It is a known fact that Malta has a great history. We Maltese do not appreciate our heritage and history as much as we should. Personally I believe that in our education experience we treat this as another subject and do not have enough time to learn about Maltese history. As regards our recent history we have other kind of problems since the interpretation given depends on whether you support one political party or the other. This is a real shame.

Last week we celebrated Freedom Day, which is one of the five national days that this small island state celebrates. Unfortunately not all national days are celebrated in the same way by the present administration. The Nationalist Party and government are more inclined to celebrate one feast and give a cold shoulder to others while ignoring almost completely Freedom Day. And this is a real pity and shows how divisive the present government is.

The PN is trying to re-write history and is not being at all fair. History according to the PN is that whatever happened is due to them and the rest is null and void. Of course this is far from the truth. Freedom Day was a milestone in itself and the country took a new impetus and moved forward. Of course it followed other historic events and all these should be linked with one another.

The Nationalist Party and the government with their propaganda machine tried not only to devalue Freedom Day but also to politicise it. With their attitude they made it very clear that they do not accept Freedom Day as a national day which is still very relevant to our recent history but also to our present economic and political situation. They discriminated against this national day and did nothing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the departure of the British troops. Thank God that the Labour Party organised a number of events to commemorate this day and to also show the way forward.

I do not know whether as a country we can agree on one national day while still celebrating the other days as important national days as was suggested by the Labour Leader.

However with the attitude of the Nationalist Party and the government it would be almost impossible to reach an agreement. While they say that they want national unity, their actions are another story. From the statements and speeches made from the PN political spectrum, one can say that they still live in the past and only mention things that according to them happened because of the other political party. I always believe that it takes two to tango.

If bad things happened in the past it was because of both political parties and responsibility must be equally shared. If things changed this should also be credited to both political parties.

The Nationalist Party is not pure and if they want to be credible they must shoulder their responsibilities. Re-writing history in the way that the Nationalists are doing is a confirmation that they are ashamed of their past and want to omit parts of it while highlighting others in such a way that they blame only the Labour Party. I know that this will not change but if the Nationalists want to unite the country they should stop being divisive even in the way we celebrate the national days.

A new political season

For those who want to be objective Joseph Muscat did bring a new political season. Of course the Nationalist Party and their allies are too blind to see this. I do not expect any credit from the PN and the government but at least stating facts is the bare minimum they can do. One example is the responsible way that we as Labour Party are dealing with national issues.

We are being very careful the way we speak about the international and local situation. For example a number of companies are encountering problems mostly due to the international crisis. We as an opposition appreciated the way that Malta Enterprise is helping these companies and also issued a statement to acknowledge this. We urged the government to also support smaller companies which of course may be less politically sensitive but are important players both economically and socially. We as a constructive opposition suggested a stimulus package in the same way as was suggested by the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry supported by the MHRA towards the end of January of this year.

It was also thanks to Joseph Muscat that Parliament discussed the issue of illegal migration with the Opposition Leader proposing an action plan made up of 20 proposals. If these two issues are not issues of national importance I do not know which the main issues are. And if it happened that these issues are also popular then it is a confirmation that the opposition is in touch with reality. Raising these concerns on the national agenda is a sign that the opposition is working in the national interest.

I take the opportunity to you all a happy and peaceful Easter.

Carmelo Abela is Deputy Speaker & Labour main spokesperson for industry and foreign investment

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