Students ignore political debate

Only about 150 university students out of the institution's 8,000-strong population stopped to listen to a debate involving the three political party leaders on campus yesterday.

The debate was turned into a series of monologues as it took more than an hour for the politicians to say whether or not Maltese politics faced a crisis - the theme of the debate - leaving little time for the students to intervene. By the time the students were finally allowed to put questions, a third of them had already left.

The discussion, organised by AEGEE, the European Students' Forum, started at 1 p.m. outside Student's House and involved Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Opposition Leader Alfred Sant and Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo.

They spoke from a low, makeshift stage with a hamburger banner hanging over their heads. The sight was complemented by the aroma of grilled hotdogs and onions from a vendor's stall nearby.

Besides the faithful few who stayed on until the end, most students who happened to cross the central quadrangle stopped to listen for barely five minutes. Others simply walked past carrying on with their own business, eating hotdogs and cakes bought from stalls on the other side of campus. Hardly any academics could be spotted, save for a lecturer or two.

Dr Gonzi, who spoke first, said he did not exclude that certain sectors of society were no longer interested in politics. Compared to other countries, which faced very low turnouts in elections, the Maltese still went out to vote enthusiastically, so one could not speak of a crisis.

The participation of young people in politics brought bright prospects for the future. "Most parliamentarians belong to the younger generation, which shows that politics still attract young people," Dr Gonzi said.

Dr Sant said that in the past decades, politics has been perceived ambiguously and often negatively. In general, politicians had a bad reputation but this varied from time to time.

The Labour leader expressed surprise at how young people were entering politics early in life, mentioning the recently elected mayors of St Venera, Zebbug and Dingli aged 26, 25 and 19 respectively. This was especially so, he said, when at the other extreme people were becoming increasingly sceptical and disillusioned about the politicians' ability and willingness to solve problematic issues such as economic recovery, unemployment, health and education.

Dr Vassallo said Malta was undergoing changes but this did not mean there was a crisis. Recalling his student life, he said he could never accept that half the country hated the other half.

The main problems with politics, however, were the lack of accountability and the battle between the PN and the MLP which was the root cause of people's cynicism, Dr Vassallo said.

The only three questions from students, addressed to Dr Gonzi, dealt with the "lack of accountability" of ministers linked to scandal, the shortcomings of the electoral system and whether the government would allow low-cost airlines to come to Malta.