Comment of the morning
Posted by Haruf il-Forn:
Even though the absolute majority of thinking individuals in Malta are expressing their disgust at Joseph Muscat’s latest act of desperation – the pimping of our citizenship – this is not going to force any change in his course of action.
He has enough brain juice sloshing around to have had some foresight of our negative reaction. Why else would he have kept this off his list of electoral pledges? He cannot change course, even if he somehow decided he wants to.
This is not – as it is being proposed to us – an exercise in which we are engaging to be able to reap some fruit from in the near future.
The metaphorical fruit – the bulk of it – has long been feasted on already during the run-up to the March 2013 election.
Joseph Muscat now finds himself with his gonads firmly lodged in a high-grade steel vice in the control of a group of Azeri spivs, Chinese communist officials and Maltese wheeler-dealers who behave as though the sole purpose of a government is to give them infrastructure contracts in return for donations.
He has sold his soul and ‘his’ country to his chosen Lord of the Flies.
He is deep in debt to his usurers, and those usurers are hammering at his door.
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Excellent comment. So true. Joseph Muscat has on several occasions said that his is a populist government. Not so here.
The fact that he is so adamantly going against public sentiment on this is evidence that he struck this deal before the election in return for quite possibly very large amounts of money and now must repay his debts in kind.
MaltaToday poll on the subject shows that less than 48% of Labour leaning respondents are in favour of the scheme in its current form, now passed though parliament.
A very low figure, considering the typical Labour mindset.
Those polls tend to be very accurate, and I think it should be a real eye-opener for the PM. I say ‘should be’, in the knowledge that it most certainly will not be.
Refusing to divulge details smacks of Labour 1981.
Most of the reds who voted against Labour during the referendum and Sant in 2003 most disgusted.
Turning back the clock insults their vote.
Remember the often repeated reply in parliament by the MLP regime n the 80s – “Mhux fl-interess tal-poplu”?
What if enough people put their signature to ask for the holding of an abrogative referendum?
Under the current set of rules, and assuming government behaves democratically, a referendum will have to be held.
He will just shrug the whole thing off – the signatures, I mean, not his devilish scheme.
Bil-malti ‘jinejjek altament’.
Here is a link to a petition against the sale of citizenship that someone has started.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/We_are_against_the_sale_of_our_own_citizienship/?tjWkfgb
A few days ago, someone on this blog posted a comment about starting a petition against the sale of Maltese passports, and I encouraged her/him to start it. I promised I would give my support and now I have.
We all seem to be very good at analysing and commenting, but so far very few of us seem to be willing to take any action. I suppose we are all afraid that if we do speak out, we will be branded and may be made to pay for our opinions in the future. It is this very fear that gives authoritatrian leaders the ability to silence their people and turn a democracy into a dictatorship.
The liberty of our speech over the past twenty five years has been gained with the sacrifices of those who were prepared to suffer for it twenty five years ago. The checks and balances of a democracy will not work if we all keep our mouths shut.
Even though the government has been given the mandate to govern by winning the majority of votes in the last election, it does not mean that we have to take everything in our stride and accept intolerable behaviour.
There may be some who may not oppose the sale of Maltese passports, but even they have to admit, that in its current form, this bill gives great potential for abuse, and possibly very lucrative revenues to a handful of people.
This government has been in power for less than 250 days. It is up to us to make it understand that a mandate to govern does not mean the right to ignore the electorate. During the last election it seemed like we have been there, done that, and did not like it. If we want a good government, then, we, the people, must show that we will speak up, and make sure we are heard. It was transparency that we were promised, and whether we voted for it or not, it is transperancy we want.
Sign the petition. This bill should not be passed at all, but if it is, it should certainly not be passed in its current form.
A petition will change nothing. We need violent protests, like our fellow Europeans. I mean eggs thrown at the prime minister, barricades, takeover of public buildings, student sit-ins, that sort of thing. But the Maltese haven’t the stomach for it.
And before anyone mentions Tal-Barrani, that was police violence against a largely passive crowd.
I want the reverse. I want mass arrests. I want Police Headquarters overflowing with arrested protesters.
I want magistrates summoned at four o’clock in the morning for mass sentencing.
I want Joseph Muscat and Manuel Mallia giving a news conference every single day on the deteriorating security situation.
I want a crackdown on social networks. I want tear gas. I want to push the envelope and take our government out of its comfort zone of an election every five years.
This is an illegitimate government. It has co-opted China into power in Malta. It is a traitor to its own people.
At this stage violence may be newsworthy but it is not the answer. Some words can hurt more than a punch.
As bad as it may be, this government is not illegitimate. I may not have chosen it myself but it was voted in by the majority.
Nevertheless it is there to represent the people, and the people must let the government know that they do not accept this behaviour. Just because they have/had a large majority, they cannot do whatever they please and we should make sure we say so.
An egg might drive home the message. Will you be the first to throw it?
And where do you publish those words? The papers won’t publish anything containing the slightest criticism of anything.
Note too that I said violent protest, not violence. You suffragettes got your way, didn’t you? And that government was not illegitimate.
By the way, legitimacy is a moral yardstick. It’s got nothing to do with electoral majorities.
Or you lot wouldn’t be urging action against Putin, Golden Dawn, Irish Loyalists and others. Funny how no one urges action against the largest dictatorship in the world – China. Manduca, Putin loves you. Xi Jinping doesn’t.
Effectively, the signing of the bill tomorrow is Joseph Muscat’s guillotine.
He may think he’s won, but – in spirit – it marks the moment that as a rational human being his head has fallen off the block as a traitor to our national identity.
And that of his Party with it.
I do not think so.
He has a 36,000 margin to play with. That is quite a cushion.
No not 36,000 but 18,000. I may point out that this government, up to now, only rewarded its chosen few voters and it will be difficult for it to reward 36,000.
We have already seen that the projected reduction in energy tariffs is being met by the introduction of or/and increasing several taxes. Up to now no real concrete ways have been targeted to increase substantially employment numbers.
Whether the margin is 1 or 100,000, in principle -as a traitor – he is marked.
Whether the Law is then abrogated or not, he would have pushed his traitorous intentions as far as they could go. He would not have stopped the bill because he could have – and changed it, but a Law already passed because he was forced to.
Muscat didn’t insist on investment because investment would only show up in real figures in roughly 4 years time: far too late to make an impact for the next elections – if these will still be held.
Tomorrow is an important turning point for our democracy.
Agreed, Muscat’s not one to dent his popularity. His hands definitely tied.
Makes it all the more urgent to uncover this mess.
Joseph Muscat thinks of himself as an absolute monarch but even he has to deal with the law of the land, however bothersome he might find this.
A referendum can force him to abrogate the passport-selling law. The moment is right to start collecting signatures.
There will not be enough time to hold the referendum on the same day as the European Parliament elections, but it will still have to be held eventually, if the required signatures are collected.
The EU Parliamentary Elections should be a referendum in themselves, and should serve as a vote of no confidence in the government through a massive vote in favour of the PN candidates. The Maltese electorate should not allow itself to be impressed with fake propaganda.
Daphne, how can the Government use this income generated from the IIP, because as far as I understood they will not be using them as budgetary measures?
[Daphne – Half of it is going towards the general budget, and the other half will go into a fund for building social housing and for ‘health and education’.]
And another half, lost in translation, will go elsewhere.
We’ve got half a cabinet which won’t even declare assets properly. Enough said.
Let’s say that the other half to which you refer will go under the mattresses.
This thing about social housing is bothering me. Malta is far too over built. Where are they going to find space to build more social housing?
They aren’t going to build more social housing. They’re going to buy up the rubbish stock that won’t sell on the open market to pay back their developer friends.
Sandro Chetcuti and his friends at the Malta Developers Association have a lot of social housing readily available.
This is the one area where the government will not be out of stock.
How ironic to notice that this is happening during the tenure of a PM who has though it appropriate to create a ministry that is accountable for the “Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto”.
It makes one wonder who – in parallel – is the person in charge of keeping track of the secret manifesto and ensuring the boxes on the list get ticked. This might explain why Toni Abela has no official function within the Government whilst still attending cabinet meetings.
Excellent comment.
The sale of Maltese citizenship for cash is the first step in the erosion of democracy in Malta.
Manwel Mallia has accused the PN of being afraid of this scheme because he said it reduces their chances of being returned to power.
This is merely projection. It shows exactly what are Labour’s objectives behind this scam. Their intention is that this scam will make the government awash with cash which can be used to keep Muscat and Labour in a dictatorial government for a long time. They want to stay in government because they have the cash, not because they are competent.
Meanwhile, like all dictatorships in all of those countries where governments are awash with cash – usuall from oil and gas – they want to keep their hands firmly on the scam, monopolising it and hiding from the public how it is working, what cash it generates, from whom, and how that cash is disposed of.
With all that cash they can buy votes through favours, which are likely to smell of corruption, violation of the law and other person’s rights, political fraud and so forth, and they can implement wild electoral promises which are otherwise unsustainable and illogical.
The next stage after this is the protection of those in power by foreign undemocratic states from where the buyers of Maltese passports originate. This scam is going to give rise to a number of complex situations, where persons of Chinese, Azeri, African, Middle Eastern origin holding a Maltese passport will get into serious situations in Europe and America. They would need defense from the Maltese government and from the government of their country of origin, giving rise to diplomatic issues which we alone do not have the resources to resolve.
That protection will be extended locally, with the first victim being the truth, as usual, and hence the free media and our right of freedom of expression.
Those stages follow naturally from the initial intention of the scheme.
We do not want to live in fear. We do not want to be afraid of our government which we have the right to elect democratically. We do not want our government to be rich to the point where it can pay mercenaries to dispose of our freedoms.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-11-11/news/serkin-argument-involving-two-former-mps-goes-bananas-3152248832/
“The Court also heard how Azzopardi, Debono and Pullicino Orlando were at separate locations prior to the incident. Azzopardi was at Buskett Roadhouse, Pullicino Orlando was at the August Moon Ball and Debono was at Gianpula”.
What a joke, JPO and Debono might have been at a different location, but, prior to meeting at Giampula.
How sad BUT how true.
Sant used to say that in the EU we would be the”makku” to the larger fish in the EU.
What have we become to the Chinese, plankton?
There are moments when I pity Muscat like I do those who are in the grip of usurers. He cannot revoke the grave action he undertook, secretly, when he thought he was on par with the Chinese and now they have come for their pound of flesh.
He deserves whatever is coming to him. The trouble is that it is the Maltese – including his daughters – will be reaping the fruits of his action.
God help him and all of us.
No. God damn him and his henchmen – and help the rest of us.
Malta – from Nurse of the Mediterranean to Whore of the Mediterranean. Thank you Joseph Muscat
What Haruf Il-Forn calls “Joseph Muscat’s latest act of desperation” is anything but an act of desperation. It is a well calculated, premeditated and deliberate plan which has been in the oven for the past few years.
I agree that it is not an act of desperation but we can safely say that they are desperate to get it through. They need the cash or else all their plans fall like a pack of cards.
We need to keep focused and take this up to a referendum.
Joseph Muscat and his Labour Party did not promise their net contributors to be paid out of his pockets but he held Malta to ransom.
I fully agree with you, mm, that Joseph Muscat’s plan was/is well calculated, premeditated and deliberate.
It is not only impulsive behaviour that results from desperation.
During the elections Dr Gonzi, along with everyone in the PN, told us that the amount of money the PL had was suspicious. They spoke about it many times, and were ridiculed by people and called “negative”.
I bet Dr Muscat, who had prepared all these plans before the election, was laughing his head off. Well, not just Muscat, but everyone in the Labour Party knew exactly what they were going to do once they got into power and knew exactly where they were getting all their money from.
I bet Pullicino Orlando knew too, as did Franco Debono, and were fooled into joining the flock because they wanted their money or their moment in the spot light.
I just can’t get that image out of my head, Muscat laughing while watching the TV, knowing full well that he was screwing the country over like no one could imagine.
I can’t stop thinking about how all those people, who rubbed their hands in glee and told us all “Issa taraw x’ha naghmlu”, lied to the people knowing full well exactly what was going on and how things were going to be executed.
Everything the PN said about the PL is/was true. Everything you, Daphne, said was true too. Yet people are still afraid to admit it or too stupid to fathom exactly how rotten this stupid party is.
They were laughing at us, knowing they’d get away with it. How horrid.
If the Maltese weren’t such a nation of crèmes-caramels, civil-war would be brewing. I am not sure if people appreciate the seriousness of what’s happening.
Did anyone notice the term used in The Sunday Times yesterday, referring to the target recipients of the passport sale of the century as desirable ‘high network individuals’?
Isn’t the usual term ‘high net worth individuals”?
Was this a mistake on the part of the Sunday Times or was it a deliberate term coined by the Prime Minister to allude to the ability of the new passports to attract ‘talent’ to Malta? Talent that just happens to be rich, of course…
They are probably individuals who can network at high levels. Like Shiv Nair. He helped the government make important high level connections in Qatar, at least that’s what the prime minister said.
“The end justifies the means”. We’ve heard it before.
It is all making sense now, unfortunately too late for us. I know a couple of switchers who are going through such pains to still justify their vote for Muscat and Labour.
Meanwhile, more catch phrases for the headlines from the clowns at the Auberge de Castille:
The Prime Minister who is in deep shit as described by Haruf il-Forn accuses Simon Busuttil of being out of his depth.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-11-11/news/busuttil-confused-and-out-of-depth-pm-3157655552/