Karl's way - the way to be

There is no death. People die only when we forget them - Isabelle Allende

The tributes paid to Karl Chircop went far beyond the usual maxim to speak nothing but good of the dead. There was nothing but good to say. That was not only made clear by his political colleagues in the Labour Parliamentary Group and the rest of the MLP. It was also made abundantly clear by Dr Chircop's political adversaries on the Nationalist and Alternattiva side.

The tributes were not born merely out of profound sadness at the way Karl passed on, after a marathon coma that tormented his dear ones and so many others. There was that too, of course. The thought of a beloved son, husband and father, a successful doctor and MP lying alive yet cut off from life had been a thorn deep in the side of all who followed the vigil.

Those who know the family closely could see the bitter parallel of Karl dying at the same age his father had been snatched away, when Karl was 16. Those of us who have lost their father in their youth know that the huge void can only be eased in one manner - through the type of unbounded love that his mother showered on Karl. He was also lucky that his lifetime friend Ċensu Moran was there to serve as his constant mentor and role model. Yet there was more than that as well.

Above all Karl was mourned because his was the right way to live. He was respected and beloved in his profession. He had a political style which few of those of us who have been or are in the political fray can boast of. He was as solid as a rock in his Labour beliefs.

But he always respected unfailingly the right of others to be at odds with those beliefs. He spoke firmly and eloquently, yet never veered off the path of focusing on the song, and not the singer, of opposing and criticising a proposal, but never targeting personally the political opponent who made it.

Karl's way was the way to be. That was the overriding reason for the moving tributes he received from the President, the Prime Minister, the opponents he shadowed, the current leader of the MLP, his predecessor, under whom Karl spent the bulk of his 12 years as an MP, and from so many others.

Karl will not be forgotten and so he will live, though his body has been interred. He will never be forgotten by his family, and will live forever in their hearts. Because of his way of doing politics, he can never be forgotten by the political class and by observers of politics, and so will live there as well. He thoroughly deserves it. Karl's way was the way all politicians ought to follow, yet so many do not. So many sink low in their confrontations with adversaries. So often party media try to dig or create dirt, rather than pick holes in their opponents' stances and arguments.

Ironically, notwithstanding the tributes paid to Karl, the old way of doing politics has prevailed during the long days he lay in a coma, as well as this week, even as his fine example has been so fresh in the mind.

The Nationalists devised a sad way of trying to needle and make fun of the new Labour leader by referring to him in their media as Joe, instead of his established and favoured Joseph. One does not have to be totally committed to Karl's way to recognise that such silliness is what renders our politics cheap. There are one or two columnists on the Labour side who practise a similar stupid technique. But there is nothing like it at the official media level.

That was not enough. On Wednesday Muscat made his maiden speech, only a few days after he had been co-opted among lots of clapping and smiles by the unanimous House of Representatives. The maiden speech of an MP is quite a solemn occasion. So much so that it is parliamentary practice not to interrupt during such a speech, notwithstanding the predilection of many MPs to try to put a speaker off track. Parliamentary practice demands attention and courtesy.

On Wednesday evening nobody interrupted the new Leader of the Opposition. When he started there were only two Nationalist MPs in the Chamber. Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, I'm told, had courteously advised Muscat that he would have to leave half way through the speech, at 9.15 p.m., due to a commitment. PN backbencher Frederick Azz-opardi was present for about 10 minutes.

For the rest of the time the government benches were totally empty as Muscat spoke. They do tend to be empty in the adjournment half-hour. But this was a special occasion. And it was no secret that Muscat was going to take Wednesday's adjournment motion to make his first speech.

L-orizzont and the MLP media, always nitpicked by the Nationalists, had publicised the fact well in advance.

That notwithstanding, basic parliamentary courtesies were thrown to the wind on Wednesday evening. As it turned out Muscat delivered a very good and trend-setting maiden speech.

That is not my point. My point is that, even as so many politicians were lauding Karl's way of doing politics, the House of Representatives passed through another bad example of how not to practise the art so important to a live democracy. Some things never change.