Dear MP,

During the last political campaign you won my admiration for the dignified way you faced the criticism and actions of your opponents. I regret to say that today this admiration has totally evaporated.

Now that the hot issue of divorce has come out in the open, I felt that I had to show you how much the initiative you took last July did upset me. As others have already remarked, your controversial private member’s Bill was ‘a bolt from the blue’. Eddie Fenech Adami called it ‘political disloyalty’.

You knew that your party had no mandate on this legislation which can leave negative repercussions and affect not only individuals but also society at large.

You knew that, come general elections, voters base their choice on what Members of Parliament promise and not on what they dream up later.

You knew, as you yourself admitted, that this is a serious and delicate matter which can change the mentality and culture of the Maltese.

Undoubtedly you knew the precarious situation of your party. I don’t think you were aiming at a personal triumph. But don’t you think that your action was ungentlemanly?

Since you were so eager to promote this issue, couldn’t you have waited a couple of years and then joined the AD, the only party which explicitly states that it is in favour of divorce? Not even the leader of the Opposition was going to risk introducing this matter in his party’s political programme. Please allow me to tell you, he was more prudent than you have been. All he promised was that if his party won the election, he would take the same step that you did.

After all, if you think that divorce is a basic human right, you could have taken the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, now that we are part of the EU.

One last word. I hope that each night, when you put your head on your pillow, you sleep peacefully, without stabs of remorse.

■ George Cassar

Victoria