In my letter to the editor (TMID, 2 November), I stated that it was not a Malta Labour Party government that gave women the right to vote. That is a historical fact. Victor Laiviera (TMID, 6 November) tried to convince this newspaper’s readers that the Draft Constitution was drawn by a Maltese National Assembly in July 1945. Shame. I did state in my said letter that “someone once said that if you repeat your own lies, you would start to believe them”. So, Mr Laiviera, the truth is that it was not a Labour government that gave women the right to vote.

The truth sometimes hurts and the truth is that between 1933 and 1947 Malta was deprived of a Prime Minister. This means that the Council of Government or the Maltese National Assembly, as some preferred to call it had no teeth and actually no true national representation. It would be interesting if Mr Laiviera were to tell us who were those who were elected in 1945 and were somewhat responsible for Dr Enrico Mizzi’s deportation to Uganda in 1940. Traitors, they endorsed the Colonial Regime’s vile actions to exile a true patriot. One must not forget that the British Government feared this Nationalist leader (he was also a Nationalist Party Leader), so much so that they court-martialed him and sentenced him to one year imprisonment in 1917, even though Italy was on the Allies’ side during the First World War.

But then why am I wasting time and energy to revive the past? Let’s talk about 1 January and beyond. Malta will join the euro. Income Tax reductions will be introduced. The Children’s Allowance will be revised and increased. The elderly will not lose any of their pensions if they opt to continue working. Both workers and pensioners will be getting a Lm1.50 (EUR3.50) increase per week. Widows/widowers will not pay duty on the portion of the residence the will inherit. Nurses, doctors, the Armed Forces and the police will be getting a substantial salary increase and students will continue to benefit of the stipends. All this will happen on 1 January.

Yes, who really cares as to who gave women the right to vote? The important thing is that they must vote wisely. They must keep in mind that Lufthansa is here to stay and will be employing more people. SmartCity has been acquired and will be employing some 5,600 people. HSBC are here to stay and they have just expanded their operations and thus employed more people. Mater Dei hospital has been built and the migration from St Luke’s hospital will be completed this month. The “Pharmacy of your choice” has happened and will improve as we go along. New schools have been built and opened while the standard of education is continuously improving. Employment is at its highest and unemployment at its lowest.

Who wants a new beginning when we are going full steam ahead to achieve excellence in all the key factors essential to a better standard of living? We do not want any U-turns. We have seen too many of those already. We have seen the “partnership” option being discarded for the EU membership. The Labour Party has finally woken up and realised that we will be getting plenty more than Lm1.5m (EUR3.495m) from the EU. They found out that the Sicilians will not invade Malta. They have discovered that businesses did not close. They have found out that mothers do not have to worry about their sons being conscripted into the army. They have given up the idea of CET and accepted VAT.

But then, it’s in their nature. They have been in government before. “180 degrees” should be their logo. In 1996 they promised that if they were to be elected they will retain the students’ stipends but they actually did the opposite when they were returned to power plus they sent the students to the banks for a loan. They promised to reduce the electricity and water tariffs (they are saying the same thing now) and all they did was double them. They promised prosperity and instead stagnated the economy. They assured the electorate that they will reduce the deficit but it climbed to a record high of Lm300m (EUR698.79m). They advocated that they were the “working class champions” and yet unemployment climbed to 7,200. “What did you say, darling?”. My wife mentioned the 33 new taxes that they introduced. All this in 22 months, it’s terrifying to even think what it would have been like had they stayed the full five-year term in office.

Some might say that was 10 years ago, Labour has changed. They are now proposing a new beginning. Really, have they changed? How long ago was it that they wanted to devalue the Maltese lira by 10 per cent as they believed that we are not ready to join the euro? Only a few short months ago they were campaigning against SmartCity. Was it not at the same time that they were saying that the Pension Reform should wait until 2010?

Dr Sant managed to impress me in his closing speech regarding this year’s budget. He stated that the government should adopt the attitude of “Can do”. Definitely, Malta can do without him as Prime Minister. You see, Mr Laiviera, even though I live in a distant land, I know what’s happening in my beloved country. I can assure you that my memory serves me right, even though I would love to forget what Malta went through between 1971 and 1987 under the Socialist quasi dictatorship.

To the fairer sex I say: “Be wise, maximise Malta’s potential and when the day comes, vote the Nationalist Party.”

John Saliba

Cape Town

South Africa