In April 2015, the Malta Independent reported the verbal attack against the President of the Republic of Malta made by veteran Labour politician, Joe Grima. According to Grima, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca had become “as boring as a threadbare joke” and more importantly, she had “consigned her presidency to absolute and total irrelevance” because she spoke in favour of immigration and the “integration of the Maltese with African and Eastern European immigrants.”
Yet, like anything in politics, such types of statements come back to haunt the individuals and institutions that share such views. Next, we read in the news that an Eastern European woman became a Maltese citizen through rather shady procedures. In this case the woman happened to be the wife of former Labour Minister of Justice and the Interior. I am stating this fact not to ridicule the couple but to demand that processes of integration (and marriages are an important element in the process of integration of foreigners within any society) are applied equally to all.
I don’t think that the President of the Republic, Coleiro Preca had these unpleasantries in mind when she prepared her speech for Republic Day. Being an intelligent woman she had, I am sure, disregarded Grima’s vitriolic language. Unfortunately, Grima is not the sole individual, who used (or is using) social media for character assassination purposes.
No doubt the majority of our people disapprove the use of such language. The President was speaking on their behalf. She warned that character assassination is not healthy in any democracy. She is correct. In Western Society, it has become a fashionable right to ridicule other persons’ beliefs (whether religious, political or other). I don’t believe that one can solve social ailments through legal provisos or police action. The law can only work (but not always) as a deterrent. However, I believe in the power of education and political persuasion, which can change the downturn that politics has taken. Restructuring political ethics also means the use of correct language denuded of Voltaire’s ontology about the right to satire.
However, what we are experiencing now is not an exercise in freedom of speech but an expression of hate language sometimes seen as a virtue. In reality this is a serious blow to freedom and this is where lies the abuse of our freedom of expression. Human beings do not only have reason. They have feelings and emotions and, more often than not, history shows that the latter two play a more important part in politics than reason.
The President expressed her preoccupation when she stated that personal attacks may be one of the reasons why serious individuals are keeping away from participating in politics.
Furthermore, Coleiro Preca broke the current political “omerta” when she spoke clearly about the need for our politicians to behave ethically and equitably. In normal day-to-day political debate, accusations of corruption lead to nowhere. One side accuses the other of being corrupt and the political discourse stops there. Corruption is the antithesis of what an equitable society means. Perhaps, for a long period of time, equity was linked to social class; a process of policies through which the lower strata could move upwards. These ideals are there and should remain in the present-day political discourse. But corruption hits mainly the middle classes. It erodes all the principles of equity. This goes against the interest of this same class, which was the one that historically had worked hard for social advancement in Malta.
Corruption means giving favours to those who do not deserve them. It means that permits can only be issued to a selected few. In local politics, corruption can work in the same way that the “pizzo” system works in Sicily. Only those with money, who are willing to pay, are guaranteed a permit. Therefore, those who have the ability to be inventive and pro-active find a whole bureaucratic structure against them and are kept from competing. The President is defending the interest of these latter individuals and long may she continue to do so.
Coleiro Preca touched the issue of migration. For her, humanity has to come before State borders or any other form of borders, which can also be bureaucratic, legal or other. With regard to the issue of borders, I am in favour of one Europe. Therefore, in principle and in practice I am against the closure of our frontiers. The fact that States are closing their frontiers shows that someone, somewhere, has been abusing the system.
It is extremely ironic that while the President of the Republic made a passionate plea in favour of the Environment, our Government continues to bulldoze our people to build Zonqor Point.
The President is showing that she is not ready to be just a fundraiser for the Community Chest Fund. Her Excellency is showing that she has states(wo)manship. Rightly so, her speech was endorsed by Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, to the extent that he ended up quoting her.
I conclude by supporting Dr Simon Busuttil’s request that if the Government really wants constitutional reforms, then the committee should be chaired by the President of the Republic. Marie Louise Coleiro Preca is showing one and all that she possesses the political acumen to bring political hegemony within the polity. She is the right person to fulfil Hobbes’ ideals of “state functions”.
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