into that.
For the past 5 years I have heard nothing but murmuring, grumbling and discontent. Ungrateful sods, the lot of them. If the people of Malta get Dr Muscat, they deserve him, just as they deserved Mr Mintoff and Dr Sant. We didn’t deserve Mr Mintoff and Dr Mifsud Bonnici from 1981 to 1987 because we didn’t vote them in. They usurped power.
Germany deserved Hitler, Italy deserved Mussolini and Russia deserved Lenin and Stalin. Britain on the other hand, hasn’t ever had a dictator in power since Oliver Cromwell. We all get what we deserve through democracy.
The minority of the wise abhor democracy. Leichtenstein is a shining example.
Yes, if we get this green grocer’s shop for a government for the next 5 years, WE ALL DESERVE IT. Because the majority isn’t grateful.
If you’re living abroad, the disgruntlement and ingratitude ‘feeling’ was probably taken from the negative comments on the commentary boards by the usual suspects writing under different names.
You may ask how would I know. Simple, I got a big fish when I addressed a writer/lawyer and an MP by his real name and he replied unsuspectedly on the post written by Mary Mifsud.
This high achiever writes under various names on many comments boards, first bout of comments in the early morning at around 07:00, second bout when he’s waiting in the corridors of the courts, third bout at around 13:00 during lunch in Valletta, than at around 18:00/19:00 from his Strada Stretta office, then if the topic is hot he will continue from home at night.
If you read his comments they normally are without capitals and they are in the form of loaded questions and something like “int bis-serjeta!!!”
No need to mention the grumpy old pensioners like Mr Spiritiera, Mr Laiviera and j brincat who yesterday defended Muscat for not accepting the invitation for the Xarabank debate and today they are all praises to Dr Muscat for accepting the same invitation.
Then there are the elves who operate from the fourth floor at the Mile End HQ.
These occupy the commentary boards like the so called students who occupied the hall and shouted “shame on you” at the MCAST debate.
There are also the radio phone-in callers on RTK discussion programs which were chaired by the ‘impartial’ Carmen Sammut who now says she will be voting Labour. One could smell her from a mile away about her political leanings through her subtle comments.
Normal people go to work , and just couldn’t be bothered to reply or read the stupid comments like “smell the coffee” LOL , loooool , “go tell it to the marines”, “that is a great idea from Joseph our future PM!”, “prosit joseph!!!”, “great speech Dr Muscat”.
People like me will just tell all these blokes in no uncertain terms that “Malta hija taghna wkoll” by writing a number one near the name of a PN candidate come the 9th of March 2013 .That’s all one needs to do to discredit these PL empty vessels.
Sir (I would hate to call you Gahan)
Do you really honestly, fervently believe that the majority of the Maltese herd (50% or more) are grateful to Prime Minister Dr Gonzi and his award winning team?
Seriously?
I prefer being judged on the content of my writings. So if I chose Gahan as my pen name address me by my pen name. What’s in a name?
My answer for your question is simple: polls are an indication of how the people on this handkerchief-sized island intend to vote.
Would I really tell my voting intentions to someone on the other end of the line when she states that she’s from MISCO and wants to ask a few questions to someone between the age of 18 and 34?
My answer to her would be that my age is 30 when in fact I’m over 40 and that I voted for Louis Galea and intend to vote for Karmenu Vella this time round.
My daughter did something similar in a different ‘survey’ and people my age who are rabid Labour supporters gave false answers to different surveys.
How can anyone pick a good sample from the Maltese voting public and get a clear honest answer when we all know that our two big brothers can use that information against you?
I simply don’t trust anyone.
How would I know that my phone wasn’t handpicked from the telephone directory? This is not America.
So treat surveys as an indication and comment-boards with a pinch of salt.
Many people are busy getting on with their lives and don’t want to tell anyone about their intentions and simply don’t bother to write.
After a day’s work a family tries to follow the eight o’clock news or some TV political discussion while eating, washing the dishes, sorting the laundry or sitting (dozing off) on the sofa.
At around 10pm the youngsters start returning home. How can these be caught in a survey, when surveys are done up to around 7pm on a landline (that’s from experience) and not on mobile phones?
There is disgruntlement because we are fed up of seeing the same faces but many realise that a change would be from the frying-pan into the fire.
Conservative, just look closely at the comments and the time at which the comments were posted and the time when the report came on line.
There must have been around twenty to thirty persons in a concerted attack against Gonzi, writing under different names.
I wrote one comment an hour ago it was not offensive but still it did not appear there.
Please note that people who normally write comments are the usual people who have time on their hands. You rarely find the unusual people at eleven in the morning writing a barrage of hostile comments against Gonzi.
I hope I explained myself clearly enough.
Examine closely this report and the comments board:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130301/elections-news/consider-the-bigger-picture-pm-tells-hurt-nationalists.459622
Now that would make a brill caption for T-shirts.
The whole comment?
[Daphne – I think that must have been sent in under the wrong post.]
Reference was to “FORESIGHT not hindsight.”
Hear, hear! Prosit! Joseph Muscat step down. You are not fit for purpose.
Bravo!
Too bad that many loyal MLP parents when they see Muscat in the streets run to hug him instead of shying away from him.
I am with you, I pity Malta and the Maltese.
oh for fuck’s sake
it’s coke, something 75 percent of parliamentary deputies have taken at least once in their life.
Grow up,they’re just drugs, not nuclear weapons.
This comment is too ridiculous to be a genuine one, and not smart & witty enough to be a sarcastic one.
I’m confused.
Which MPs is this idiot referring to ?
Just drugs?
He must be completely cuckoo.
Tell this to the parents of youngsters who have dabbled in drugs.
Tell THEM: ‘They’re just drugs”.
Much, much worse than nuclear weapons.
For f**k’s sake.
Have you ever been on drugs? I have, and it was the most miserable, helpless time in all my life. It’s not “just” drugs – don’t be such an idiot.
If it’s just drugs then start doing some, get a coke habit then see how miserable it is.
For sure Joseph Muscat cannot say that he has zero tolerance for drug traffickers.
The current electoral situation and these comments by Mr Pace reminded me of one of my favourite movie quotes, taken from the 1995 film ‘The American President’ with Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen and Michael J. Fox, and masterfully written by Aaron Sorkin (one of the brains behind another brilliant movie, ‘A Few Good Men’ and the ‘West Wing’ series):
Lewis (Michael J. Fox): They don’t have a choice! Bob Rumson is the only one doing the talking! People want leadership, Mr President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.
President Shepherd (Michael Douglas): Lewis, we’ve had presidents who were beloved, who couldn’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don’t drink the sand because they’re thirsty. They drink the sand because they don’t know the difference!
I fully agree with Mr Joe Pace.
Perfectly put. Should be posted on Facebook by everyone who reads it.
Joe Pace is my new hero.
The drugs case has been downplayed to death by Labourites everywhere including, disgustingly, the Joseph Muscat our next Prime Minister.
This comment REALLY hits home and puts the case into its true perspective.
I find Muscat’s and Abela’s behaviour in this episode as the equivalent of the behaviour in a hit-and-run: the ‘isa, forsi ma jinduna hadd’ attitude.
That is not the attitude I expect from someone who puts his name forward as my representative, let alone a prime minister in waiting.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130228/local/muscat-to-participate-in-xarabank-debate.459547
Joseph taghna lkoll does not even have hindsight, otherwise he would have admitted his lack of judgement and resigned. By not doing so he only shows his thirst for becoming PM, which in his case is all about power and not about leading this country.
Leading a country and having power over a country are two different paths, the latter will alas lead us astray.
Bil-Malti nghidu “Wara kullhadd gharef”.
Ir-rettur kien jghidilna li ‘hindsight’ hija gherf tas-Salamun tal-bott. Bhala ssib kemm trid biex ibieghulek!
Il-hila ta’ mexxej tajjeb hija meta jbassar x’se jolqtu u jsib kif jilqa’ ghal-ghawg li jkun gej, u jara kif isib u jahtaf ix-xoqqa f’moxtha.
Is hiding criminal evidence a crime in itself?
How come Joseph did not follow Austin’s and Tonio’s example and go to the police to regularise his position?
The same goes for Toni Abela, the difference is that Toni went to the police but to stop procedures instead of start procedures.
Prosit, Mr Pace. Still I can’t understand when I talk to other Labour parents regarding this drug issue and hear them say “U iva se jdumu ghaddejjin biha.”
Spot on Mr Joe Pace. I am more than 100% with you in this and yes this should be shared on Facebook by whoever reads it.
Received a lot of I’m In leaflets today. Does Michelle have to ask Joseph if he’s In I wonder?
Dear Daphne, Dr. Gonzi have lost all his credibility by his arrogant comments.
has, not have.
Dr. Muscat, not Dr. Gonzi.
Dr Gonzi is a true leader – Joseph Muscat is not.
One cannot compare the two, not by any stretch of the imagination.
I cannot believe that there are people who are supposed to be very well educated, and who think that they are more intelligent than everybody else, are about to elect Joseph Muscat as Prime Minister.
They are nothing but idiots.
Carmel, probably the Qormi scientist, had posted such a comment on Dr.Gonzi because he is a hardcore Laburist ahdar.