When I was young, attending the Government Primary School at Paola, together with the rest of the class, I was made to sing this stanza about Humpty Dumpty,
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again
Little did I realize at the time that this is a traditional English nursery rhyme. As the rest of the pupils, I loved the figure of Humpty Dumpty. Poor boy, if you happened to be fat, as our teachers would keep him up to personify humpty dumpty in an improvised acting class. But all of us used to love it. What we were not told in school was that this poem is a political limerick, created by the common people as an expression of political protest. Some think that it was created to make fun against the tyrannical King Richard III. Others maintain that this is a reference to a cannon or another piece of siege machine that fell during the siege against the Parliamentary held city of Gloucester in 1643 during the Civil War.
Unlike today, fatness had a different meaning in the past. Obesity today is scorned at. In Medieval and Early Modern England, any person who was fat, meant that he was opulent and rich. Only the rich could become fat as the rest of the population was undernourished. Therefore, the fact of obesity did not bother the people. What bothered was political arrogance. Yet, the people had very few tools to fight it. The aristocracy appeared too strong. The king with his noblemen believed that they could always run the show. It was a time, when nobody was allowed to criticize the political leaders. The powerful aristocrats ruled the land with iron fists.
There was no need for laws of libel. Action against political opposition was always direct. Any form of protest was considered an act of treason and punished by death. The only way for commoners to vouch their anger and frustrations was through poetic riddles. Humpty Dumpty is a case in point.
Today, in post-colonial Malta, the fall of the mighty is taking place. I am referring to two politicians who directly or indirectly are in the news. The first one is Manuel Mallia. I am not interested in physical resemblances. The mighty Manuel Mallia is coming down due to the popular outcry after the last scandal involving his driver. His ministry has become the object of ridicule. He has been in the news, always attracting negative publicity for the Government, from the inception of Labour in office in March 2013. Now that Mallia had a great fall, and I doubt whether the king's men can put him (politically) together again. Thanks to the media, the ordeal has become public. If this had happened in the past, the poor victim, who has already been imprisoned for nearly two days without charge, (as finally this is what arrest is all about), would have risked being dragged to court and branded an enemy of the nation.
Today, Joseph Muscat is faced with a situation similar to what Eddie Fenech Adami had to face after 1987. I clearly remember Guido de Marco being appointed Minister for the Interior and Justice. I got the shock of my life when I saw Guido de Marco walking triumphantly in the middle of a group of people you would not want behind your door. Both Justice and Police were a big mess then and Eddie Fenech Adami had the political intuition to redress this situation. The opportunity arose when the late and beloved Censu Tabone was appointed President. de Marco was promoted to Foreign Affairs minister in his stead. There he did a brilliant job.
It is an open secret, that Guido de Marco is Manuel Mallia's mentor. Mallia wants to emulate and prove himself to be better than de Marco. He started with a big ministry having both the portfolio of justice and the interior. Soon trouble erupted and the portfolio of justice was dropped and Owen Bonnici became minister. These facts are proving one thing. Top criminal lawyers cannot be entrusted with the Ministry of the Interior. At least, both de Marco and Mallia proved to be unsuitable for the job. I am sure that there is even more to this. A serious biographical study would reveal other hidden similarities that, till now,have escaped public scrutiny.
The most important point here is that Joseph Muscat is caught in an even worse political position than the one Fenech Adami was in 25 years ago. He has very few openings for Mallia. On the one hand Muscat is defending him. On the other, he is saying that what happened is not acceptable. The pressure for a reshuffle is increasing. But so far our Prime Minister has excluded it. The post o fPresident has now been filled. Even that of a EU Commissioner has been taken. The only post that is still vacant for Mallia is that currently occupied by Louis Galea at the Court of Auditors. However, this last scandal has dented Mallia chances to fly to Brussels to enjoy a hefty salary.
Most of the politicians in the past surrounded themselves with thugs. Let's grant them the benefit of doubt. They needed tough persons to protect them and their families. The climate was tense then. But I am sure that the political climate now is far less tense, unless Joseph Muscat and the rest of his ministers do not heat it up. But I sincerely doubt that this is their intention. Therefore, why the hell, has our Interior Minister surrounded himself with these bullies? The only reason I can see is remote from personal safety. The life of the Minister was never under threat. The only reason is to boost his personal ego. Do we need chauffeurs of ministerial cars who are armed? No we don't.
The second political "Humpty Dumpty" who had a great fall is the former nationalist minister Michael Falzon. In part, his story was overshadowed by the burlesque way the Government handled such a serious incident. Unlike Mallia, Falzon was not in the news. But his lack of presence is the reason for his political fall. After supporting Muscat's movement for five years, he returned to the PN ranks, reminding all and sundry, through his articles on Il-Mument about Mintoff's time and on his regular blog that Muscat has lost his moral high grounds. But in Maltese, there is a saying that says "biex tiskongra trid tkun pur i.e., to criticize one needs to be 'immaculate". I wonder how Falzon feels now after the Malta Developers Association (DMA), of whom he is Honorary President and Consultant, went out to defend the Minister Helena Dalli and her husband about the abusive development on their property at Hal Tmiem,Żejtun. I consider these illegal works as another political scandal. The Minister and her husband should lead by example. As the name of this hamlet means (the End), it is the end of Mr. Michael Falzon's self appointed position as high priest to speak to all us lesser mortals about high moral issues.
One needs to remember that Mr Michael Falzon is a co-founder with the Labourite Sandro Chetcuti of MDA.When the PN was in Government, Mr Michael Falzon was the President of this Association and used his political contacts to support members in distress. Now that the Government has changed, Mr Sandro Chetcuti has taken the helm.
The story of Mallia is an eye-opener for Labour that not all is well with these famous PN converts, who moved to Labour. Today, Simon Busuttil and the rest of the PN should start thanking their lucky starts for having got rid of Mallia (but not only) from their party.They were the reason that, over the years, the PN did not grow and suffered its well-deserved implosion. The problem for Joseph Muscat now is that the more these individuals stay in Labour, the sooner is his party going to suffer from the same fate and electoral defeat of the Nationalists. In politics, success rests on loyalty. This word is absent from the turncoats' vocabulary.
In my humble opinion, the ex-Nationalist Minister Michael Falzon's silence is synonymous of his support to Labour or else that the interest of his lobby group comes before any presumption of high moral grounds. I am right to believe that as he is the honorary president and consultant, he must have been consulted about this press release aimed to bury the cock-up of Minister Helena Dalli and her husband. Like Mallia, Minister Dalli has a case for resignation. Helena Dalli was going to be another Humpty Dumpty but should thank her lucky stars, as she was saved from "a big fall" by Mallia and his team.
There is no doubt that no action was taken by MEPA with regards to the illegal development because the property is owned by the minister and her husband. One needs to remember that Godfrey Farrugia was made to resign for a less grave mistake. The genuine Labourite and honest politician, Anglu Farrugia, was forced to resign from deputy leader due to his brusque, Mintoffian style,behaviour,which was considered no longer in style with the image of Muscat's new Labour. It should be remembered that this new image of Labour was fabricated by PN defectors. The removal from Labour of the old guard, and Anglu Farrugia is a case in point, is making the sense of political decay in the Prime Minister's party palpable.
It is imperative for the PN, if it wants to win the next election, to keep all the turncoats at arms' length. Mr Sandro Chetcuti and his association's declaration is a signal to all those in the PN Party, who are pushing to have these ex-PNs back. Their credibility within the party is in question. Those who believe in good governance should question the real intentions of dried-up husk individuals who preach about high moral grounds.