No shame
Smart move, Joseph
People have reacted to this story by commenting on what they see as Louis Refalo’s pique-ridden behaviour. But that’s not where the shock-and-disgust factor lies.
It lies in the fact that Refalo is not well at all, and that Joseph Muscat has abused his vulnerability and paraded him about for his own cheap ends.
His family have reacted.
We shouldn’t be surprised. Didn’t we see something similar in the last general election campaign, when Muscat’s leader publicly welcomed into the Labour fold a ‘former PN activist’ who wasn’t taking his medication at the time?
Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.
www.timesofmalta.com 17th May 2009 – 14:55CET
Former Nationalist MP welcomed at PL activity as new member
Former Nationalist MP Louis Refalo was this morning welcomed at a Labour Party activity at Ta’ Cenc by Labour leader Joseph Muscat who said he had become a member of the PL.
But when contacted, Mr Refalo denied he had become a member of the PL and said he had only attended the activity because he was very hurt at the way his party was treating him.
Mr Refalo, who was a member of Parliament between 1981 and 1996, said he had been boarded out following an operation some years ago.
He told timesofmalta.com that he gave his life for the PN during the ugliest of times but he was now not being shown the respect he deserved and he was very hurt.
All he wanted, the 60-year-old former MP said, was to sit on a board of directors. He did not want to get paid for this, he just wanted to kill the time. He was a director of Sea Malta and of the Freeport in the past and was retained on the Freeport board even when Alfred Sant was Prime Minister.
Mr Refalo said that both the Prime Minister and Transport Minister Austin Gatt had indicated there would not be a problem with this before the election but he did not like Dr Gatt’s tone when he last spoke to him.
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“he just wanted to kill the time”
Fantastic!
And George Cutajar seems pretty cheesed off:
GEORGE J. CUTAJAR (5 hours, 29 minutes ago)
WHAT’S NEW? ALL THOSE WHO HELPED THE PN DURING THE ‘UGLY’ TIMES HAVE BEEN SHOWN THE DOOR AND THOSE AT THE NEW STAMPERIJA MADE SURE THAT THEY BOLTED IT WELL.
BUT THAN WHAT DO YOU EXPECT WHEN THE PARTY IS NOW LED BY PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT AROUND WHEN TIMES WERE BAD, WHEN WE WERE SHOT AT , WHEN THE POLICE BEAT US UP OR HAD BOMBS PLACED UNDER OUR CARS OR BEHIND OUR DOORS?
AT THE END OF THE DAY WHO GIVES A HOOT WHAT PEOPLE LIKE LOUIS REFALO WENT THROUGH FOR THEIR LOVE OF THE PARTY AND COUNTRY. SUCH IS THE POLITICS PRACTICED TODAY.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090517/local/refalo
Austin Gatt needs to be more sensitive to people’s feelings, especially those who have willingly contributed to the nation, no matter how big or small their efforts were. A friend of mine was told that at age 60, he should just retire and ‘go and barbecue hamburgers’ and give space to someone younger. Oh come on, surely we can pass on some of the experience life has given us, without being used and discarded.
As to Mr Refalo’s condition, not only has Joey got no style, he’s now scraping the bottom of the pit.
This is typical of the MLP. Their surprise attractions are either persons with a grudge, people who need help, or somebody undergoing criminal proceedings. It’s a short-sighted strategy.Having said that, AUstin Gatt is not helpful either in attracting voters.
[Daphne – Would they rather have somebody who speaks nicely and does nothing? He may come across as gauche, but he’s got one of the best track records as a minister, if not the best.]
If one comes across as ”gauche”, but performs brilliantly then that might compensate – but up to a point. Bullying tactics should be a thing of the past, And I’m afraid this last year has not exactly been good for his track record. Roads are abysmal, toxic emissions are totally out of control, with no enforcement whatsoever, bus service worse than ever, and on the car registration front, total chaos with Malta fast becoming Europe’s dumping ground. No sir, these last 15 months have not been good for Wistin. Sorry mate, you’ve been let down, and the public is angry. All we need now is the cherry on the cake in the form of that nincompoop Joseph Muscat, gloating over his success at the EP elections.
True. It still seems to be a bumpy road to achieve some improvement regarding the infrastructure…and what there is of it is not being maintained.
U hija better Joe scraping the bottom than Lorrie sending us free cheap mercury bulbs to get us out of the house and vote in the coming elections! What a joke this country is getting to be!
You may need to see the light that the “free cheap mercury bulbs” will emit, if you are planning to vote for the Labour line-up this coming 6th June.
you cannot see light with mercury bulbs – they are poisionous and toxic like some of you in this chat room
[Daphne – Oooooooooh. Nesty! At least some of us use our real names, sweetheart.]
Peppina, you might want to know that poisonous and toxic mean the same thing and that this is a blog not a chatroom.
George Cutajar has a point. It’s painful to say this, but the PN never took much care or notice of its own. It might be its redeeming factor if this was the case across the board, but it’s not. There are countless PN stalwarts, people who risked all in the years 76-87, who were then ignored and ended up pleading for some recognition.
[Daphne – We’re going to have to part company on this one. Recognition for what? And how do they expect to be repaid? Helping to get that bastard government out of power and having contributed to a return to normality should have been reward enough in itself. After all, they benefited from that. Honestly, these people who are in it only for what they can get….yuk.]
And there are countless hangers-on who only appeared out of the woodwork or came back to Malta once it was safe to do so, but who proceeded to sell themselves as having played a major part in the war effort at that time. Unfortunately, these people could sell themselves well. They had all the time in the world to do degrees, and think of themselves first, when others stood up for principles. Whist others fought, these people prepared to enjoy the peace that followed.
[Daphne – That’s the same in every area of life, not just in politics. How many of us have worked for bosses who are far less skilled or able than we are? It’s all the same thing.]
But it’s despicable as to what lengths the MLP will go. Louis Refalo is not well. Yes, he was one of the guys who risked all in those MLP turbulent years. I’m not saying he should have been made a director or anything, but I do remember him as having a very good dose of common sense, despite his shortcomings.
Recognition does not mean money, or titles, or anything else. A good morning is enough sometimes. Even that is not forthcoming.
[Daphne – That’s just bad manners. It has nothing to do with politics, because it’s right across the board in Malta. In the course of my work, I often have to tour the premises of large companies and corporations, accompanied by a senior executive. I am invariably negatively impressed by how these senior executives walk past their employees in corridors, halls and rooms without greeting them or so much as nodding in acknowledgement. I don’t expect them to be able to greet them by name – when there are hundreds of people around, this is difficult, though heaven knows our headmistress, with her 400 pupils, somehow managed it. But a simple good morning would be enough. On one or two occasions I found myself saying hello automatically or exchanging a couple of words while my host blanked his personnel as though they were invisible.]
As you say, how many of us have worked for bosses that are far less skilled and able? Sadly the norm. I once told my boss in all seriousness ‘Int imissek tbus l-art li nimxi fuqha’, after increasing his revenues by millions of liri. I never got any respect and left a couple of years later. It pains me to think of the utter lack of respect that so many people have in Malta. It is truly appalling.
For example, I can cite at least two recent board appointees who were rabidly MLP and suddenly changed their spots post not 1987, but post 1998. And allow me to say that I am a good judge of character and I find it very hard to believe what contribution these people can possibly give to the corporations on whose board they sit on. Dig deeper and you uncover worse. Sorry, but that’s how it is.
[Daphne – Positions on government boards are poisoned chalices, and I can’t for the life of me see why so many men think of them as the holy grail. You either accept a position like that to be of service, while it detracts from your usual business, or you go after it because you’re capable of doing nothing else. Nobody who is capable or busy actually seeks a position on a government board. Two of the busiest and most capable businessmen I know survived for all of a year on the boards of state corporations. They just couldn’t take the mentality and they didn’t need it. By definition, if you need and want a position on a government board, there’s something wrong with the rest of your working life. The people who are worth having on those boards do it pro bono and out of genuine commitment.]
People want these positions because it looks good on the CV, and because of what perks remain. They can keep them in my opinion. But f it had to be me in the driving seat, I would put people who question my judgement but who are loyal, not glorified yes-men.
I agree with you, Daphne, re Austin Gatt. We have had enough of soft-soap ministers, etc. who only try to placate the whiners. Hopefully Minister Gatt will not budge an inch and go ahead with the proposed public transport reform. We do not want to wait another 40 years or so to have a proper public transport system. One has only got to see the systems used in France and U.K. and adapt them to Malta. No doubt this is going to be a hard nut to crack but Minister Gatt will succeed.
Yes, hopefully he will crack this one as well. Unfortunately many people who own buses are going to be very badly hurt financially. People who bought buses seven years ago, when none of these reforms were envisaged, at Lm 70,000 a bus. People who took out loans based on the situation at that time.
Instead of making a clean sweep, there should have been some mitigating factors in place. Riding roughshod over these people will not do the government any favours at all.
What’s this Daphne, did Alex P. C. say that EFA ‘tnejjek bin-nies jew mignun???????? My God!
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090518/local/squabble-over-tape-recording
http://www.l-orizzont.com/news.asp?newsitemid=53517
If he said those words he surely does not deserve to be a PN candidate. I never liked the guy…..
[Daphne – I don’t know him and so can’t comment about his likability or otherwise. However, he has sued for libel and claims that the words are taken out of context. I can’t imagine that he would say something like that at a public meeting with hostile people, and with the prime minister present.]
Sur Pace ghax ma tithajjarx tohrog ghall politika (ghazel partit rebbieh) forsi ssib ruhek fil-parlament u jaghmluk Ministru ha solvi l-problemi ta malajar int.
Jekk jirnixxilek taghmilha nawguralek li twettaq imqar 50% ta dak li wettaq Austin Gatt.
XWETTAQ AUSTIN GATT ???????
ARROGANZA????????
Helpful tip, Connie: replace your keyboard, the caps lock and question mark keys are stuck.