So immediately after his last resounding electoral victory, in a quite unexpected and surprising manner, Prime Minister Robert Abela promised that he will 'extend a hand of friendship' to the opposition and that he will have zero tolerance for arrogance.
Of course, the opposition had long been offering its help to the incumbent government on various issues during peak crisis times, but whether such an offer was genuine or ultimately aimed at pulling over and toppling the administration is another thing. Furthermore, the government at the time never got down to accepting that offer and rejected it outright. Whatever, we now have it that Robert Abela is dead keen on achieving a full and meaningful national unity.
An important part of Abela's makeover has been precisely this unique gesture of extending to the opposition his hand of friendship after he romped home to a second term as prime minister with larger numbers in Parliament than he had. Notice how he has softened his stance since the general election. Yet it should be recalled that this latest move of Abela is not so unique after all.
Way back in March of 2013, immediately after Joseph Muscat was elected with an unprecedented majority of votes, his first message to the ecstatic Labour supporters that had invaded the Floriana Granaries for an impromptu mass meeting was to extend a hand of friendship to the Nationalists. He ended that day by solemnly declaring that we can truly say that Malta belongs to all of us. What happened thereafter is history known to all of us.
Robert Abela seems to be a changed man from the one he was two years ago. Should we accord full marks to Rober Abela for his major political revision, and for standing firmly in the face of pretty virulent criticism from certain quarters within the Labour Movement? When making that promise, Abela had ended his speech on a most practical note, which we must hope will be heeded and taken up by the leader of the opposition and civil society members.
If any fruition is to come out of that initial promise and if seriously considered and acted upon, then we are to reasonably expect that Malta will be changing for good, that government will be promoting the good life for all, reducing divisions and maximizing cohesion, protecting our patrimony, pursuing economic prosperity, promoting respect for national institutions and providing better public services and improved human safety.
Will this Labour administration, therefore, be building a country of which everyone can be proud? It can only prove itself in this manner if it truly continues to work with all sectors and strata of society to improve our political culture and promote inclusiveness.
It must repudiate vulgarity. It must rebuke those who abuse our public institutions and reject the poisonous politics of the past. It must continue to work to eradicate the inequalities which foster destitution and discrimination. It must continue striving to create a more equal society, one with greater opportunities and a higher quality of life for all. It must extend open arms of friendship to all political parties, social organisations and religious groups to collaborate in order to contribute to creating a more cohesive society and continue to work to provide greater social protection for everyone, particularly our women, children, and the elderly and persons in difficult circumstances.
The amount of friction to be overcome in such a change is a daunting task for anyone, more so for a prime minister who up till now has somewhat been distrusted. Even though his political and leadership experience might appear, for the most part, to be limited, he has undoubtedly been successfully tried and tested in trying times. When making that promise, he might even have appeared to be somewhat unfamiliar and naively not in resonance with all those elements that make up the traditions of party loyalty. Perhaps he does not sympathize with these traditions, even if he knows them. It could be that he wants them to be different from themselves and more like him.
The people who listened to him may have not doubted the desirability of the reforms and friendship hand he mentioned. They most likely simply doubted him, and that is fatal. They may have taken him lightly, or that he is not real. Since he is unaccompanied by hard facts, people might regard his talk as a whirlwind of words. Added to all these doubts, there is often as well the dark suspicion that he could be a decoy, a sort of forerunner of the autocratic rule, a man clever with words but leading one on to ruin, that he must have some ulterior purpose. Thus the compromising prime minister has far more friction to overcome in his attempt to win over us than has the party out of power.
Robert Abela must strive to convince his supporters to start making friends not enemies and think about the best not the worst of others. Pertinently, he should admonish his supporters not to cast aspersions on defeated candidates and their political parties in order to douse tension in our country. All supporters should give other contestants/candidates at the poll respect and a sense of belonging because losers today may be winners tomorrow. The hand of friendship and fellowship must be extended to other contestants, which is the beauty of democracy. It has already been an act of patriotism for the leader of the opposition to display in words and actions political intelligence by not only accepting the outcome of the election, but also congratulating the winner.
In June of 2021, PN Leader Bernard Grech had called for a radical change in politics to build unity in the country, whereas months before, Prime Minister Robert Abela had called for an end to partisanship, stressing that Malta should build on national unity. Unity was the keyword. So why not a Government of national unity rather than one for national unity? Other than sports, it is only these bleak times we are going through that can create this sort of national unity.
Dr Mark Said is an advocate