Guest post: The public holds Labour to far lower standards because Labour is perceived as being ‘typically Maltese’

Sent in by Edward:

I think Dr Muscat is nothing but a corrupt and shady individual who has no control over his emotions and lust for money, so much so that he thinks self-interest justifies anything and everything.

I think he is one of those individuals who enjoys fuelling hysteria and ignorance because those are his weapons against reason and, in this case, democracy.

It is not unreasonable for people to demand to know what is going on. After all, it is our right to know. But Muscat, having been raised to think that any activity from the “other side” must be viewed with suspicion and must be a form of ill-intent, can’t possibly understand this, or he thinks the facts don’t matter because with the Labour Party he can get away with anything.

And it is true that he can. The Maltese are more inclined to vote Labour than they are to vote Nationalist. Thanks to Mintoff, the Nationalists are viewed as not really Maltese, as the type who have no business guiding and shaping the identity of Malta because they do not have Malta’s interests at heart.

But what is Maltese? To many, and those part of the Labour Party, it is exactly what we are witnessing today: bolshie ignorance and self-serving policies with no loyalty to anyone and doing things illegally is funny and “cool”.

Think I’m being unfair? Think I’m jumping to conclusions? Think back a few years when the Malta Monopoly was issued. If you have one of the first issues of it, take a look at the back of the box.

There, written only in Maltese and not in English, it says something to the tune of “you can always do things the ‘Maltese way’. I think you know what we mean”.

Yes, being corrupt and sleazy seems to be what the Maltese want to be known as, because Maltese adults tend to think like teenagers and find it all very funny and amusing.

The reason why Malta has done well over the last 25 years is not only because of the Nationalist Party’s sound policies and good governance, but also precisely because of the fact that so many people think the PN is ‘not Maltese’ and so should be held to the higher standards we expect of (the best European) foreigners. So any mistake, no matter how small, is pounced on.

You have the ideal metaphor for the Maltese attitude to the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party in the Arriva vs Maltese bus providers debacle. The latter was and now is again a complete sorry mess, but people don’t complain and accept that state of affairs because it is ‘Maltese’. Arriva, with its superior standards, was torn to shreds over ever last detail by a massively hostile public – it had to be perfect because it was foreign.

People have low expectations of Labour and hold Labour to much lower standards because Labour is viewed as typically Maltese. The PN are ‘foreign’ and have to be perfect, and we are going to be hostile to them anyway.

This actually worked in Malta’s favour, in a way, since it is exactly these sort of standards that politicians should be held to in order to keep them in check and reduce the chances of a politician abusing of his/her position.

However, it is not the same with the Labour Party. Those standards drop, and no one bats an eyelid. The reason why Malta doesn’t do well under a Labour government is because of this fact.

The PL knows it can get away with much worse things, so it does. It is the people who allow them to get away with murder, based on the irrational and ignorant argument “Because they are one of us, not like the Nationalists”. How childish, and how dangerous.