Simon Busuttil: “The easiest thing after such a difficult result would be to give up. But I will not run away. This is the time for me to redouble my efforts.”
Published:
May 27, 2014 at 11:55pm
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140527/local/busuttil-the-last-thing-the-pn-needs-is-to-be-abandoned-by-its-leadership.520834
I still think that the Maltese are still not ready for Simon Busuttil’s thinking in the same way that we are still a North African country as opposed to a European one. I see Mario De Marco more apt for this decade.
They will never be ready, Simon Busuttil is as alien to most Maltese as a resurrected Ignazio Panzavecchia and his “Unione
Politica Maltese” political party in this 21st century.
You have to be smart enough to feed the animals what they normally eat and not what you think they should eat, or else they will be very unhappy.
Can those who support Demarco please zip it up. This is now becoming suspicious.
@MC – hear hear – Simon Busuttil was and still is the NP leader. He had been democratically elected. So please….
Does that mean you consider Dr DeMarco more suitable as Party leader in an unwieldy, unstable, and hardly reliable social and political milieu?
I do not think Malta – or, at any rate, a decisive part of it – has ever sunk to that level.
Still less the Nationalist Party.
On the same level why not Beppe Fenech Adami ? (Please note this is a rhetorical question. )
I don’t. Mario Demarco was the minister in charge of MEPA. It was under his watch that a number of dubious negative decisions were taken only to be reversed right after the election.
I will never be convinced that there was no hidden agenda behind his actions. With Simon Busuttil what you see is what you get and what you get is a man dedicated to his country and party doing a thankless job for an extremely ungrateful lot of armchair critics who are doing Muscat’s dirty work for him.
Agree 100%
Josette, your argument is weak and actually, wrong.
A lot of MEPA decisions were doubtful at best long before MEPA was under Mario DeMarco’s watch.
Politics existed within MEPA since its inception, but never throughout the years, did a Nationalist prime minister ever write to MEPA panel prior to an important decision, indicating that whatever they decide he was going ahead with the controversial project, anyway.
But this is a moot point for more than one reason: Simon Busuttil is the party leader and there appears no pressure on him to resign and even so, since he was democratically elected, it would be his decision and nobody else’s.
He needs full support, not a tentative one. It is maddening that after winning the third seat, a feat in itself, there are those who find fault with everything he does simply because they preferred someone else during the leadership race.
Let us not forget that he has a total of one year experience leading a party fresh from a whopping defeat, while Joseph Muscat had six years experience.
Did Muscat do things perfectly from day one? No, but his handlers did a better job, made easier by the millions poured in from many sources, some still unknown. And his party’s own supporters did not tear him to shreds.
The fact that a bankrupt PN still has its doors open and its media still operating (albeit far from perfectly), is an achievement by the new Party administration not considered likely by many doubting Thomases.
100,000 are ready for his thinking and way of doing things. And it’s about time that people realize the essential differences that make Simon a much more worthy leader than a spoilt brat who is just a sly opportunist.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
We should be thanking our lucky stars that Dr Busuttil is ready to lead the PN in such troubled times. He is intelligent, articulate and unpretentious.
He is very approachable and engages with all the different strata of PN supporters. He is the best man for the job. But a leader cannot act on his own. Critics and moaners abound, but what the party needs is people who are ready to roll up their sleeves.
Is that a Tommy Hilfiger shirt Simon Busuttil was wearing in the interview?
I don’t like a leader (in its vast definition) wearing branded stuff.
It is just a plain, royal blue, tee-shirt – nothing particularly branded, still less ostentatious.
A blue tee-shirt, even if branded, is just a blue tee-shirt, and nothing else. Suitable attire for yesterday’s warmer weather.
A leader is a leader is a leader – even in early summer weather – with a particularly hard task ahead of him.
Always better than anything from The North Face.
I don’t like people who are so petty, but we all have our crosses to bear!
Speaking about branded clothes, the Labour delegates all had a red North Face jacket.
Good. Time to see who the true Nationalists are.
Come on Robby, are you serioius? Is that your criteria? Now next time we’ll ask Dr Busuttil to buy one from fuq il-monti. Maybe that will make you happy.
There is no doubt at all that Simon Busuttil is genuine, pleasant and the right man for being a statesman. However, he needs to watch his back.
After all he is not a party hack, and like Gonzi, did not ‘grow up’ inside a party structure.
Being the leader is a lonely position where you can only afford to trust a few people. One also needs to be ruthless, in particular with the trouble-makers and the backstabbers.
Eddie Fenech Adami was nice and kind as nice and kind can be, but he was ruthless with those who tried to undermine him when the PN was still in Opposition.
So far, as much as I like Busuttil, I still cannot see him as a ruthless and determined person able to address and challenge the trouble-makers within his ranks and the unscrupulous prime minister.
The fact that he has two deputy leaders (in my opinion this was a mistake and a sign of appeasement) with a certain amount of baggage does not help.
Totally agree with Simon Busuttil, but the PN must be more assertive. No fence-straddling. They need to call a spade a spade, be and look united, no doubts and come out clean, aggressive and non negative.
Stop being apologetic and remind people not of the great PN past but of the present government gaffes, inner circle’s iced buns and greed. Of what is being lost on a daily basis, which the majority don’t seem to grasp or want to.
Or worse, don’t care because they have their 2 cents. Kept happy with lollipops, while losing their shirts.
Four years to next election is a long time PN. Use it.
Spoken like a true leader.
Give the man a chance, he’s only been party head for just over a year.
The biggest problem lies in the fact that we were expecting too much too soon.
Proverbju Malti – Hadt ma jahsilek wiccek biex tidher ahjar minnu – Don’t believe Labour can advice PN on it’s leadershp.
Those of us with a different DNA support Busuttil all the way. I am happy that PN clinched the third seat – maybe the naghag ta’ Bendu will use the grey matter between their ears for once and realise that this was an MEP election and not a general election as trumpeted by their dear leader.
I agree with Dr Busuttil. Giving up now would be a sign of weakness. Moreover, there is no guarantee that a new leadership would do any better.
Time to confirm our belief that “Is-sewwa jirbah zgur.” One does not defeat evil by imitating the evil.
The Nationalist Party must remain a source of light in the darkness which has now gripped Malta. The evil of Mintoff’s time was not overcome with lies, violence and abuse but with strength of character, perseverance in truth and honesty and determination not to be drawn down to their level.
Once again, proclaim our belief that in the end the truth will prevail. Fight this evil with all legitimate means, be calm but strong in exposing the deceit, lies, dishonesty, arrogance and abuse of power by the present government.
If I remember correctly, the slogan “Is-Sewwa jirbah zgur” (Truth shall prevail) took a whole legislature (5 years) to materialise.
I agree with your comment. Espcially that is-sewwa jerbah zgur.
I agree with you that is-sewwa jirbah sgur,
The third seat for PN is wonderful news. This marks a change of course for the party.
Simon Busuttil’s position as the leader has been re-established. This should help dispel the doubts that a few were expressing. He set a target and he has just achieved it. Under his helm the party has climbed its first step towards victory. Very encouraging and promising indeed.
Simon Busuttil huwa l-ahjar ghazla. Il-partit ghandu jibqa maghqud warajh biex ikompli jibni w jirrinova ruhu w b’hekk jissahhah.
Il-mira principali ghandha tkun it-tissieh u r-rinnovament anke finanzjarju.
Iblah min jippretendi rebh malajr wara telfa qawwija.
Iz-zmien u l-istorja juruna li l-partit Nazzjonalista kapaci jittrasforma ruhu w jsarraf il-wirt politiku li ghandu gheruq qawwija fl-istorja Ewropeja.
My heart goes out to “the poor” who would have benefitted from Cuschieri’s half salary. But I’m sure Sai 13,000 Mizzi, Manwel that is-saqqu Mallia, and Joe rent my car Muscat will oblige.
Maybe the PN could signal that as a party it will change with Beppe Fenech Adami offering his resignation – and this time it should be accepted.
Have you been at the hard stuff so early in the morning and on an empty stomach ?
At the end of the day it is an undeniable fact that the Nationalist Party under the leadership of Dr Simon Busuttil has actually achieved its declared purpose of acquiring the third membership for the European Parliament. It has also made an early start at whittling down the impressive LP majority at the last general election. This is not as much as was to be expected from a discriminating electorate in view of the dismal performance by the Muscat government for the past 15 months.
What is badly needed is not any change in the NP leadership. What is needed is a professional, competent, public relations firm to guide a fickle and easily manipulated electorate and to make it see through the Labour Party carrots and deceptions. The Nationalist Party has always laboured under the delusion that its over all excellent performance suffices and would be appreciated by a discriminating electorate that does not exist.
The Achilles heel of democracy is that the village idiot has one vote just the same as the most intelligent. Unfortunately, gullible fools are much more numerous than discerning voters. Potential voters must be taught insistently the folly of being bamboozled by the ploy of reducing the price of petrol by two cents soon after it had been raised by that amount, or making one-time refunds of overpaid tax on cars when the annual road tax has been raised to recoup that refund many times over, or to be satisfied with a promised reduction of utility rates for the past fifteen solid months when most households have not yet enjoyed any benefit, or having a consignment of essential POYC medicines rushed through once only on the eve of an election to hide the previous recurrent lack of vital medicines for months on end or the promise of a government job if the family votes Labour.
We have four years to go before the next general election. Let the Nationalist Party make good use of that interval instead of listening to the malicious siren song of Labour recommending a change in NP leadership
Simon is the MAN and excellent for the job!
Joseph and the PL want a change in leadership as they have found Simon a hard nut to crack. And I agree stop suggesting Mario Demarco for leader. We now have a triumvirate and let us give them our wholehearted support during the coming 4 years.
agreed
Within his first year in the party, Dr. Busuttil had the following objectives to reach: restructure the party from within and save it from bankruptcy; lead the party; work for the European elections and serve as the Opposition leader.
That’s a tough load, but he has done well on all of them. Can he do better certainly, will he do better – I have no doubt in my mind that he certainly will.
I think this election has shown that the Nationalist Party needs a leader who unites its supporters.
From where I am standing it does look like this is happening.
This was very obvious from the very start in May last year and it has now been proven by last Saturday’s results.
Simon Busuttil’s gimmick of putting Beppe Fenech Adami and Mario de Marco on other side to try and unite the many factions within the party again has not worked.
[Daphne – It wasn’t Simon Busuttil who put them there and it was not a gimmick. Fenech Adami and Demarco are free agents and over 18, and they make their own decisions. And they were voted in.]
I have been a Nationalist all my life (43 years to be exact) as I believe in the principles of the party and believe that when we work well we deliver.
[Daphne – Nothing to boast about, I’m afraid, as it means you haven’t thought it out but think that political views are something you are born with, like dark hair. A Nationalist in a nappy? It’s not an ethnic group, you know.]
However as of May 2013 and for the foreseeable future will not vote PN as I do not identify myself any longer with the leader of this party.
[Daphne – The thing you don’t seem to understand is that what repels you attracts others. The problems occur when the party repels more people than it attracts. But then here’s the rub: if the Nationalist Party is remade in some past image that you and others favour, others will leave it in droves.]
I will never vote Labour mind you but my beliefs forbid me from voting for someone I do not believe in, it is nothing personal.
I am sure someone within PN wants to speak out that this cannot go on however instead they once again insult my intelligence by saying that we gained the 3rd seat.
We all know this is rubbish as had Simon Busuttil not got all those no 1 votes in 2009 we would have got the 3rd seat when this came available hence we have not improved one bit.
We also need to take into account the fact that Malta whether we like it or not are 80% popolin and as such many Maltese identify themselves very well to Joseph Muscat so they are really getting what they deserve.
Whenever PN was elected it was on what I would call a ‘maggoranza mislufa’ as they are not traditionally Nationalist but at the time agreed with what PN was saying like ‘Europe for example’.
When you take all this into account I seriously doubt Simon Busuttil has any chance of ever making it to ‘Castille’ and the quicker they all except this the quicker they can start convincing people in their own back garden first to vote for them, then some other from the PL voters.
If he redoubles his efforts that means the PN will end up losing double what it lost. With many PN voters not going out to vote and with former PN viters still voting Labour, Simon Busuttil did not achieve anything but proof that even those few people who voted PN in the last election fo not have faith in him.
One thing is that when he became leader he had promised to hold a National Assembly for all party members, this nevet happened and is now less likely to happen.