Ex Cospicua Mayor urged to toe Labour Party line

Anyone who believed that the chasm between the current leader of the Malta Labour Party Alfred Sant and that grand old man of Maltese politics Dom Mintoff could be bridged, was jolted back to reality yesterday.

In a long studied letter taking up nearly three fifths of a page in yesterday's edition of l-Orizzont, Tony Coleiro, secretary of the dockyards section of the General Workers' Union and a possible future Labour candidate, calls on former Cospicua Mayor Pawlu Muscat to toe the Labour Party line and sever his current encounters with Mr Mintoff.

"There was a time when I, like you, used to believe in gods but experience has shown me otherwise," Mr Coleiro wrote to Mr Muscat.

In his carefully worded letter, Mr Coleiro exhorts Mr Muscat to refrain from ushering Mintoff into the current political arena, even if Mr Muscat was doing this, perhaps, because he had felt betrayed when he was voted out of his mayor's post by Labour councillors.

Last week, the Cospicua local council approved a motion by Mr Muscat for Mr Mintoff to address the council on the EU.

This motion has, however, developed into the possibility of having Mr Mintoff address a public meeting in Cospicua. Mr Muscat has been reported as saying that he saw nothing wrong with Mr Mintoff - or any other personality - coming to the local council to express his views on the EU.

Meanwhile, it turned out that Mr Mintoff was busy holding private meetings at his residence in Tarxien where he was organising a team to assist him in the setting up and management of an organisation called Front Maltin Inqumu - Let's Rise Maltese Front against the government's EU negotiations. The front is expected to be launched officially in the coming weeks.

During its brief time in office - about 22 months - the Labour government led by Dr Sant had to resign after Mr Mintoff abstained following a call by Dr Sant for a vote of confidence over the Cottonera Waterfront project. Labour then held a one-seat majority.

In the 1998 election, the Nationalist Party was returned to office with a resounding majority with many Labour supporters blaming Mintoff for Labour's loss of government and subsequent loss of the election.

In his letter, Mr Coleiro asks Mr Muscat whether he had forgotten the words uttered in a meeting they had both attended which coincided with the funeral of Labour stalwart Agatha Barbara who passed away earlier this year.

"Have you forgotten that during that meeting, a horrendous declaration was made saying that 'if necessary, as the (Labour) Party had been split twice, it will be split for the third time?'," Mr Coleiro wrote.

Later on in the letter, Mr Coleiro writes that "On my part, I can still hear reverberating in my ears the words, 'if I feel that it would be in Malta's interest, I am prepared to topple the government'.

"These words were uttered to me on Saturday, May 2, 1998, at 2 p.m. in the presence of other persons by that person who I used to adore as a god".

This is a clear reference to Mr Mintoff, although Mr Coleiro does not mention Mr Mintoff by name here.

"Four years have passed since that episode and tiny Malta has continued to drown in dirt and corruption under the government, and I am still searching to see where and how Malta, including the working class, benefited by stopping the MLP from governing the country so that, instead, the PN would be returned to power.

"Everyone was conscious of the policies of the alternative Nationalist government to have Malta join the EU - which some in the past used to call the Europe of Cain - causing great harm to us the workers."

It is public knowledge that Mr Mintoff coined the expression 'Europe of Cain'.

Continuing, Mr Coleiro wrote: "Now is not the time to listen to opinions, but whoever truly believes that Malta should no longer remain in the abyss that it is in, should forget all that has happened, irrespective of who was to blame and work unstintingly so that Malta would, once again, have a Labour government as soon as possible so that the rally call of Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox (Malta first and foremost) would be remembered as a genuine call coming from the heart and not simply a false phrase that means nothing," Mr Coleiro concluded.

Earlier, Mr Coleiro tells Mr Muscat: "Who has the right to decide such a thing (split the party) as if the Labour Party is a property that belongs to somebody? Have you forgotten that on that day, there was someone who wanted to use you and suggested that you be the co-ordinator of the committee that was to be set up to keep those present (in that meeting) posted on developments?"

Mr Coleiro then goes on to remind Mr Muscat that he (Muscat) had expressed the fear that there was someone who intended to cause trouble in the second electoral district to obstruct the next general election victory (for the Labour Party).

Mr Muscat had then expressed his intention not to attend those meetings any more because of those circumstances and the words that had been uttered.

When contacted and asked whether the letter would harm the attempts being made to bridge the chasm between Mr Mintoff and Dr Sant, Mr Coleiro said that although he had been among those who had endeavoured to bring the two together, he had lost hope that it was possible.

Mr Coleiro said Mr Muscat phoned him (Coleiro) to talk about the letter and they had met at the Cospicua local council in the presence of other council members yesterday morning. "I have nothing to hide," Mr Coleiro said.

"Mr Muscat told me he was not aware that the MLP could be harmed if the council were to invite Mr Mintoff to address it. He told me he knows I mean him no harm and that I had always respected him and wished him well.

"If he replies to me publicly, all would depend on whether there would be any need to answer or not. No, I have had no reaction from the Labour Party. I wrote the letter without any prompting from anyone and I don't expect a reaction from the party. I assume full responsibility for the letter."

Asked whether he expected the Nationalist Party to attempt to get political mileage out of his letter, Mr Coleiro said that the PN media regularly looked for anything they could lay their hands on to harass him and other GWU officials.

"I would not be surprised at all if they do so in Sunday's (today's) Il-Mument, but that does not bother me at all," he said.