There were many reasons that led the Labour Party to victory in the March election.

One of them was that Joseph Muscat was clever enough to pick on issues that people were most irked about and turn them into a crusade of attacks against the previous administration. The high water and energy bills come to mind quickly as an example of this approach. He won kudos for that although, now that he is Prime Minister, he must deliver on his promises.

The Nationalist Party had labelled this tactic as populist, one that was harmful to the country in that the PL was trying to please everyone in a bid to win as many votes as possible. The PN issued regular statements saying that Dr Muscat was telling one group of people something and the opponents of this group of people the opposite.

But, rightly or wrongly, the strategy worked brilliantly for the PL. Populism did help Labour win the election and this line of thinking has not stopped now that Labour is in government.

It has continued in minor matters, such as the idea to give free access to people in the standing area for the Joseph Calleja concert earlier this month. This was greatly welcomed by that section of the population that wants – and believes it has the right to have – everything for free. The calculation made by the government was that the section of the population that would be pleased by such a move was bigger than the section that would object. And so it went ahead with the idea, so that the people sitting in the front seats ended up paying, through their taxes, for those standing behind them.

Concerts have as such, therefore, been added to the list of items that are provided “for free”, with most of the people benefitting from such exercise little realising that others are paying for them, whether it’s health, education or social services. This will not help change the mentality of many Maltese who expect others to pay for their laziness, the upbringing of their children and so many other services provided through other people’s hard-earned money. But what matters – to the government – is that the majority of people were happy to go to Floriana and follow the concert without paying a cent.

Populism is abounding in other, more delicate spheres and this includes the illegal migration phenomenon. Only this week, we had an incident involving 102 migrants stranded on a tanker that was refused entry into Maltese waters, with Italy eventually accepting to have them disembark at Syracuse after the European Union had reprimanded Malta for the stand it had taken. On this particular incident, Malta was legally correct, but Dr Muscat’s words – “call us heartless” – turned out to be prophetic judging by the way the international media interpreted the chain of events.

Still, the stand the government took on this issue was a populist one that, in my view, earned the support of many, not least among which was the Nationalist Party – which publicly expressed its backing – and of many PN supporters. The instincts of self-preservation, safeguarding of one’s interests and defending one’s territory came to the fore forcibly in this situation, and this is what Labour banked on.

I am saying this because I believe that the great majority of people in Malta do not want their country to be invaded by others looking for a better life. Their argument is that we already live in an over-populated, isolated rock with limited resources and these immigrants are threatening the fabric of our society, not to mention the money that is being spent to provide accommodation and food, while keeping them guarded in closed quarters and the administrative work needed to process their applications for asylum.

By this I do not mean that the majority of Maltese want drastic measures to be taken against such arrivals, allowing people to die at sea. But they would rather not have them coming over in the first place, and if there is even a chance that we could avoid having just one boatload arrive, then we should take that opportunity. One hundred less migrants is better than 100 more.

This is what happened this week and this is why, while the international media was calling us heartless, the prevailing sentiment in Malta was that the Maltese government had done the right thing. Seeing it in the broader picture, Malta’s stand could work against us in the international sphere. But at a national level, Joseph Muscat has emerged stronger, simply because he tackled the issue in the exact manner in which the majority of people wanted him to within his capacity as prime minister.

This is the kind of populism that helped Labour gain so much ground since Joseph Muscat took over the leadership of his party and, more recently, that of the country. One may argue in favour or against such tactics, one may say that populist moves are not necessarily the right ones; but at the end of the day, a government is elected democratically by the people and if the great majority of those people want a populist government, then they will get one.

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