Not too funny

Politics is never without its humour, even if quite often it is of the dark type. Last week presented further examples. While a bit of a battle is taking place on the university campus for new-fashioned freedom of speech, a not much used freedom is coming under attack - that of silence.

The newish Leader of the Opposition seems determined to do things his way. Word of that is coming out from the bowels of his party. It is also becoming evident in his public forays. I am not referring to two instances of turning up a bit late for important appointments. One hopes that was due to lack of proper coordination.

My observation concerns Joseph Muscat's decision not to be one of the usual speakers on the Prime Minister's votes in the debate on the Estimates of Income and Expenditure. One should think that the freedom to remain silent when one wants to give others the chance to speak is a simple thing.

The Leader of the Opposition did not speak because, he said, there are enough able spokesmen and women in his team to do the job. Having delivered a two-hour speech mostly directed at the Prime Minister in the debate on the Budget motion, one can understand that. Had he spoken on the PM's detailed portfolio he might have fallen into tedious repetition. There is no harm in letting the opposition MPs have a fuller go. It is not as if those who spoke in his stead did not have the experience to do it.

Nevertheless, the government side and its media attacked Dr Muscat as if he was guilty of some dereliction of duty. His duty is to oppose and hound the government in the harshest way possible and in his own way, as the Nationalists must well remember from their own opposition years. It is also to prepare for office when the opportunity comes by carefully building up a creditable alternative government.

That is not a job that can be accomplished in one's first 17 months at the helm. Muscat has a way to go in crafting a team that, along with new blood that could come along through the next general election, could take up the task of governing the country with confidence. The more one tries out formations, like a good football manager does, the better.

The other example of grim humour came along in regard to John Dalli's appointment as EU commissioner for health and consumer affairs. His nomination by the Prime Minister duly came about on today week. As anticipated in this column it did not go down too well with various government backbenchers who now feel they have lost a father confessor, though they wish him well in his new role.

Neither has it seemed to go well with various parts of the traditional PN grassroots who say that they now have no point of reference left, and who fret that the Prime Minister has lost an experienced shoulder he could lean on.

That, however, was not the dark humour I am referring to. It appeared in the way the Nationalist media reported the high profile portfolio allocated to John Dalli by José Manuel Barroso. Like most of Malta, they applauded the appointment. It is indeed one that recognises Mr Dalli's abilities.

But the PN media went further than that. They felt that they should lace their praise with the titbit that Mr Dalli had at times been attacked by the Labour Party. It would be odd indeed if a leading politician were ignored and spared tough criticism by the opposing mainstream party. What was far more noteworthy in Mr Dalli's career is the extent to which he had been attacked from within his own party, defining that as the party's inside fortress and its cannons outside it.

For a long while Mr Dalli's name was smeared by fellow travellers. He was even forced to resign his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The PN media make no mention of that, of course. That is why they were so darkly funny. What would politics be without its own particular peculiar sense of humour, even if it is not quite funny, ha ha.