Fauda is the Arabic word for Riot or Chaos.  It is used to describe a kind of situation that erupts from events that might have been prevented but which in fact, precipitated the same fauda.

There is a TV series by the name, that is about the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, with terrorism and anti-terrorism facing each other, with all the fatal consequences.  One thing you’ll quickly notice is the extraordinary degree to which Arab culture is defined by religion, something that itself forms part of our Maltese psyche.  Faudais about showing things as they are: two peoples, often so similar in appearance you cannot tell them apart, often fluent in each other’s languages, yet utterly and impossibly riven by a set of inimical values derived from a wholly different religious and cultural mind set.

As we only begin to emerge from the deep division provoked by the Embryo Protection Act and the dehumanisation of the unborn child that it brought about, we are religiously and culturally destabilised, primed and ripe to receive the next blow to our emotions and values. 

To review briefly, Adrian Delia stood in favour of protection of the embryo in that act. (The way the bill was named is mis-leading.  In this context, standing in favour of protection meant being against the proposed bill). 

Previously, the bill against gender-based violence and domestic violence was approved by Parliament with 44 voting in favour and 20 against.   Some saw the bill as preparing the way for the changes to the embryo protection act and as far reaching as abortion.

Ten Opposition MPs voted with the Government after Opposition Leader Adrian Delia granted a free-vote to MPs, explaining that it was a matter of conscience, as was the case with the Embryo Freezing bill.

PN MPs Claudette Buttigieg, Chris Said, Simon Busuttil, Karol Aquilina, Mario De Marco, Karl Gouder, Jason Azzopardi, Therese ComodiniCachia as well as PD MPs Marlene Farrugia and Godfrey Farrugia voted in favour of the bill.

Here, Adrian Delia is the conservative, values-driven counter-leader to the more European liberal style of Simon Busuttil.  Looking back, the staunch PN supporters are behind Delia and are more convinced that under Simon Busuttil their religious sentiments are not safe and secure and that they are dealing in Simon with an uncertain future, which may put their values at risk.  Values that exceed the mundane and familiar issues of corruption and abuse of power.

At that point, Delia has the advantage over Simon Busuttil and over Joseph Muscat, whose complete disregard of moral issues was plain to see and starts to improve his ratings slightly.

Following the brutal passing of the Embryo Protection Act, Muscat now needs to rehabilitate himself with the public and give himself a bit of human face again.  Out comes the Magisterial enquiry into the Egrant ownership and the tears flow as Joseph and Michelle are once more reinstated as the good people of Malta.

Simon Busuttil is brought out as the villain and made to face the wrath of the people, who can no longer bear the assaults on their values and emotions.  It is he, now, who must choose if he is in favour of life or not.  All the injustices, all the attacks and all the victims are laid before him.  Like the sins cast out of the mad leper, they beg to be allowed to go somewhere else and are transferred to the pigs that fall over the cliff.

Muscat is made pure again.  Simon is cast out carrying all the sins of others.  Delia is totally not needed in this transformation but he is one of the elements of the fauda resulting from it.  In his position, Delia now cannot back someone who is carrying the sins of the other.  He pushes Simon over the cliff. 

Facing backlash, Delia, then tries to build himself up again as a valid leader and goes on to say that we must embrace change and cannot stay the same.  All along, the old Nationalist supporters were sceptical about Simon Busuttil’s too liberal approach and his alliance with the Partit Demokratiku.  So, where does it leave them now with Adrian Delia’s new radical approach.  Can he be both conservative& moral and break with the past at the same time?

Dr Lawrence Gonzi is brought in to bridge the gap.  A witness to the past who voted against divorce and a role model to Simon Busuttil, whom he head-hunted from Europe to Malta for the 2013 election.   All he can do for now, is take some of the heat off Dr Delia, whom many start to see as the one onto whom the sins should have been cast, seeing as he was so swift to let that coup by Joseph Muscat pass unopposed. 

The fauda that is Adrian Delia and his entourage, is now out of control.  Their identity is wrecked and stands like a puddle of sweat in the hot sun.  The glare is upon them and they are melting like ice-cream.  You can only keep licking so far.

Ineptitude is everywhere.  His words and the party machine can no longer convince anyone, that what was done was right and the decision to remove Simon was justified.  No matter how modern and inclusive Simon Busuttil was during the 2013 election campaign, he was honest and a man of integrity.  Two qualities that are now carrying so much more weight when compared to the shallow, self-interest, almost cowardly alternative we see before us.

Many who voted Nationalist in the 2013 election, were not coming from the membership group of the party and did not vote for the new leader.  That is why he is failing now to prove the right choice.  The vote represented only a part of the PN electorate and manipulation lent a hand. The progressives and environmentalists and anti-corruption voters are nowhere near Delia and the PN now.  He cannot have the credibility and ability to lead the complex and enigmatic Nationalist Party when he is but a minor, albeit legitimate part of the leadership and continues to stress the divide which has now evolved into an almost open riot.

It is time for Dr Delia to see that having been elected to the leadership, without a popular vote where his principles and ideas would have been tested and presented to the electorate and benefiting from the inside support that had been working in his favour for him even before he was proposed to be the new leader, he is now standing on very thin ground. 

Outside the party headquarters there is a crowd of people, sick to their stomach at the lack of good governance and rule of law currently the norm in this country, of the ones who wave a flag and jump up and down claiming their innocence against allegations of corruption when it is plain to everyone that corruption has indeed taken place and who now must endure that Simon Busuttil is made to account for all that!  Can any party leader see that it is possible to have the support of the people, especially against such a clever and manouvering plotter like Joseph Muscat to whom he is putty in his hands?

How then must the Nationalist Party re-align itself?  Let us say that Adrian Delia sees the writing on the wall and he himself retires back to his law practice and focuses on selling his properties on Gozo, will the same mechanism be used to elect a new leader?  Or will the party begin to show some spirit and toss out the whole failed project and start afresh?  As was recommended at the time of the election of the new leader, the best thing to do at this point would be to put a trusted, veteran politician in charge to run the show, even going up to the MEP elections.  Seeing as the new crop of candidates turned out to be such a wishy-washy bunch, the counter balance of an experienced, intellectual person, with good skills in managing the economy, would help give some stability and integrity back to theparty. 

After which, some concessions will have to be made on both sides, regarding the future direction of the party, in a way that it re-aligns its religious values, along-side the secular and necessary positions that are demanded by society today.  Allowing a free-vote on moral issues whilst making clear where the reasoning of the party line comes from, would allow not just society itself to evolve naturally but would leave room for different “faiths” to find a place in the Nationalist party. 

In my opinion, Alex Perici-Calascione could have been the right person for the job. Why not give him a chance now, to take over until a new leader is elected and see what he can do?  Chris Said is too compromised at this point and his talk of reconciliation is out of touch with reality.

Delia goes, Simon makes a gesture of good-will and goes too so he can continue the fight against corruption without interference from the party and Perici-Calascione takes over to steady the ship and calm the chaos.  Peace is restored.  Hopefully, the party too.