The political sensitivity issue

The analysis of the MEP results pointed a finger at the political sensitivity issue. And everybody agreed with this analysis. Hallelujah for rare national agreement! This issue was discussed for a while and then painfully camouflaged. However, it refuses to be buried. It is here to stay.

Some political candidates for the national elections in three years' time are already getting organised. They are looking around for the best team for their campaign, the best collaborators and advisers. They have identified persons who could be useful for their campaign.

This time, political sensitivity will be haunting the political candidate more energetically, especially after the lessons learned from dissident cheerleading.

Mr/Ms political candidate for 2013, if voters have communicated with you by word of mouth, letter, pigeon, smoke signal, SMS, e-mail etc. more than once and you have ignored them, you deserve that they ignore you in the next elections. If you have promised to call back with info after a phone call and did not, even after reminders, you deserve to be in a political wilderness. A personal promise kept makes a lady or gentleman out of a prospective parliamentarian. And a person who is not a lady or gentleman is not a politician; just a person.

If you have promised to look into a problem for a constituent and then forgot all about it, you are not a politician. For politicians do not turn cold seconds after they have shown extreme warmth. This glow must be genuine and not simply sufficient to warm a parliamentary seat. It must be in the mind and heart - not in the backside.

If you have been insensitive towards your voters because you have been too busy with non-parliamentary work, your place is not in Parliament. Parliament is a place where MPs carry out precious work, which they continue outside Parliament.

If you believe that a few months of cosmetic sensitivity just before the election will suffice to earn you a parliamentary seat, this time it's not going to work. Voters learn from experience and can now read the lethargy behind the smile. And let's not be politically emotional about this. Political holiness exists in all parties and communicative apathy resides in some individuals in all political parties. This is to eliminate any possibility of some people calling each other politically insensitive across the political fence. Sensitive politicians are created and promoted by us the voters. Politically-insensitive "politicians" are not to blame at all for their Arctic heart. We are to blame for voting for them.

If a "politician" has been insensitive and still expects to have a warm seat in Parliament, s/he is living a contradiction. Parliament is a place for persons at the service of people.

And this is why I praise Franco Debono's recent statement: "All I am doing is delivering the message of my constituents as every MP is in duty bound to do". To which Robert Arrigo adds: "I want to know what all my foot soldiers need, want and say".

Hopefully, our next Parliament will be inhabited by sensitive people only. It is then that we may call it a home instead of a house.

Smart casual

Some politicians think that, to be smart casual, they only have to take off jacket and tie. Madam, buy him some smart shirts please. He looks a jacket potato.

Education for democracy

This is one of the intellectual banners of the Education Division. Last October12, I tested this banner against two news items in The Times, ironically carried in quick succession:

Item 1: "A common platform for voluntary organisations to work together on issues affecting children is being set up under the coordination of the Children's Commissioner".

Item 2: "Students attending primary schools, their teachers and parents are irked at the changes to the social studies syllabus announced by the education authorities after the scholastic year had already started".The education authorities explained that this event had been standard practice for the past three years.

So do three wrongs make a right, especially in issues affecting children? Which explains why the MUT remonstrated justifiably. For a while, the MUT was also refused, with some childish, unconvincing excuses, its right and duty to make a health and safety visit to a kindergarten.

Perhaps this irony of education for democracy should be declared a tradition, celebrated in solemn ceremony and entrenched in the Constitution.

Backbenchers

If a quiet person does not scream, s/he will remain without rights. Some backbenchers were offered a fraction of what they deserve - even if they are no less than any parliamentary secretary. L'apéritif, c'est déjà quelque chose! Next rendez-vous at Villa Francia should have increased consultation.

Dr Licari teaches psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics.