Send Jeffrey to Eurovision

I see that Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is getting withdrawal symptoms after being out of the limelight for a couple of months. Like Little Britain’s Daffyd who wants to be the only gay in the village, Pullicino Orlando seems to miss being the only maverick in Parliament.

Having lost his status as rebel-in-residence, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has looked around for a suitable issue to catapult him back onto the national stage- Claire Bonello

Having been eclipsed somewhat by Franco Debono and having lost his status as rebel-in-residence, he has looked around for a suitable issue to catapult him back onto the national stage.

With irritating predictability he has seized on a cause he perceives to be hip and liberal – gay marriage – and gives us hints about the possibility of his tabling of a Private Member’s Bill to force the issue.

I’m not going to discuss the topic of whether such legislation should be introduced. I believe this issue merits a more in-depth discussion than the ones which will inevitably follow on Xarabank, and which will pit the anti fundamentalists against those who support legislation. I suppose that discussion will be taking place shortly, with Pullicino Orlando monopolising the pro-pink bandwagon and pretending not to mind when others clamber up.

Try as I might, I really don’t see Pullicino Orlando in the role of courageous civil rights leader going out on a limb for marginalised minorities. Or rather, he may be a defender of minorities – but conveniently enough, those minorities who are registered as Maltese voters and who have some lobbying influence and media nous to perpetuate the legend of Jeffrey the champion of liberal causes.

People who supported the introduction of divorce legislation and those who would like to see the recognition of marriages between members of the same sex, fall within the definition of ‘minorities’ championed by Pullicino Orlando. Their causes tick all the right boxes for the MP to spring into action.

Liberal? Check. Likely to wind up Lawrence Gonzi? Check. Likely to attract the opposition of the conservative establishment and reinforce Pullicino Orlando’s reputation as a radical breaking a lance for civil liberties? Check. These are the kind of causes which get Pullicino Orlando going because – he says – he sees the suffering of the people.

Fair enough I say. He does well to stick up for those who are suffering and who are discriminated against. I just find it very odd to see how Pullicino Orlando’s heart bleeds when it comes to some causes, and remains quite flinty when it comes to others – especially in respect to those people who have next to nothing. I’m talking about illegal immigrants of course.

Way back before the divorce Bill was even a twinkle in Pullicino Orlando’s eye, he had made one of these out bolt from the blue forays in print, which we have now come to expect. You know – the ones which get people talking.

That was a time when a large influx of boat people were arriving in Malta – a phenomenon which provoked fearful and at times racist reactions. Addressing these fears in a realistic manner without exaggerating the problem or proposing facile solutions would have been the thing to do. But that wasn’t radical or populist enough for our Pullicino Orlando. Not for him the Martin Luther King persona.

Instead he opted for that of a bus conductor, declaring loudly that Malta was “full up”. Showing us the extent of his sensitivities for people who were fleeing war and famine, he gave us his solution. “Send them back,” he wrote. “When the weather is fair and at the earliest opportunity, they should be towed back into international waters in the direction they came from.”

Earlier last month the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued a unanimous decision holding that Italy’s maritime push-back policy – the solution advocated by Pullicino Orlando – violated the human rights of migrants on three counts. Italy’s policy had exposed migrants to the risk of ill-treatment in Libya and of repatriation to Somalia or Eritrea, deprived them of the right to an effective remedy and exposed them to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Strangely enough Pullicino Orlando – he who takes great care to remind us that Malta is still a rural backwater lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to civil rights initiatives – didn’t find this judgment about the breach of fundamental human rights worthy of mention.

Or maybe he felt the migrants’ pain – but uncharacteristically for him – decided not to table a Private Member’s Bill calling for their rights to be protected.

The thing about credibility is that it is largely dependent on consistency. A credible politician is one who has a consistent approach on all issues. One’s attitude has to be the same across the board and one can’t act one way and then in another depending on political expediency.

Acting all liberal when it comes to gay rights and like a red-neck when it comes to migrants’ rights doesn’t do wonders for one’s political credibility. It reminds me of these kitsch singers changing song genres when participating in the Eurovision song contest.

Come to think of it – maybe we should send Pullicino Orlando as our representative next time round. It would get him out of our hair and put him in the limelight again. That would be a win-win situation, even if he receives nul points for his performance.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt