Much has been said and written, much has been thought and analysed since the news of the barbaric homicide of Daphne Caruana Galizia on that quiet afternoon of 16 October. Opinions voiced have been many as to the reason why it came about, many of which certainly have elements of truth; however, in searching for the reason why our society has found itself in the situation it is today, one needs to delve even deeper into the development of our society over the last decades.
That society failed Daphne is an undisputed fact; that her premature death brought about a stark realisation that our society has been losing its respect for the rule of law and requires immediate intervention is a fact. It is also true that civil society may be waking up from its deep coma of total acceptance without questioning and challenging of all that goes on in our society, although we need to understand how we got to where we are.
Although government after government invested in education, they were more concerned about encouraging more students to pursue tertiary education than in improving the quality of the knowledge absorbed. They boasted of the growing numbers of the student population, which has increased dramatically in tertiary education since 1987. However, no one questions what quality of education we have given these generations, some of which today form the backbone of our adult society.
Our governments have been more interested in boasting about the degrees being meted out to our students without questioning what they have learnt in their educational and character formation years. Apart from the parchment, what are our students left with? Has their education managed to give them the essential forma mentis to effectively and validly contribute to society, which is what education should be all about? Has our Civic Studies, today reformed as the famous Systems of Knowledge, attained its objectives? What type of society have we educated and formed?
I regret concluding that while we have been successful in dishing out degrees, our educational system has failed miserably in that it has failed to instil in our students the basic tenets of civic society, the value of a participatory democratic society, of tolerance, respect for different opinions, of dialogue, of understanding the true meaning of freedom of expression, of fighting for one's rights not only when it affects you but when and because it is right. Our educational system has failed to instil in many the capacity to discern right from wrong. This is where our society failed Daphne - ours is a society which harbours intolerance for diverse opinions and divisive political beliefs sowed clearly by our political climate, a society which constantly experiences degrading levels of politics, which is then reflected back to its citizens who end up knowing no better and expressing themselves and acting in a similar manner.
Our political parties have failed society over the years in more ways than one. Today, after our society was hit where it hurts most, in the fourth pillar of society's structure and democratic foundation, via the murder of a prominent journalist who had the courage to pursue the truth and say things which many others shied away from saying, civil society is reacting.
The Nationalist Party transformed this country economically since 1987, putting it on a pedestal on which it still stands today; it took us into Europe's most important corridors, but the savage murder of Daphne has brought the stark reality of our society's failures to the fore. This murder coupled with the abuse of our democratic structures perpetrated over the last few years has reminded us that our infant democracy does not have the strong democratic foundations required to withstand an anti-democratic assault on it. While in government, the Nationalist Party had entrenched the offices of the Ombudsman and that of the Auditor General into our Constitution, two offices the holders of which today have had the courage to intervene as necessary, to carry out their functions and not simply bow down to the power of incumbency. The other structures have all let us down. The Nationalist Party could and should have strengthened our democracy further, but it was far too concentrated on the economy, innocently thinking that the eighties were gone forever. How wrong that assumption was.
Today we have structures which, whether consciously or unintentionally, lean constantly and unquestionably towards Government and once their independence and impartiality are not guaranteed, those vested with power within those same structures are handed a carte blanche to abuse it as they like. This is a recipe for disaster which has inevitably led to the present situation our country is in at the moment.
We have a government which has decided to politicise every institution, which has put its henchmen and women in every office of power and authority and our society has put up little or no resistance. Many are too scared of rocking their comfortable boat by criticising openly, too concerned of the potential personal consequences rather than the common good, which short-sightedness, as has happened today, boomerangs back in their, and our, faces. Not for Daphne though - she never accepted what she believed was wrong and she wrote vociferously in favour of standards in public office, against sleaze, corruption and abuse of public office and authority, on anything she believed was wrong, challenging all to task. Being a journalist, her weapon was her pen, but even there, many other journalists who could tell right from wrong stopped short from overtly supporting the causes she championed for one reason or another. It is no wonder that for many years, she had become the only source of information, reporting and commentary which practically everybody followed irrelevant of their creed or political opinion.
Where were our civil institutions when our democracy was being eroded? In any other country, people would have taken to the streets but in ours, people were in a deep slumber. Our Police Force has failed us, it has lost its independence and leans and acts solely on higher instructions. The Office of the Attorney General has failed us; it should have acted on many of the truths Daphne uncovered, but it did not.
Where was our judiciary over these years? It has become yet another institution which has lost all credibility and in which our politicians have failed society. Today we have a farcical method of appointing members of the judiciary and people have lost faith in the institution because the system is crippled by delays and its abysmal record in upholding fundamental human rights. Society no longer respects such an important pillar of our democracy and here again, politicians have a lot to answer for, but none of us is exonerated, because society let it happen. Too much lip service is paid to what is required to be done, when in practice nothing has been done.
Civil Society Network should have added the manner of appointment of the judiciary to its demands; it should have added that all key roles in the civil service should be nominated on a two-thirds vote by our parliamentarians. I believe it is never too late, but we need to wake up and start making demands.
But what about the other members of civil society? Where were they when our structures were being dismantled through decisions which catered for short-term personal gain rather than for the long-term good of society? Where were our architects and engineers when MEPA was diluted to ensure that electoral promises were fulfilled? Where were our teachers when our education system failed us? The list goes on and on. Evidently, there were too many personal interests in the way for any resistance to abuse to be put up. And this is what Daphne did not do; she did not think about herself, she only thought of what she believed was good for society and stated it; one may have disagreed with her style, but she carried out and published investigative journalism and tirelessly strove to uncover wrongdoings which she believed the public should be informed about.
Today, civil society has realised that the strength and efficacy of its democratic institutions is not guaranteed and that it must act to restore and protect them. Hence the Civil Society Network's cause is supported without fear - it is supported because it is the right thing to do and not because you or I may be next; it is supported because political interference in our democratic institutions should be a thing of our distant, dark political history, never to be relived. We have to stand up and support these initiatives because they will, hopefully, strengthen our democracy; they are not partisan in nature and will be made and reiterated to all governments headed by whichever political party. This has to be the start of a process which will lead to the entrenchment of procedures which no future government can undermine; it must lead to institutions which are independent of the government of the day, which can truly carry out their intended functions and which society regards with pride and not disdain. It is time to give power back to the people.