“What is most worrying is that the kind of language used by the Prime Minister and the finance ministry throws Malta back to the times of the socialist government of Dom Mintoff” – today’s editorial, The Times of Malta
From the leading article in The Times of Malta, today (link below):
(…)
What is most worrying is that the kind of language used by the Prime Minister and the finance ministry throws Malta back to the times of the socialist government of Dom Mintoff, as was hinted by Mr Fenech in his reaction to Dr Muscat’s claims in Parliament. In those days, criticising the government was equated with acting against the national interest – something no one should seek to do.
Crusades were launched against people criticising the Mintoff government, and the incitement against them was intolerable.
The country does not need to go down that road again, and Dr Muscat must quickly take a step back and declare that it is not his intention to stir up that kind of language.
His government has already done enough harm as it is through highly controversial appointments, throwing to the wind the pledges of meritocracy he made so enthusiastically during the election campaign.
Most intriguing too is that the Prime Minister’s injudicious use of words has come about when the ink has not yet dried on an agreement his party and the PN reached to hold an open-agenda meeting every two months in a bid to take the sting out of politics.
The Prime Minister has erred badly.
26 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130530/editorial/PM-chooses-to-go-down-slippery-path.471774
This is a good piece, too:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130530/opinion/Real-meaning-of-meritocracy.471776
Could anyone give examples of such language?
[Daphne – I put a link to the whole article there, so you can read it. That’s what it’s about.]
Oh god, I’ve just read it. Glad to see the editor of The Times is speaking the truth. I had thought that it became controlled by Labour.
The idea that PL is becoming more and more like Mintoff’s MLP is really scary, and with all the favours Labour have been giving as well as its propaganda machine it seems hard to imagine that Malta will put a stop to this in the next general election.
Why are you worried? I am not bashing my chest chanting madly Mea Culpa! Mea Maxima Culpa!
I am actually amused, to see some faces as I go into Valletta and as my heart sings meritocracy, city of culture, and starving artists.
I hope that all those who believed this clown we have as a prime minister will be digesting dust very soon.
“The Prime Minister has erred badly.”
Not nearly as badly as those who voted him into power.
Muscat is using all tactics possible to eliminate any opposition.
Let’s not forget that he comes from the Super One news room, where journalists were trained to politically assassinate their targets in government.
It seems that he has taken this mindset with him to Castille and to the government seats in Parliament.
Too true. But rest assured, many of them will still have their consceince clear by the end of this legislature as they have been warped into being so, or otherwise have gained an iced bun (which is all they cared about in the first place).
Exactly, this is what was excpected from the Labour Party. Those who voted Labour erred badly, especially the switchers who tought that Labour has changed. Well actually they HAVE changed but to the worse.
“Not nearly as badly as those who voted him into power.”
And that includes those so called “Nationalists” who spitefully boasted of having refrained from casting their vote. Hello, Ivan Camilleri and wife.
Is The Times of Malta joining the Mea Culpa brigade?
A bit too late now, I presume.
It’s called hypocrisy, or saving face.
Biex nghidu kollox, l-EDITORJALI tat-Times dejjem baqghu ragjonevoli.
Il-problema huma l-artikolisti li jispiccaw bi stejjer fl-ewwel pagna, li jirrappurtaw negattiv anke l-iktar storja pozittiva li kien ihabbar gvern Nazzjonalista. Fil-verita ftit nies jibqghu jaqraw sal-editorjal.
The PM has not erred at all. If anybody wants to really understand, the PM is all the time testing the ground with all the situations he provokes.
I am sure this is intentional. He wants to wage war unless he will have a strong enemy, in which case he will most probably retreat, being the coward he actually is.
In any case what’s more important is to stop treating him with velvet gloves. If he wants war, then so be it, but this time there will be no bloody offerings for reconciliation.
If he has any sense, and he must do, he should know that the 36K are dwindling fast, so he’d better stop babbling like the Opposition leader/Super One hack he was, and start acting like the prime minister he should be, the real prime minister Gonzi was.
I am sure it is not the first time.
Muscat the Mintoffian slowly coming out.
Ignore this rubbish!
Now it is too late.
“The Prime Minister has erred badly.”
Not really, because erring implies that one knows better – in this case the PM has acted in the only way he is capable of acting.
Anyone expecting any better, or any different, is in for one mother of all disappointments.
It’s a pity that only now has The Times come back to its senses.
I’ve heard that its sales have taken a nosedive with many not buying the rag disgusted by the editorial line and overt anti-Gonzi agenda it adopted after the 2008 general election.
It’s a bit scary.
It’s almost as if Joseph Muscat & Co. have transported themselves straight from the 1980s to 2013, without at all having experienced the changes that Malta and the world have gone through since then.
So they’ve transplanted the arrogance, paranoia, inability to take criticism, micro-management instincts directly from the period of the 80s to today.
They seem to have been in suspended animation for the length of time Malta was struggling to assert itself as a modern decent democracy, now awakening to discover that they only know one outdated and scary model of governing.
The civil service must be in turmoil at the clock being turned back so forcefully.
Exactly. To make things worse, all the signs were there for all to see, but did anybody listen? No, except for the select few who really have the short- and long-term needs of the country – not just themselves – at heart.
While I give credit to the well-written editorial of The Times I still feel compelled to tell the editorial board of that newspaper that it was them and their newspaper who helped Muscat get into power and while doing so during the campaign, they only saw a short term solution: change in administration and lost sight of the long term implications and consequences that a Labour government would create.
Having any doubt that we are going back to MLP times?
Just look at the people that are being resurrected and given jobs,
The Times had nothing to say when Muscat rewrote history.
So Peregin got snapped at, well, it will get worse.
The Times should have said these things before the election. Now it is a tad too late.