“Anger growing, resentment deepening” by Marisa Micallef (TMID 21 February) left me somewhat confused. Not surprised, merely confused.
In the preamble of the attack against the party which she has so vigilantly and vigorously sustained over the years, Ms Micallef gave “another example of the Nationalist Party thinking that they can fool the people”.
She went on to state the obvious in that “If you try to trick people, in any way, and the people notice, they will hate you all the more for it”.
The article targets as a focus “the Nationalist Party’s tricks” and other unsavoury attitudes within the same party, excluding from blame its leader Dr Lawrence Gonzi.
One may find it very encouraging to see a party stalwart standing up to be counted, especially in our political environment, where public self-criticism is not exactly the order of the day.
One can also see it as a heroic act.
As a socialist I walk tall and feel proud to support Dr Alfred Sant and his team in the Labour Party, the party which enjoys the support of the majority of people.
Nevertheless, there were times when I felt slightly uncomfortable to accept certain statements and deeds made by some party exponents, including present and previous party leaders, but I still look up to the Labour Party.
In the final analysis the MLP is still the avant-garde of the masses which does not exclude any class or section of the electorate.
Ms Marisa Micallef seems to be preoccupied in seeing “the middle classes feeling disillusioned right now”.
My problem is not to understand Ms Marisa Micallef being disillusioned with the Nationalist Party.
My difficulty is to comprehend how a political party activist like her, can with such adamant criticism, hang on to the same party.
But, there again, I do not have a public office to protect.
Your correspondent is also feeling protective of Dr Gonzi as she fears that the “Lawrence ticket” is being grossly abused by her party.
She goes on to attribute all the good virtues to him and describing him as “our best ticket” while she describes Dr Sant as the worst ticket [as potential PM].
Now that, finally, Ms Micallef has started to see the light, perhaps she ought to ponder a little more deeply as to how really “weak” Dr Sant is as a leader.
Was it a coincidence that Dr Sant was demonised by the same party with elements of “bright sparks who talk to decent, hard working people who have served the party [PN] well, like they are expendable bits of rubbish”.
Ms Marisa Micallef will find that the “bright sparks” are not a new phenomenon in the Nationalist Party.
They were also there to demonise Lord Strickland, Paul Boffa, Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.
Why should the same “bright sparks” be more tolerant today towards Dr Alfred Sant and others?
Charles J Buttigieg
Mellieha