Trying to come out of turbulent times during which our Island Republic appears to have collapsed and been discredited, one is tempted to ponder on a possible need of establishing a new Republic of Malta. Had not those times occurred, and in spite of the fact that even years back, dating from the 80s, Malta has been passing through different critical times for different reasons, some slight, others major, one would not seriously consider redrafting a whole constitution and establishing a second Republic.
A lack of good governance and a breakdown in the proper function of a number of pivotal institutions gave rise to a substantial number of Constitutional amendments. Calls for even more significant amendments continue to make the rounds. Indeed, it was former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat who had floated the idea even before being elected to power of giving birth to a Second Republic following a constitutional convention. So much so that, in fact, we have had a public consultation on how our Constitution can and should be heavily amended with respect to a number of issues. Every now and then Malta has been teetering on the brink of a national catastrophe and every time it tried to rebuild itself by rethinking its institutions.
Countries establishing a second and even subsequent republics are nothing new on the scene, and even if Malta were to found a second republic, it would surely not be the last. Usually, a new republic is formed after a country has been through some kind of national catastrophe. At this point, we should be asking ourselves whether all in all Malta has experienced some kind of a national catastrophe or breakdown and whether notwithstanding the promulgation and implementation of a number of remedial measures, legislative and otherwise, we still have no constitutional guarantee that such a catastrophe will not be repeated. If our institutional blockage should persist, because our fundamental law can no longer be managed in good faith, then it is time to consider changing the structures by redrafting the Constitution and establishing a new Republic. This is what France, Greece, Portugal, Poland, Spain and Hungary had done in similar situations and for the same reasons.
Very recently we have had a good picture of the state of our nation. It is on that basis that we have to determine what our Republic stands for. And if we come round to drafting a new fundamental law this will have to be done by trusted experts in the field with the same superlative qualities of the likes of Filippo Sceberras, Luigi Preziosi and Anthony Mamo.
Our conception of what government should and should not do is not deeply rooted in clear thinking in the provisions of our Constitution. We have a lot of talk about a preferred limited government and effective constraints on capricious executive action but it only sounds as cheap talk. We need to seriously launch a constitutional process leading to the adoption of a new Constitution, which among other issues, provides for the continuing stability of institutions. In a new ideal republic, we must have the greatest freedom of living in a society where the exercise of power is checked by clear laws, and where everyone has equal ability to exercise these laws. The goal should be not only to ensure that arbitrary interference does not happen, but that the very capacity for arbitrary interference is removed.
There are compelling arguments as to why we should start messing around with the underlying circuitry of our political system. Most of us go about our daily business perhaps free from the fear that some all-powerful ruler will arbitrarily intervene in our lives unaware of a growing threat of arbitrary interference. We have telecommunications laws giving police powers to intercept telephone calls without enough independent oversight. We have had too many hotchpotch amendments circumventing the spirit of our Constitution in order to satisfy either a number of flaggings by Greco or by the Venice Commission but domination remains a clear and present danger in contemporary Malta. Of course, simply establishing a new second republic will not automatically fix these problems. This more ambitious vision of a new republic requires deep cultural roots, rather than just changes to our administrative machinery. It would only be the first step towards creating a new republican political culture.
True, there is much we can be proud of in Malta’s chequered history but equally be disturbed about. It is time not just to look back and assess what we have achieved so far and where we have fallen short but also to look ahead and see how we can do things better and faster. The Covid-19 pandemic has forever changed our country and the world as we knew it. Life and our well-being never seemed as fragile as they do now. The pandemic may have ushered in the age of anxiety, but it has also bred a new determination and sense of urgency to realise our nation's full potential at the very earliest. Time to step out from the old to the new.
Despite progress, we have many more divides to bridge. The pandemic has demonstrated how resilient we are as a nation, uniting and putting our best foot forward in a crisis, but we must treat all our shortcomings as exigencies and move swiftly to solve them. The present Republic had risen and flourished for some time but it is now falling because its citizens are losing the power of governing themselves and thereby of governing their state. This loss of power is clearly shown in the tendency to turn the government into a government primarily for the benefit of one class instead of a government for the benefit of the people as a whole.
A new Constitution and Republic of Malta would ensure that never again will democracy lead to some kind of tyranny.
Dr Mark Said is an advocate