Today’s top comment
Sent in by John Higgins on the subject of President Marie Antoinette Romanova Coleiro of Saint George (Preca) yesterday:
Somebody should have told her beforehand that when inspecting a guard of honour she mustn’t wave at people.
And when standing to attention during the playing of the national anthem, heads of state do not sing with the band. Nor should anybody else.
There’s so much she still has to learn about protocol and how to behave generally. She says she will continue to be herself. But when she inspects the guard of honour or listens to the anthem, she is not Marie Louise Coleiro. She is the head of state. And the head of state does not wave during the inspection or sing the Innu Malti out loud.
She could learn a thing or two from her predecessor, a comrade socialist like she is, but who at least despite his several faux pas afterwards showed some form of dignity during his investiture.
58 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
What’s wrong when the president waves to one of her constituents during a guard of honour?
[Daphne – I think I’m going to take a break. This sort of thing just wipes me out. It’s relentless.]
I can answer that. The state does not wave to its friends and admirers because it has none, nor does it sing an anthem to itself.
Marie Louise Coleiro Preca was there as the head of state on a state occasion. It follows that she should have stood to attention and kept her trap shut.
Does it follow that this state will be handing out free soap dishes to itself?
On such occassions Dr Jekyll is not Mr Hyde
Will she continue to inspect toilets and hand basins for any possible cracks ?
But she promised to remain the same person she always was, and she always waved to people.
Well then she should have refused the post.
Would you sing “Happy Birthday” or “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow” to yourself at your own birthday party?
Please do not persist in your ignorance for if you cannot see what is wrong with your argument then that must indeed be the only conclusion.
She did a lot of things that deserved a mention on Desperate Housewives too.
If the State is a person, are we stlill living in the times of Louis XIV?
Aye! There us the rub!”
God forbid her being again between 36 and 50.
I think I am going to be sick.
Scurry on back to your cave.
This comment epitomizes what’s wrong with this country. No one understands proper behaviour any more.
Teachers can have sex with their students, and they’re condoned for it when things go terribly wrong. Presidents can wave while inspecting a guard of honour. Fifty-year olds can go clubbing like there’s no tomorrow. Ministers can appoint their children’s spouses within their own ministries.
It all points to the same rot. We’ve become richer as a nation before we developed a properly-functioning cerebrum. And the Xarabank mentality: the sense of super-entitlement.
It’s Fenech Adami’s fault. And the British before him.
No great expectations please. Marie Louise Coliero Preca is just is just half grade above Agatha Barbara.
phew, at least
I’d say Barbara had the upper hand. There was absolutely no pretence to being anything other than what she was. Agatha Barbara was absolutely shameless about being herself.
Where’s the LIKE button?
No great expectations please. Marie Louise Coliero Preca is just is just half a grade above Agatha Barbara.
Just in case:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-mirza-grotts/finger-bowl-etiquette_b_1274888.html
We are paying the full price when yet again we are getting someone who will have to learn on the job with all the blunders that entails. Typical when one has to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Extreme marketing and photoshop have their limits after all. And to be fair, if it were not for this site, most would have believed the re-packaged version of an exemplary woman, principled and caring.
You are being overly optimistic to think that she will actually learn on the job.
Learning on the job?
Just like the government, then.
Character references are increasingly a thing of the past linked to “tradition,” I would imagine. People are now skins. A new skin sufficient qualification. Skins targeted and discarded. Skins hidden. Skins sold. Skins of meritocracy. Skins of history. Skins on promo at the street market/ “monti”.
Under Labour tradition is cumbersome, education (not the degree type) a bother, newness and innovation labels for how they get tripped up on themselves, and history a free for all “we’re in” territory full of porkies.
Iti sapis territory.
Silly me, I actually thought a candidate for President had to be deserving of the honour of the title at the outset not one recrafted on the job by dimwits.
So many actions these days point to the wide divergence in mindsets. Matters that should be as clear as crystal aren’t.
Over the past two weeks, the realisation that the divergence is wider than ever imaginable was an added “horror.” It is a stark revelation that even in matters pertaining to life and death, to the safety of a child, mindsets are poles apart.
It’s tragic to have to witness this back to the drawing board with everything “qisna skoprejna l-Amerka.” A bit like observing a whole lot of children play pin the tail on the donkey with a blindfold on, those trying to cheat on the grip and the donkey mistakenly drawn as a bat.
Perhaps Labour considers that it is going forward, but it seems to me that in terms of culture and reputation this country is in the pits right now. Whatever revolution they’re going through this time round, the rest of us never, ever needed to acquire. Not at birth. Not even, say, 10 generations ago.
Beneath the media veil and sheen, has Malta ever had it this bad?
This is degenerate territory, not new territory.
The political scale from “blue” to “red” of the platform this is playing out from is reflective of the level of degeneration of ideals and basic tenets of understanding.
In this context, the switcher and new skin mentality can be said to be akin to “professional reassessment.” Rather like the bottle blonde going back to brunette as she advances up the career ladder, having got that foothold.
Directed confusion, whilst the mice play.
Sanity seems to have abandoned this lot completely.
The sooner she stops continuing to be herself the better for the country.
Her past self is most obnoxious in all respects anyway.
If she wants to be the president of all Maltese she has to stop making a fool of herself.
If she does not she will only be the president of the majority of Maltese who, most unfortunately, happen to be fools too.
Please stop arguing what Marie Louise Coleiro should or should not do as President of the Republic of Malta. She’s just unbefitting for the post. She can’t learn because ‘being oneself’ is her declaration and it’s true, ‘she’s herself’ to the detriment of our country.
They could not even organise the wreath-laying ceremony.
The four of them could not figure out what they were supposed to do, and then we see the soldier running for dear life with the wreath because they’d left it behind.
Ass-holes, all of them.
What’s more admirable a president who breaks a family or a president who keeps his family together.
Pointless question. We shouldn’t even consider the former.
Why don’t you leave the new president alone?She is new in the role.I am sure that her advisers will tell her what to do when on presidential duties.No body is a born president.With all her defects she means well.
Why should she be left alone? She’s president, for heaven’s sake.
“She means well” – this is so typical.
It’s not about meaning well. She is head of state. You’ve got to know how to do your job properly before taking it on.
Besides, as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Her advisers should have started to do their job then because boy, does she need advice.
That is so plain stupid, and I’m so tired of people saying this. First it was the permanent secretaries, then a number of senior positions which had previously been appointed via open application, then the ambassadors and now the Head of State.
Learning on the job is fine when you work at McDonald’s but not for public office of that nature, where you need to know what you’re doing and your deeds are under constant scrutiny.
The Head of State should not remain herself, because the post demands more than that.
And just because lots of people like her (because of pjaciri, but let’s not go there) does not make her fit for the office. Leaders are there to lead, not to be liked.
She has known for weeks that she will be the next president.
Even if her ‘advisers’, did not know who the next president will be, should have prepared a little list of Do’s and Don’ts which could be memorized in five minutes flat.
Why did they not do it?
Because this government is one huge mess and the ‘soldiers’ who were promoted in one big hurry, fell flat on their faces. Inspecting a Guard of Honour is an exercise in precision.
The appointment of 70s-80s fossils is pure political spin aiming at purging the party’s hard-sticking filth.
The actors from the nation’s crassest period are being passed off as heroes with the intention of hindering posterity from delving into the horrors they represent. .
Persil,
I agree with you and personally I do not mind if at this stage she doesn’t know the proper protocol. What really bothers me is that her irresponsible behaviour is rewarded.
Without doubt she is no role model for any women. How can any one applaud her when they see her in public?
Certainly I do not want anybody’s daughters to behave like her.
Somebody should look for a video of the Xandir Malta political debates pre-1987 in which she participated.
I remember one of these very clearly and how her long hair was tied in braids.
Then, the naive idiots will see who the real Marie Louise Coleiro is and listen to her vulgar and aggressive language directed at the Nationalist politicians during that debate.
They should watch that debate and then decide whether she is a virgin saint or a vulgar and vicious bitch.
http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/131252016
Taf tisthi Deborah Schembri? She swept away all the changes and opportunities given to us by various Nationalist administrations by just half a sentence.
“This is not to say that other governments have not done their fair share ….” (The Malta Independent on Sunday)
There is life only under Labour.
They’re doing a lot of that lately. It seems to be a tactic.
There is a lot to be learned, but I am sure that 5 years down the line she will still refuse to keep to protocol.
“Ghax ahna idejquna dac-cucati”.
Besides she also must learn not to call every one ‘qalbi’ and end a sentence with “HI!” as if we are at the Qormi open market.
Recent events provoke me to suggest a modification in the set of fundamental principles according to which our state ought to be governed.
Simply change ‘Constitution’ of Malta to ‘Prostitution’ of Malta and adjust the rest accordingly.
She is new TO the role not in. People who are new to the job are expected to be professional none the less and research what they are expected to do.
She could have easily gone online and watched some videos to help herself.
The fact that she’s stated that she’s going to remain herself could simply be rephrased as: ‘I don’t plan to try to better myself and I don’t have any interest in learning the ropes. Why should I? I’m the president now after all!’
And that’s the problem with so many Maltese. They confuse class with money when class is education and refinement. And education is not simply how well you did at school or how far you got. It’s also concerned with how you dress, how you speak, how you walk, how you behave – and all these are seriously lacking in so many members of government at the moment.
Her ADC needs lots of work too. She was walking with her hands clasped together and constantly rearranging her belt.
Her low rank she has might explain this but she should have been briefed. She even did a Merilweez and spoke to some children. I thought I was watching Pope Francis. Well almost.
Her ADC at some point simply vanished, gone, poof.
A girl guide would have been more professional.
The ADC seemed lost and confused.
If they watched films of presidential visits and wreath laying, they would have learned a few things , but then I am an optimist by nature and a de facto judge of character by experience.
What rank is the ADC? Don’t tell me they appointed a non-commissioned officer or a squaddie?
Since she found time to find a house to refurbish in Gozo, she could also have found time to familiarise herself with protocol.
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/fernando-botero/marie-antoinette
Her claim and insistence that she will remain the same person as before is out of order.
Her true self is that of a Labour politician, and a hard-core politician at that, therefore to remain herself means that she is politicising the President’s role and thus cannot be a president for all and everyone and rise above partisanship.
By taking on the post of President of Malta she has to be able to step up a level or three and rise above politics. She has to be ready to take on the roles and protocol required of such a position without any taint.
She has to adapt and mould herself to the role and not mould the role around herself.
Previous presidents did not have experience asa presidents, and yet still managed correct protocol from the start (bar one but I barely recall her tenure and at that age really couldn’t be bothered with politics).
Ghal inqas din qeghda taghmel ic-cucati go Malta. Issa ara l-Guy bhala kummissarju ghal Ewropa x’dahq. Miskina Malta f’hiex kellha ssib ruhha.
Martin Chircop of St Julian’s was IN.
On the occasion of St George’s Day, the Scouts held their annual parade in Valletta. When they passed by the palace and saluted Madame President, she chose to ignore them and turned her attention to the general public with ” Aw hi orrajt hi?”
Slouching sideways and forward instead of standing straight.
Tourists who were admiring the parade must have thought she was some kind of tubby little jester standing on the platform. What an embarrassment.
Matt,Irresponsible private behaviour is a private matter,and should remain so and should not be mixed with public office.I understand that our past behaviour can overshadow us .Everyone can make a mistake and regret it afterwards.Sometimes our mistake leaves an indelible mark .But that does not mean that we are not forgiven and continue mentioning the sin committed.It is not for us to judge after all.
“Somebody should have told her beforehand that when inspecting a guard of honour she mustn’t wave at people.”
She probably thought she was inspecting a parade of the pom-pom girls, or some boys from the Brigata Laburista – the fascist-style bodies for children which Labour organised in the Golden Years.
Nothing wrong in singing the Anthem out loud! Actually it should be encouraged. It’s all about setting the example.
[Daphne – In formal situations, the national anthem is NOT sung. It is played, by the army band or the national orchestra. Singing it out when you are part of the audience is a breach of good manners and shows appalling lack of judgement. When the head of state does it, it is much worse, because besides being an outright breach of correct behaviour, it is also ridiculous: the head of state singing an anthem to the state is like Queen Elizabeth II singing ‘God Save the Queen’. Work out why that would be wrong and ridiculous. I’m sick to the gills of explaining the obvious.]