As time goes by, I am meeting more and more non-Labour voters who openly admit that since Joseph Muscat took over the leadership of the PL he has been constantly setting the national agenda. He did so on the utility rates issue by triggering a parliamentary debate that would have otherwise not happened; he instigated a full blown parliamentary debate on illegal immigration which Lawrence Gonzi would have loved to avoid but could obviously not afford to ignore and he has now also recently upstaged Gonzi & Co by promoting the idea of a no strings attached public debate on having one national day while restoring the importance that 31 March should have deserved to retain over the past years.
Judging by the PN’s recent AGM and hysterical reaction from most speakers one could tell that they only had one agenda item in mind – how to try and ridicule and belittle Joseph Muscat.
There was a total lack of vision and forward planning in most of the speeches made, while MPs who are known to speak their mind like Minister John Dalli and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando either chose not to take the floor or else, even worse, were not given the slots they might have requested.
There is one thing in common between all PL leaders. Irrespective of their age, strengths and weaknesses they are invariably always demonised by the Nationalist Party.
While Mintoff used to be ridiculed for his ‘old age’ when he still had another 10 years or so to go as Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat is not only being dismissed as the young kid on the block but also as an over grown child still engrossed in playing playstation.
For proof of this, one need hardly look beyond most of the Nationalist press cartoons and the over the top intervention by David Casa who is suddenly beginning to feel the earth move under his feet, arguably since certain elements within his own party would like to edge him out, come 6 June.
If one needed any evidence as to how the PN are in free fall even over their strategic approach to the euro elections one could have easily picked up how out of synch they were from one another when catching up with Tonio Fenech’s, David Casa’s and Simon Busuttil’s sound bites.
The Finance Minister claimed that irrespective of whether Malta will have five or six Euro Parliamentary seats, the PN simply deserve to win them all!
David Casa said that to be more realistic one had to realise that the whole issue whittled down to whether the PN would win the third seat or not, while Simon Busuttil adopted a deliberately more down to earth approach by claiming that in effective terms the issue could even be more delicate than that – as to whether the PN would win the second seat or not.
But if anything stood out in sharp contrast it was the statesman-like speech Joseph Muscat delivered during the Vittoriosa mass meeting on Freedom Day’s eve and the politically laden speech Gonzi delivered one day earlier during the closing session of his party’s general conference.
With his eyes firmly on the hard core Nationalist vote, Gonzi sung the praises of Independence Day without bothering with the slightest tribute to Freedom Day. In sharp contrast, Joseph Muscat deliberately stopped short of naming which day should be considered as the national day of Malta in order not to influence the public debate that might follow in the coming weeks, only to go on to show far more maturity and level headedness than his elder rival when he ended his speech by hailing Independent Malta, our Republican status as well as Freedom Day.
No wonder someone told me that in spite of the fact that Gonzi is old enough to be Joseph Muscat’s father, the young Labour leader has already found a way of upstaging him and outsmarting him.
Dr Muscat’s visionary speech at Vittoriosa also stood out for his references to the conservative forces on the island. A comment which prompted an analyst’s remark that this was another indication of his attempt to pitch the political battle on an ideological footing.
While the Nationalists were too busy fuelling animosity towards the PL, the PL remained undaunted by this puerile and predictable attempt with Joseph Muscat referring constantly to social divisions, which according to him, a new progressive movement would seek to eradicate.
Joseph Muscat spoke of two dreams. His ‘Maltese dream’ of equal opportunities for all while setting private initiative free and ensuring free quality health care for everybody; enmeshed with his ‘European dream’ of stressing how a free Malta needs to shed its inferiority complex as well as that the Maltese dream will be born again within the EU while we need to start believing in ourselves once again.
While in the past, certain Labour leaders might have had a tendency of referring to certain ideals without articulating them well enough, Joseph Muscat minced no words in declaring that not only has another movement for change been born, but also that we need to convince even those who do not agree with us that there is a new alternative and that we need to explain to the people our dream.
His quote: ‘I believe. Believe with me’ would have done an Obama speech writer proud!
A President with a difference
One did not need to await the new President’s first official speech to realise that we are heading for a Presidency with a difference. His interview in a local newspaper last Friday sufficed to convey this message. The man who came across was someone who would not be drawn into controversies; who would not take political sides; who would steer clear of direct or indirect political nuances; who did not indulge in the political nostalgia that often snapped like a mouse trap the moment certain predecessors made public pronouncements. In his interview he came across as his own man; eager to represent unity in diversity. It came like a breadth of fresh air to hear such determination and single minded pursuit of the notion that the Presidency cannot and must not enter into political or social controversy.
His best quote was that he will continue to speak his mind but will do so in private during official talks with the PM and the Opposition Leader.
I am convinced that when he ends his term he will have brilliantly succeeded in fulfilling his wish of bringing stature to the Presidency and creating what he termed as ‘a sense of state.’
His success will only benefit the Maltese and Gozitan citizens at large, irrespective of their political views.
Website
I must thank all those who welcomed positively my recently launched website. It is my intention to continue pushing Labour’s strong Green agenda while carrying parliamentary questions and media releases of interest that often get lost as a result of the media blitz and overload certain newspaper editors are subjected to. I will continue to welcome any suggestions as to how to beef it up further.
E-mail: [email protected]
web: www.leobrincat.com
Leo Brincat is the Main Opposition Spokesperson for the Environment, Sustainable Development & Climate Change