From Mr A. Gauci Cunningham
The above is a word that doesn’t exist in my Oxford Dictionary but I’ll give it a meaning anyway: It’s when you give the impression that you’ve changed when you actually haven’t.
Anyway, do you remember Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici’s “wind of change”? I do. I can still remember a teacher in my college playing his guitar and singing at the top of his voice while we were practising some school play and, since I have always been a keen observer, I cannot forget this particular moment.
Only recently, it crossed my mind again as I asked myself ‘wait a minute are these the same people who are advocating change today? Or not? ‘ The truth, as much as a few hot headed Labourites would like to deny, is that the MLP is still waiting for the wind. It is a party that contented itself with a little bit of make-up and fanfare in 1992 with the election of Dr Sant but it has not changed one bit since 1992.
Yes, OK, there are no Socialist thugs any more and intolerant people ready to beat the hell out of anyone who even murmurs the word “Eddie”. There are no more people who publicly state their hatred for those who through hard work achieve goals in life and earn a good wage.
The elements of “Jew xej jew b’xej” have been silenced but hey, don’t expect anyone to be the grateful because that was the least people expected back then!
The truth staring everyone in the face is that the MLP was, is, and under the present leadership will continue to be the party of Labourites and only for them; the others are used at election time to garner a vote or two to reach the promised land of Castile! That’s what they did in 1996 with the self-employed, who were promised that VAT would be removed even though they had to think of ways to curb abuse, and the whole world was realising the benefits of VAT.
They promised university students a full stipend only to halve the amount when in government (Lm50 loan and Lm50 grant!). Who cared about the protests we had for weeks on end, they used the students, and led them to think that Dr Sant was the “bidu gdid” back then, they redesigned the MLP’s image and then they called them “fundamentalists”.
Dr Sant gave the impression that everyone stood by his side, everyone was supporting his leadership when in actual fact “il-perit” was “forced” to contest the election in the second district to attract the Mintoffian “Bormlizi Laburisti” crowd, only to be literally abandoned and given the side when in power. I quite remember Dom Mintoff saying how he wasn’t even allowed to participate in Labour’s Parliamentary group meetings!
This was Dr Sant back then and this is Dr Sant today. The fact is that these people have never even had the decency to accept that they’ve made gross mistakes. These people still think and still force their supporters to think “Partnership Rebah”, these people still believe that VAT is the big bad wolf ready to eat you up, these people still believe that privatisation is that process were the country sells its “silverware”, these people still think that Mintoff, Lino Spiteri, George Abela and a few others were wrong but Dr Sant was right!
These people still believe that the government can control the price of a can of tuna and a roll of toilet paper or a can of “incova” (anchovies), these people still believe that SmartCity is a joke and that we need a couple of Denims to keep Malta going, these people still think that the euro is bad, very bad, and that Gonzi “... cahhadna mil-lira...” as an interviewee said on the Xarabank edition on the euro!
These are the same people who day in day out scared the hell out of thousands of their supporters, telling them what a disaster the EU meant for us, how we would be gobbled up, how our children would have to fight “their wars”, how we would get no money, how many Sicilians would take our jobs, how only the “barunijiet” will survive Malta in the EU.
Only to change their position overnight!
These are the same people who should have gotten the message in 1998 when the people said “No” to the MLP because it had taken them for a ride big time and was not capable of offering stability; the same people who were told “no” in the referendum because the people didn’t believe in the “partnership” fiasco, only to manipulate their way into claiming victory.
Do you remember the cheerful Dr Sant flanked by Dr George Vella and Dr Joe Brincat looking like their favourite “parish priest” had just died claiming to be the winner of the referendum while genuine Socialists were banging their heads against the wall.
That was a disgrace in capital letters, a blot on our political history, but Dr Sant would have none of this and vowed to get us out of the EU as soon as he wins the election(?!?) but he got another big fat “No”.
Did they sit down to study the situation or evaluate the result? No sir, they manipulated, or shall I say stage-managed Dr Sant’s resignation to make sure he remained in power!
Sorry about prying into the “party’s internal affairs”, but who wanted Dr Sant? In whose interest was it for Dr Sant to remain in power? Who benefited from Dr Sant’s re-election as party leader?
Which party in any democracy re-elects a person who was over and over again rejected so unceremoniously by the people? Why did Dr Sant accept to run the leadership race again? Doesn’t he understand electoral messages? No wonder he wants us to forget the past, no wonder they cringe and blush when they hear 1996/98 or the number 22, no wonder they would like to create a national dustbin to throw the past in it!
The MLP has made a lot about the PN not evaluating a report telling them why they lost the EP elections. True to what they claim the PN did very little to fill in the cracks, so much so some cracks called Cacopardo have started to appear. But what have they done to mend their cracks?
How have they changed their ways? When we thought that the MLP had grudgingly accepted the EU, along comes Dr Sant wanting to re-open negotiations; when we thought that the MLP was purer than pure along comes an ex Nationalist who was accused of misdeeds singing “Viva l-Labour”; when we thought that 1996 was a mistake we are enduring a re-branded 1996 campaign, surcharge instead of VAT, “kowc tal-Bidla” instead of “Cittadin Mobil” and “Bidu Gdid” instead of “cittadin l-ewwel”.
Is this the change everyone wants? Is this the change the floaters are clamouring for? Is this the change that is going to give a new beginning? No, I’m sorry the MLP had 10 whole years to act; it had 10 whole years to become meaningful to us; it had all the time in the world to make us the younger generation WANT to vote Labour; it had a lot of time to think and change their leader; it had a lot of time to become a more Liberal party in response to the handful of ultra conservative “holier than thou” Nationalists, but fact is it didn’t.
So I’ll vote for the Nationalists for the second time in my life. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll get the message this time around and become the true agents of change, trust, truth and security! Young people will not vote for the sake of change, they will vote for those who deserve the vote because they’ve worked for it!
Albert Gauci Cunningham
ST PAUL’S BAY