The achiever

It is ironic that the Malta Labour Party is using the Independence Day public holiday to collect funds for its operations and campaigns! Is there no pride? Do we have smells of hypocrisy? As the party that opposed independence in 1964, it should direct its supporters to go to work on September 21, not go and spend the day at the Red House (as opposed to the White House, of course). The Malta Labour Party that is collecting funds for itself on Independence Day went further than opposing Malta's independence. It concocted another event, which it claimed was Malta's real Independence Day - Freedom Day: "The day we threw out the foreigner", it was claimed. And now the same party is complaining that we do not have enough foreigners coming to Malta. Very confusing indeed!

After all Freedom (sic) Day would not have taken place without independence. And further, "Freedom Day" would have taken place anyway some 10 years earlier than it did, and this under the agreement negotiated by Prime Minister Giorgio Borg Olivier, together with that of independence, in 1964. It was the Labour government, under Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, that prolonged the "foreigner's" stay by extending that agreement for a further seven years between 1972 and 1979. So really and truly Freedom Day is a falsity (the more expressive Maltese or Italian (?) word is fazulla).

One does not mean that there should not have been a formal ceremony when the British forces left Malta and closed their base after a stay of 180 years. Such a ceremony was due and well deserved for both sides. But that was the end of it. We did not need celebrations from the marmalja (mob) of the time or that hideous monument that has scarred one of our most beautiful cities and hidden its unique church. It is also ironic that all the NGOs and other environmental bodies that are crowing about our country being defaced by development (and they may be right) were not around in 1979. But, then, had they protested, they would just have been beaten up.

And talking about NGOs, it's all well and good to protect the environment and some wild plants here and there. The government has been criticised continuously on environmental matters, but surely we must move forward and some things must be done. Should the machinery of government just be brought to a halt? Should the people of this country not benefit from better thoroughfares, just because a road is going through here and a tunnel going through there? Where do you think the highways of Europe were built? On the sea? Why cannot we have a golf course because of a couple of individual farmers (and I do sympathise with them) or some particular garigue or water course? There is no doubt that such a course (golf not water) is essential for the development of quality tourism. I get more and more convinced of this each time I travel abroad or speak to non-residents. So where do these environmentalists get off and let us move forward?

Obviously, a balance has to be found. But let's find it! The government is committed to taking unpopular, beneficial decisions, and that is the way a serious government should be. And that is why a Nationalist government has been the achiever for this country. It has achieved independence. It has achieved membership of the European Union. It has brought Malta out of Third World country status in 1987 to a developed one and, indeed, a highly developed one in the field of IT and communications. It has had its problems; economic, financial and in the tourism sector. This has been acknowledged by all, including the undersigned.

But a Nationalist government has always been the achiever for this country and it seems that the required recovery in the economic financial and tourism sectors is also being achieved. On its part, the Malta Labour Party has failed to achieve. It has not failed to oppose, of course. It opposed independence. It opposed European Union membership. It opposed pension reform (at least for the time being). And so much more. Some say this is opposition for the sake of it. It may be, but it goes further. It is a lack of courage, vision and faith in the Maltese people.

I say all this for two reasons. Firstly, because I would like to see young men and women (and I live with them) comprehend the reality of the political scene, even in its historical context, of which, unfortunately, they have no knowledge. Secondly, because I would like to remind all these old grumblers running around saying that they will vote this way this time or not vote at all, that in the long term they do not know what they are talking about. It is polling time that counts and then they will not take light decisions just because of a garigue or a plant! If they do so they are irresponsible.