Comments on: Immanuel Mifsud: “Dik il-mara li hemm fin-nofs tal-palk hija l-President tar-Repubblika u mhux Mary ta’ maġenbna”

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 16:06:00 +0000

The very IDEA of a Maltese republic was ridiculous and wrong.

Malta is too small to be a republic. Countries this tiny CANNOT produce a pool out of which to select a decent president.

For the president is a fellow citizen. Let us never forget what defines a republic. He or she is just like you an me.

Or so it says on the tin. But I just don’t know.

The first president was chosen in a very Commonwealth way.

Then it all went downhill.

Agatha Barbara was the pits, so I shall pass.

Vincent Tabone (I refuse to call anyone by their Maltese pet name), it can be argued, was worthy etc. But he was, in the end, a politician. In our system, the president is de jure, de facto and de everything else NOT a politician. So why go for an MP?

Ugo Mifsud Bonnici was a Mifsud Bonnici. Some countries have royal dynasties. We have political ones. Not quite a fellow citizen. He is of the ruling class.

Guido Demarco just added to the wrongness of our selection process. MP, government minister, deputy party leader, AND criminal defence lawyer. I mean really.

Eddie Fenech Adami – prime minister. How sad for him to have to watch everything go tits up under the hapless Lawrence Gonzi.

George Abela – ridiculous. Typical Gonzian stroke of genius. Put my enemies where they can hurt me most and get away with it.

And now we have this.

If this is the best we can do, we should go back to constitutional monarchy. For ten years, Malta had the British sovereign as head of state, and no one seemed to mind. It will not change anything, except to save us A LOT of money and a lot of embarrassment.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 15:43:00 +0000

I know you were not talking about physical size, but giant actually is a reference to physical size and it is not really a great idea to use the word for those who are noted for being much shorter than average.

By: Malteser

Malteser — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 13:08:00 +0000

Now it is too late for them to change.

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 21:59:00 +0000

It’s a little hard for the president to show gravitas when the entire nation is clamouring for noisy hamallagni events. Supply and demand, that’s all it is.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 21:23:00 +0000

Giants? Please go easy on the hyperbole, and it’s a little bit offensive anyway because three of those men were/are actually exceptionally short.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 20:56:00 +0000

The people at the helm are Maltese too, and ‘Maltese’ is not a synonym for ‘il-popolin’.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 09:01:00 +0000

You are quite right about that.

The inability to understand boundaries is a big problem with Maltese people in general, right across the socio-economic spectrum. But with hamalli the problem is beyond belief. I’ve thought quite a lot about why this should be, and have come to the conclusion that it’s the result of generations in which there is no personal space, personal property, or privacy, so the concepts are completely alien even when they become possible in a generation that is no longer living 60 to a tenement building or sleeping 10 to a bed, if not actually on the floor in a heap of others.

By: CLARISSA

CLARISSA — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 07:35:00 +0000

I totally agree with this article but on the otherhand does she really care about her position and her dignity? Not even her spouse cares. We all could see his behaviour in the video on this blog.

By: Rumplestiltskin

Rumplestiltskin — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 06:31:00 +0000

Glad I did not watch a single frame of l-Istrina transmission. I would probably have thrown up. Our president (and her spouse) should learn what gravitas is and demonstrate it all the time, wherever she is, whomever she’s with.

By: jj micallef

jj micallef — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 06:13:00 +0000

Like any language, Maltese could be sublime when properly used.

Ask a great author to describe a grotesque, if not kafkaesque, event and you have a great story.