GUEST POST: “It is pointless being good when your rivals are armed and dangerous, and have no moral brakes.”
This was contributed by SM, originally as a comment, and adapted as a post.
Gonzi was a victim of circumstance. He replaced Eddie Fenech Adami, Malta’s greatest ever leader, in a contest that divided the party (liberals and conservatives). He ended up being portrayed as Fenech Adami’s anointed successor, further eroding his leadership because people do not like hereditary succession. He had the wrong surname/uncle, which didn’t help.
He went into the 2008 elections with a sizeable portion of the party believing that the election was lost, but won it with the slimmest of margins and ended up with three albatrosses hanging round his neck.
He had to face the biggest financial crisis since Malta’s Independence and also Libya’s civil war, handling both in exemplary fashion and always keeping Malta’s interests before the PN’s (delaying tax breaks, etc.).
In the 2013 elections he was pitted against a leader and party without a moral compass, financed by businessmen who created most of their wealth thanks to the general environment built by successive Nationalist governments. There is mounting evidence that the Labour Party may also have been bankrolled by China’s communist dictatorship. Gonzi learned the hard way that, unfortunately, the “Is-Sewwa Jirbah Zgur” slogan is a myth.
History, personal experience and current events are replete with evidence that it does not necessarily do so, and that even if it does so eventually, the damage has been done. The most obvious illustration of this is the triumph over Nazism – in the fight between Good and Evil, Good eventually won, but still many millions of lives were ended or shattered.
It is pointless being good when your rivals are armed and dangerous, and have no moral brakes.
The BBC website recently carried an interesting piece about democracy (the link is below). It outlines the limitations of democracy and the dangers of assuming that democracy is purely majority rule.
We are now in a situation where a foreign dictatorship (China) or wealthy individuals (names unknown, though the contenders are obvious) can turn Malta into a pseudo-democracy. It seems that Labour’s determination to gain power for its own sake might have already put Malta on that course.
Think about the agreement which Joseph Muscat signed with China in 2010, when he was still Opposition leader. The contents of that agreement were never made public and journalists never pressed for answers or gave it its due significance. The Labour Party subverted the press so successfully that a homemade clock given as a gift to the finance minister before he was finance minister was headline news for days, but a highly suspicious agreement which the Labour PARTY (not the government, because it was in Opposition) signed with China back in 2010 was never an issue. By subverting the press, the Labour Party has undermined democracy to its narrow advantage.
There is more that we should be thinking about, because we failed to think about it when we should have done, which was before we voted. Labour’s promise of guaranteed cheap energy for 10 years. China’s economic colonisation of East Africa. Joseph Muscat’s repeated threats to use Malta’s EU veto, and the value of this veto to a communist dictatorship and economic power like China.
All that for the bargain price of €100 million to €500 million per annum, which for a country with over a $1 trillion in reserves, increasing at a rate of $18 billion per month, is pocket money.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23607302
I posted a link on this website regarding China and Africa a while back. It may make useful reading in the context of this article:
http://www.africanpost.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1148:the-rape-of-africa-by-china&catid=55:individual&Itemid=150
There’s no clearer picture of the present political situation as that pictured above. Whoever wrote it is a true political analyst. We are always wiser in hindsight. Would the electorate or switchers see this though? I very much doubt it – especially if the electricity bills do go down by a third – that was their bait.
Totally agree
Assuming that the 2008 election was won by the PL, how would Sant have reacted in such a difficult situation Gonzi was faced with, especially the financial crisis, not mentioning the turmoil the Libya civil war brought about.
What an incisively and wisely discussed topic that unfortunately will not have any effect on the many thousands of gullible shifters until they are hit decisively in their selfish pocket.
I wouldn’t stop at “gullible.” The Maltese take everything literally and have absolutely no interest in anything that involves critical thought.
Everything is taken at face value and, therefore, as true.
Why are we surprised that the cult of Mintoff remains strong among young people?
All that matters is their “selfish pockets.” Anything beyond selfishness and immediate financial gain does not matter. It is primitive culture that prizes material acquisitions and the material symbols of riches more highly than the sophistication, manners, conversation and general knowledge that in societies far more advanced and older than ours are parallel requirements to wealth.
In addition, the feature of literal meaning is one of the cultural heritage dimensions that many seem hell bent on protecting from “foreign interference”.
The Nationalists attempted to work against this kind of mentality through the introduction of overseas education and work opportunities for all. Labour avoids these kinds of opportunities and tries to deter or prevent people from taking them, because keeping people stupid and literal-minded works against their vision for Malta.
The creation of the new middle class is really about homogenising social classes to think without measured reasoning and act on the spur of the moment.
Perhaps this is why the PN always struggled to gain a governing majority but has always been highly successful in attracting talent to its ranks.
China will gain much more than a veto in the European Council. It will also have a trans-shipment point in the Mediterranean and an entry route for its goods, such as they are, in the European market.
The Europeans were always afraid we’d be Gaddafi’s Trojan horse, which is why they delayed our EU entry by a number of years. Turns out their suspicions were true. But Gaddafi’s gone and now we’re China’s stooge, which makes it much, much worse.
It’ll even more interesting if, or rather when, Malta will need its own bail-out. Will Malta be the first EU member state to be bailed out by a country outside the bloc, with all the repercussions (at a continent and international level, I hasten to add) that may have?
Yes, China has indeed probably bought a veto. What better country to choose than a country whose sportsmen have been known to throw a game for half a packet of cigarettes.
Future governments will probably still be under China’s yoke even though the agreement was signed by another party. I used to think the PL had no intention of winning another election judging by the way they were selfishly hauling in and grabbing anything they could; however I now think they are in for a ten or fifteen year stretch. It is the populism on the immigration issue that told me that. There was nothing to gain from refusing entry to 102 immigrants other than scoring cheap points with the electorate. I mean, while these people were waiting on a ship, hundreds of others were arriving on smaller boats. It was all just symbolism.
Why else burn bridges with Italy and the EU? Now I just wonder how long it will take for the bailout to be required. Hopefully within the next 3 years so that people have a chance to see the kind of mess that this mob are getting us into. Then again, maybe this is just wishful thinking.
The agreement Labour signed with China helped it into power. It’s a long-term agreement – Muscat’s own words, published in it-Torca – but the clincher is financing and taking over Malta’s entire energy supply for 25 years. Once that is in place, it won’t matter whether Labour is in power. Anyone who controls Malta’s energy supply controls its economy and government, which is what China will do for the next quarter of a century.
Excellent piece. The author mentioned ‘three albatrosses’, I would have said 4 – the PN administration.
An excellent contribution. One question: Can a Government adopt an agreement with another country without Parliament’s approval?
This is China and the Labour Party we are talking about. ‘Can’, ‘Parliament approval’ are not in their dictionaries. Given Labour’s history, WHY didn’t the journalists hound Muscat for further details? Why didn’t the electorate smell a rat?
Taken in conjunction with the mix-up (or was it?) of the Labour Party’s congratulatory letter to the newly-annointed Leader of North Korea, why did it not raise any eyebrows?
The agreement was between a political party and a dictatorship. That political party is now in government. You can’t say you weren’t warned when it was Muscat himself who boasted about it.
It-tezi ta’ Mario says:
March 4, 2013 at 11:56 am
Alex Sceberras Trigona is only doing what he knows best. He’s continuing Labour’s notorious tradition of dodgy deals, blurring the separation between party and state when signing international agreements.
North Korea:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/128167661/Alex-Sceberras-Trigona-Signs-a-Secret-Agreement-With-North-Korea
China:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/128130324/Joseph-Muscat-says-he-signed-an-agreement-with-China-on-Malta-s-behalf-it-Torca-18APR2010
“Fenech Adami, Malta”s greatest everl leader”.
Let us not diminish George Borg Olivier, who was certainly Malta’s greatest visionary. He laid the economic foundations of a nation from nothing, and throughout his premiership had to battle with that nasty person Dom Mintoff as leader of the opposition.
[Daphne – Fenech Adami was in a much worse position, with regard to Mintoff. He had to battle Mintoff the prime minister, for eight years, and Mintoff the prime minister’s puppet-master for another three years after that.]
KMB and Alfred Sant, as opponents to Eddie, were actually assets to the Nationalist Party.
I always had the same feeling that underneath the Labour façade there is a bigger power.
The planning strategy was not essentially the planning ideas of just a Super One hack and his acolytes. Also, how the PL worked with what is termed as ‘the fifth column’ is only indicative of totalitarian rules, with stooges in key positions in various organisations and the media.
The Nationalist Party didn’t even see it coming.
If they didn’t see it coming, they can’t say they weren’t told. More than one person pointed this out directly and indirectly.
Shiv Nair, China’s so-called secret weapon, was often seen in Joseph Muscat’s company BEFORE the election. Now he’s popped up as Muscat’s government’s official consultant, but we had to find out about that from Qatari media.
Labour and its supporters suffer from post-election anger regardless of whether they win or lose. This is inexplicable. Some of my Labour seem to be more upset by this year’s election result than by that of 2008.
If China is really bankrolling the Labour Party, then the Nationalist Party can kiss goodbye to any victory in any election occurring within our lifetime.
We will soon be seeing hundreds of Chinese labourers in Malta.
Is anyone going to cry out for a push-back policy?
Please, we’ve been through it already. The PN needs all the help it can get.
Let’s start calling things by their name, the cultural dilemma matters. Muscat did nothing new, prostituting this place always Labour’s remit.
Time for the linguistic pax, a plausible future requires both, what counts is the common denominator; at ease with borghesia and all it implies.
If I may, historical influence requires a presence, whereas geography’s a constant. Let’s not create undue conflicts and put ourselves in a corner. Muscat will appropriate anything and distort it for consumption.
The analysis misses key points.
It was the Nationalist Party that lost the election. No amount of money would have brought about a change of Government if Government was delivering holistically even at ‘low’ reasonable levels.
There were three issues that brought down the Nationalist Party:
1. A small cabinet (need I go into the catastrophic domino effect of this decision?). Who made this decision and why?
2. GROSS Inability to deliver an array of coherent well placed projects on time. (Is this a cascading effect from 1?)
3. Enemalta (‘nouf said)
Running away from these issues is akin to replacing a China private agreement with a clock scandal.
[Daphne – You are wrong. And simplistic. This is like saying that a marriage broke down because the wife didn’t cook properly or the husband left his dirty clothes all over the place. Those are just the things that get fixated on when things are already wrong.]
The agreement with China undercuts your argument entirely.
Bankrolling a political party and making sure it gets into government so that you can get what you want in the long term is not a new experience to Malta or the Labour Party.
Gaddafi did that in the 1970s and 1980s, and Malta was hamstrung even after Labour was pushed out of government.
“…All that for the bargain price of €100 million to €500 million per annum,…”
What’s this? The amount promised by China to Joseph? Unlikely. That would be nearly as much as what’s been allocated to Malta in the 2014-20 EU budget (€627mln net once we subtract our €501mln in contributions).
Incidentally, concerning those EU funds, other than the fact that they are not guaranteed, they are hardly what they appear to be if one accounts for our budgetary contributions and the co-financing that goes into each project.
Here’s a formula by which to work out the actual percentages and amounts; excerpt from: http://www.maltafly.com/content/fondi-ewropej-minn-butna (scroll down)
” […]
Accounting for Malta’s annual contributions to the EU budget, therefore, we can work out the actual cost to the Maltese taxpayer for each so-called EU-funded project, or grant to private entities, with the following formula:
x = he/d + y
where,
‘x’ is the actual cost to the Maltese taxpayer (accounting for Malta’s contributions to the EU budget)
‘y’ is the amount directly funded by the Maltese taxpayer (generally 25% of total cost, diversely if private applicants are involved)
‘e’ is the amount funded from the EU budget (generally 75% of total cost)
‘h’ is the total Maltese contribution to the EU budget for the given year (hrug)
‘d’ is the total EU funding received in the given year (dhul)
Applying the formula for percentages (e + y =100), we can see that the project billboards across Malta claiming 75% EU co-financing would have been truer with the following figures:
2011: 62% Malta, EU 38%
2010: 66% Malta, EU 34%
2009: 93% Malta, EU 7%
2008: 77% Malta, EU 23%
2007: 73% Malta, EU 27%
(Of course, net contributing countries pay up 100% of ‘EU-funded projects’ plus a little extra for projects and grants elsewhere, including countries outside the EU)
Kev
There is a world of difference between EU funds and “friendship” funds from a third-party totalitarian state with ulterior motives.
EU funds are heavily regulated and can only be used on infrastructure or human resource development which bear fruit in the medium to long term, thus having limited affect on the incumbent government’s popularity at the polls and as you correctly state a significant proportion of which is the country’s own recycled funds.
On the other hand the sole purpose for assistance (financial or otherwise) from a country such as China is to keep a friendly regime in power, therefore such “assistance” is usually used to either buy elections through cheaper utility bills, lower taxes or VAT refunds on imported second vehicles or if that fails building an armed, repressive military/police regime in the name of “National Security”.
When you consider that China is trying to reduce its reliance on the Dollar and the US market, you will realise that a veto at EU level is worth a lot more than the €100 million to €500 million mentioned in my post.
So you are pre-supposing that our PM will veto EU laws for a fee from China.
Other than the fact that we do not have the clout to veto left, right and centre (because they have the clout to squeeze our balls so hard we’d wish we were all eunuchs), what’s left to veto that’s so crucial to China? It’s 2013, well into the post-Lisbon era, SM. You’re viewing world politics through a 1990s binoculars.
There is no such thing as friendship finance. There is only mercenary political exchange.
Friendship finance is the bullshit rhetoric of 1970s’ Mintoff, which persisted beyond that decade holding Malta’s development even further back. Gaddafi bankrolled Mintoff and pulled Malta’s strings for years afterwards, even when Labour was finally pushed out. Why do you think we still have an absurd neutrality clause in our constitution?
There’s also the minor issue of China registering it’s fourth consecutive slowdown in rate of growth. As for that nominal value, gone are the double digit percentages registered three years back, now dipping close to the 5% mark.
Major issues with centralised planning, blunders which cannot be kept hidden from view anymore, ghost cities the scale of which can be seen clearly, pitch dark at night, a rushed infrastructure which is turning out to be an economic nightmare and an industrial base petering out against the limits imposed by the limits of a static regime.
China can be defined by its aesthetics, lacks rigorous harmony, essentially sketchy and pretty much verging on the cacophonic. Nowhere does it lead anywhere.
Times change, confidential agreements don’t. Certainly not with party central.
Yet another one (kev) who does not know the difference between price and value.
What value the freedom of movement in Europe (as opposed to this little rock)? What value the increased access to education? What value the increased work opportunities? What value the increased access to EU political and juridical structures?
Unfortunately many reduce the EU to just the net sum of Euros received or paid by our government.
Oh, Kevin Ellul Bonici knows the value of freedom of movement, alright. He may be holed up at home, but that’s in Brussels, not Malta, thanks to the EU membership he and his wife Sharon campaigned against.
Oh, belt up and get your act together. You’re constantly carping on about your superior knowledge and how you couldn’t be arsed to live in or take notice of Lilliput and then you butt in at every possible opportunity, flinging about facts and figures to labour a point.
Labour was elected on the basis of false promises about magic solutions to manufactured problems. We were all desperately starving in the streets up to 9th March because we couldn’t afford our utility bills. Now, apparently, they’re not a problem at all.
China traded small change for long-term political gain and the poison dwarf you and your lot voted in, repackaged it as a magic solution to a problem that didn’t exist in the first place.
You can take your laboured statistics and use them to plug the hole in your brain. Heaven knows you need it.
maltafly.com, I didn’t know that this incredibly boring site still exists…
You get nowhere being reasonable with shite.
An excellent post. However, many seem to be missing the point: the Nationalist Party must pull its socks up and start fighting this monster that’s been created through our democratic process.
‘Is-Sewwa Jirbah Zgur’ slogan is a myth, yes. The question we should also be asking is ‘Is Simon Busuttil, with all his good intentions and excellent pedigree, up to such a fight against adversaries who know no moral, and probably not even legal, boundaries?’
What the PN needs is a quick-firecommunications cannon permanently trained on its political adversaries – yes, even the ones in its own party.
“Malta’s greatest ever leader”? You’re kidding, right? This is the man who created the Dalli monster, who pretty much bankrupted the country – mostly due to grotesque overruns on infrastructural projects (admittedly, much-needed), whilst letting the Jesuits/their acolytes run the country/University.
George Borg Olivier prepared Malta for Independence by establishing a solid manufacturing industry, tourism and property development sectors – all from zilch. Not to mention setting up the two pillars of education: the modern University and M.C.A.S.T.
For me, Borg Olivier knocks Fenech Adami into a tin hat.
It’s usually ‘cocked hat’ but Frankie might take offence.
[Daphne – Kev and his tin-foil hat might be to blame.]
The Nationalist Party’s main problem right now is leadership. Simon Busuttil might have been a good MEP, but there is a big difference between the European Parliment and running a political party aiming for government.
I hope I will be proved wrong but until now I feel that he has not managed to connect with people, maybe because his speeches are not opportunistic as those of others but nevertheless you can easily distinguish him from Eddie Fenech Adami.
Like everything else the past Nationalist administrations where far from perfect but those administrations have never gone so low as the current Labour one. We are seeing people who are not fit for purpose running our institutions. If it was only about the money we are paying them from our taxes I would not be worried at all. The thing that worries me is the harm they can and will do because of their amateurish way of thinking.
That is why we need a healty opposition lead by a very good leader because we cannot continue losing our face with the international community.
What I found extremely strange was the online popularity of the PL in the years leading up to the election. Personally, I still find it suspicious the way online polls seemed to favour the PL so much and in such a short time.
One could easily put it down to there being lots of people willing to suck up to the PL, but then again how would they know who clicked on what? Or maybe everyone is stupid?
Well, personally I think there is secret option number 3: the PL bought clicks and Facebook Likes from companies in places like Dhaka that specialise in fake fans and online popularity.
A simple Google search will lead you to websites where you can pay as little as $50 for 1000 Facebook Likes or YouTube hits in one day for example. Who knows what a little extra could get you?
Lots of fake Facebook profiles with pictures?
The opportunities are endless, as are the the clicks and Likes. So whenever you want an online poll to favour you, just give the man a call and within 24 hours you have your lead.
And can you imagine how the businessmen would have reacted? Seeing such a huge swell in PL’s popularity, they would have gone running to them.
This is a trick used by many, many businesses all over the world, and it works miracles. We also have heard many people talk about how Muscat runs the PL like a business, so I wouldn’t put it past him.
I have no actual proof that this is what they did, but I always suspected them of doing it.
What I found extremely strange was the online popularity of the PL in the years leading up to the election. Personally, I still find it suspicious the way online pols seemed to favour the PL so much and in such a short time. One could easily put it down to there being lots of people willing to suck up to the Pl, but then again how would they know who clicked on what? Or maybe everyone is stupid?
Well, personally I think there is secret option number 3: the PL bought clicks and Facebook likes from companies in places like Dhaka that specialise in fake fans and online popularity.
A simple google search will lead you to websites where you can pay as little as 50$ for 1000 Facebook likes or YouTube hits in one day for example. Who knows what a little extra could get you? Lots of fake Facebook profiles with pictures? The opportunities are endless, as are the the clicks and likes. So whenever you want an online pol to favour you, just give the man a call and within 24 hours you have your lead.
And can you imagine how the businessmen would have reacted? Seeing such a huge swell in PL’s popularity, they would have gone running to them.
This is a trick used by many many businesses all over the world, and it works miracles. We also have heard many people talk about how Muscat runs the PL like a business, so I wouldn’t put it past him.
I have no actual proof that this is what they did, but I always suspected them of doing it.
I despair to think of the many people I spoke to before the elections, who said that we definitely need a change and what harm can Labour do now that we are part of the EU.
I always maintained that I do not trust the Labour Party. I would have been more at peace had I been the one who was proved wrong.
The lack of discernment is frightening. What do they think a government is for and what do they think governments do?
It is true that Dr Lawrence Gonzi had to ” face the biggest financial crisis since Malta’s Independence “. This crisis was the making of the financial genius John Dalli. John Dalli was responsible for the country’s finances from 1990 – 1996.
Dr Lawrence Gonzi must have recognised this and appointed John Dalli as Minister for Social Policy instead. The health sector, including Mater Dei hospital were part of Dalli’s portfolio.
During the two years Dalli was responsible for this sector he proved his incompetence by longer waiting lists and lack of medicines and a lot of other deficiencies.
The current PM Joseph Muscat gave John Dalli the responsibility of Mater Die hospital to sort out the mess that Dalli had created.
From articles published on this site it is evident that John Dalli is settling into his new position very well. There seems to be a family and close friends takeover to the detriment of the general public.
SOME PEOPLE NEVER LEARN.