I received this letter from a middle-aged lady after visiting her in her home. This simple letter managed to sum up so many feelings of people who I have met and talked with that I felt it should be made available for a wider readership. I therefore requested her permission to publish the letter in its entirety. She granted this permission happily, on condition that her name was not shown, “… as I don’t want my son who works with the government to suffer because of me”. I am therefore publishing it here as my opinion piece, because as politicians it is our duty and obligation to transmit and represent people’s feelings and opinions. I have no comment to add, as she said it all so well and so clearly.
“Dear Alessia,
“I did not tell you this when you came to our house, but I have to admit that although I had always voted Nationalist before, in 2013 I felt that it was time for a change as the PN had been there for too long. We were also hearing many things that told us this. I felt that the new Labour leader was a breath of fresh air, and was offering me the chance to be open, and to vote Labour. In a way, I felt that the time for old politics was over, and that we should stop thinking as Labourites or Nationalists, but only as Maltese who want what’s best for the country and the people. The PN also felt disconnected, while Labour was talking the language of the people - modern and not the old-fashioned way. So I voted Labour, convinced I was doing the right thing.
“Today, like everybody else, I am not so convinced anymore. I must admit I am no expert in the technicalities of things like accounts in Panama, and the price of oil, or the other issues like the Gaffarena and the Café Premier scandals. But I follow everything and everyone, and watch all the discussion programmes on TV on all channels, as I believe that I must be informed, and I am feeling that the things that we are hearing are worse, much worse than the things that the PN was accused of doing. I am a mother of two young men, and over the years, especially when they were still teenagers, I got used to knowing when they had done something wrong, and when their answers to my questions were trying to hide something. That is what I am seeing when I see the Prime Minister and many Ministers on TV. They try to talk about something else or point their finger at this or that which they say happened before, exactly like my boys as children – ‘It was not only me.’ That is not the change I was promised and believed was going to happen.
“Another thing which bothers me is when Joseph Muscat defends himself by attacking someone else and especially the huge fuss made about Simon’s driver which was all about nothing as he was proved innocent.
“I don’t want to take up much of your time, but I wanted to tell somebody these feelings, and felt that you were the best person to understand. Even though today I see that the change to Joseph Muscat was not a good thing, I am not ashamed that I voted Labour. I did it because I believed it was the right thing to do, even though today I know it was not. But then I did not know this, and I feel that Joseph Muscat tricked me and took advantage of my good intentions. Today I know better, and I shall not be doing the same thing again, and I shall not be voting for Labour again. The English say ‘Fool me once, shame on you…’, and he did fool me once, but ‘fool me twice’ will not happen. I promise you my vote and wish you all the best.”
Dr Psaila Zammit is a PN general election candidate on the 6th district
[email protected]