I do not agree with those who maintain that Daphne Caruana Galizia is a mere PN cheer lady, and that she is therefore not to be taken seriously. She may sometimes appear to be staging a blitz against PN opponents and others but she still has a strong function of saying things that others cannot afford to say. In her remarkable contribution (TMID, 20 March) she has stated some things, which at face value seemed to be hurled at MLP and AD supporters who are calling for the resignation of JPO.

But when carefully examining her contribution, one could also come to the conclusion that she is mainly addressing JPO and the PN supporters themselves. In a very clear way she is giving JPO an important message that neither Pietà nor Castille could make without losing face.

Daphne is clearly stating to JPO: nobody can ask (you) JPO to resign except (your) his constituents. Now here comes in the message. It is up to JPO to remain a quiet, PN loyal backbencher until 2013. She even presented him with some alternative behaviour, for instance, to do like Wenzu Mintoff in 1989, or to vote against his own party, like Dom Mintoff did in 1998. If however JPO dares to do this, the verdict of the constituents could come sooner than 2013. Not even the formidable Dom Mintoff survived 1998.

As for the PN supporters at large, she is sending them an important message that could not be conveyed by any other party official during this legislature. She knows about the existing feeling among PN supporters that JPO might have cost the party important votes during the last elections and that therefore unprecedented pressure from PN quarters could mount on JPO to do his “duty”. The message for PN supporters is clear cut. They should leave JPO at rest and mind their own business. Nobody in the PN should corner him and make his life uneasy within the PN Parliamentary group, because without him this term could be much shorter.

She does not say this in a blunt way. On the contrary, she tries to sweeten the message for both JPO and the PN supporters. She is telling them not to feel distressed because of any eventual loss of votes. There is no clear evidence to this, on the contrary, (please, open your ears all PN folks and leaders alike) JPO has “pulled in significant numbers of votes, probably enough to make a difference to the outcome”.

In a nutshell, JPO is being kindly requested to harness his “amoc” behaviour that characterised him before the general elections and duly reflect upon his next steps. This should safely lead him and the PN government until 2013. On the other hand, PN supporters are kindly invited to suppress their anger about what could easily have turned out to be the horse of troy. JPO was not the device of the enemy that had been “cheered in” during PN mass meetings in the last minutes of the contest. DCG has craftily managed to persuade us that JPO was the Achilles’ heel of Dr Alfred Sant and this is precisely why she cast her vote for JPO, for which (poor we) there is no real evidence.

Agnes Debono

Kercem