A couple of days ago, on another news web-portal, a former PN minister penned an opinion under the heading Charlatan Threat. Coming from a former PN minister, the heading intrigued me. I was rather taken aback with his views. The reasoning, at least in my opinion, is rather dicey.
Quite straight forward, a charlatan is a false, fake salesperson. In medieval times, persons claiming medical skills they did not have roamed around selling fake potions that were completely without worth. Charlatans have existed since time immemorial, and are here to stay selling deceit. Perhaps societies need to be able to identify charlatans as early as possible, and treat them as such. Having said this, I acknowledge that this is no easy task as charlatans are good impostors.
No doubt, charlatans can be found in all organisations but here I focus on charlatans in the political arena, not only because of their negative impact on the political class they represent but also because of their deleterious consequence on society. Unfortunately, charlatans have their own agenda which, more often than not, is completely different from that of the organisation they represent.
Charlatans have no loyalty, not even to their comrades. They seek to build allegiances with whoever fits in their personal agenda. The national good and the common good is not a priority.
Others are merely a means to an end.
But what irked me most in the article is the opening paragraph of the article: “Guido de Marco used to converse privately with so many Labour personalities as if they were his bosom friends. Some of them were actually friends of his, I later discovered. Guido was right, of course. And I was wrong” former PN minister Michael Falzon penned.
Indeed Guido was right but, to my mind, former PN minister Falzon exploited Guido’s inimitable persuasive skills to defend a handful of MPs in search of building political allegiances that are threatening political stability with unethical political standards and values.
As far as I can tell, Emeritus President Prof de Marco was instrumental in bringing back political stability to the islands with his perseverance and persuasive skills. Simultaneously, he was mindful not to cross the line between the two opposing political parties and remained loyal to the PN political beliefs and, more importantly, to his colleagues. He did not use his allegiances with his political opponents for his personal advantage.
In a vibrant democracy, opposing views are expected. Although allegiances can contribute to the common good what is not acceptable, at least in my view, is for politicians to build bridges with their political opponents for personal gains or use political allegiances as a long-term investment. Scratch my back and I scratch yours.
In a democracy, different views are necessary. However it is equally important that, in the crossfire, none of the politicians stoop low and attack their political opponents on a personal level. Perhaps the Panama Papers political scandal, that has put at risk the socio-economic development of Malta, is the residue of former charlatan politicians.
God forbid that our young breed of politicians is more attracted to becoming wealthy rather than to offer their services to improve the quality of life of others. Sadly, as can be attested, some from within the young crop of politicians have so far failed to emulate upright role-models.
I do not presume that the former PN minister is making a case for a national government, nor for a technocrat one. In our local political duopoly, I would encourage civil society to take a more active role in the democratic and socio-economic development of our society. With the Panama Papers scandal, good governance has been irrevocably crushed. How is this a good example to aspirant politicians? What I expect from our politicians of whatever shade is loyalty and integrity towards their party and the electorate.
I will not mention persons by name but, like you, I have met a good number of charlatans from all walks of life, in all shades of the political spectrum and elsewhere, in the past and still do today. If you pause for a moment and try to think of how many charlatans you have crossed paths with, I hope that you will find it hard to fill the back of an envelope, but I am sure you can come up with some names.
But yes, former PN minister Michael Falzon is perfectly right at least on one count: charlatans in the political arena will continue to be a threat to society until they are exposed. Hopefully, it would not be too late in the day to rectify!
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