The “nigi ghalik u nifqak” threat is destined to join other notorious sound bites, of the “ok siehbi” and “it-traffiku percezzjoni” calibre, which have come to mark both Labour’s incompetence and arrogance. The last thirty months or so of Labour Government have rendered the “Taghna Lkoll” mantra of inclusion and good governance, into a complete joke. The recent issuing of visas to thousands of Algerian nationals and Maltese residency permits to Libyans are but the most recent examples of a country whose image has been tarnished with the comeback of institutional corruption.
Marlene, Joseph & Joe
The last couple of weeks have been very eventful, both nationally and internationally. Following her vote against Government’s amendments to the Environment Protection Act, the Honourable Marlene Farrugia resigned from the Labour parliamentary group whilst retaining her parliamentary seat. She said that she was remaining in parliament to represent those who in 2013 voted for the Labour Movement rather than the Labour Party in the hope of getting an inclusive, transparent and honest government. The ‘Taghna Lkoll’ slogan coupled with the demonization of Gonzi and his administration should have meant just that. But nothing could have been farther from the truth.
If Joseph let her down, Joe threatened to knock Marlene down. An honourable member of parliament threatened to violently assault another honourable member in the house and during session. Yes that is exactly what happened and while some of the fellow MP’s were left dumbfounded it seemed that others were simply amused. Joe Debono Grech, Labour’s naughty bully was at it again. Aren’t you entertained?
The Nationalist Opposition would take none of this. It went so far as to contest the Speaker’s ruling because it finds this type of unruly behaviour unacceptable.
Joe Il-Farell & I
As aptly argued by the leader of the Opposition Joe Debono Grech’s threat was no isolated case. Opposition members have been subjected to one form or another of aggressive behaviour since day one of this legislature. It started with the ridicule of members of the opposition and their leader, continued with arrogant refusals to reply to the opposition’s questions and requests for information, and culminated in the threatening of members of the same parliamentary opposition. Democratic indeed!
Only last July, just before the summer recess, another government MP collapsed under the pressure of another lengthy debate related to the environment and planning. It so happened that on that particular day I was the recipient of threats and verbal abuse and Labour MP Joe Farrugia, another Mintoffian relic known as “il-Farell”, was the culprit. He took umbrage at the Opposition’s way of calling a vote on every clause of the presented Bill, with the debate inevitably running into the early hours of the morning.
An unprovoked other Joe Farrugia turned to me when together with colleagues Tonio Fenech and Tony Bezzina I went to grasp some fresh air on the outdoor bridge connecting the two blocks of parliament house. He was clearly using a threatening language with a threatening tone and a threatening body language. His words were rude and shallow. His sentences were to say the least incoherent. I had no choice but to report the matter to the Speaker of the House and ask for his protection even if it seemed to me that the case was at the time treated as no more than a storm in a tea cup. And now we are faced with the Debono Grech case, the same Debono Grech who had the guts to stand up in parliament to defend il-Farell’s abusive behaviour towards a fellow parliamentarian. But this is what you get when you let supposedly minor things such as these go by as if nothing has happened. By the way Joe Farrugia never denied the incident. He just dismissed it as a joke when confronted by the speaker.
Blame it on the Nationalists
Joe Debono Grech’s tantrum was blamed on provocation. After all Marlene Farrugia did not agree with government on issues of transparency and good governance. My voting on environmental issues with my parliamentary group was taken as a provocation by Joe Farrugia il-Farell. Just as in the Mintoffian/ Debono Grech era of politics, the late Nationalist MP George Bonello du Puis lost his front teeth when a minister crossed to the other side of the chamber and punched him in the face for provoking him by exercising his rights as a parliamentarian. It also reminds me how the Tal-Barrani incidents were blamed on the Nationalists because they dared to hold a mas meeting in a traditionally Labour stronghold.
Whenever New Labour is in the line of fire, and this has become no exceptional occasion, its line of defence has always been a puerile reference to the Nationalist Party’s twenty five years in government. As if the Nationalist Party has anything to be ashamed of. If anything successive Nationalist administrations have transformed Malta from a quasi-third world country into a modern democracy and a prosperous economy.
The irony of it all is that the Labour MP’s attitude in parliament has over and over again rekindled memories of a very shameful Labour past. A so called ‘golden era’ which nobody else wishes to return to bar the typical Labour cronies.