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EFA: Young people not interested in the past - would have called election earlier

Dr Fenech Adami replies to questions by The Sunday Times.

Youngsters are not interested in what happened in the 1980s, former President and Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami says in an interview today.

 “My own strong belief is there’s no going back... I don’t think people care about it.”

 “People are conscious the country has moved forward and there’s no going back,” he said, while warning that it would be a mistake to take everything for granted.   

Dr Fenech Adami  said he was proud to have contributed to the elimination of political divisions. Now there are no parties with leftist or rightist ideologies but parties “gathering round the centre”.

He says that if it were up to him he would have called the general election earlier. “What I have to do, I do. I don’t put it off till tomorrow,” he says.

Full interview in The Sunday Times.

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C. Dimech

Jan 29th, 16:18

Mhux hekk Sur Privitera, daqs kemm ghandha bzonn power station ohra hux?!!! that is not a monstrosity!!! Go enjoy your retirement Eddy!!

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 28th, 18:16

Don't pin your interpretation on a phrase taken out of context - read all. EFA believes that it would be difficult for Malta to relapse into the evil conditions of the 70s and 80s. I agree, as long as no one takes us out of the EU a cherished dream of Joseph Muscat, Alfred Sant etc. No! he is not recommending that the young generation should not care. He issued a warning that you failed to read.

J Martinelli

Jan 27th, 22:02

Debattista, read my comment again, maybe you'll get it right this time. YOU complained that "EFA kept harping on the past ad nauseam" and yet you didn't notice that all I said was that EFA was right because for him it was his RECENT past and had every right to mention it especially after burying Raymond Caruana and visited many hospitalized by Labour thugs in the years preceding his 1987 victory.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 23:48

EFA did not say that young people SHOULD NOT care. He said that although they do not care they SHOULD care, because even though it is unlikely that things could ever go back to the depths of the 70s and 80s he warned that this could not be taken for granted. Eternal vigilance is necessary to ensure the survival of our hard-won freedoms and continued EU membership.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 29th, 06:42

@NevilleDebattista.

I am so glad that you "repeat" that you are against violence. I am also against violence but unlike many I do not defend it, I do not make excuses for it and I do not insist that political violence is admissible and then try to pretend that I never said it.

jm busuttil

Jan 27th, 20:59

Good luck and hear from you ( i doubt it as you will be to ashamed to do so ) in a few months time.

J Martinelli

Jan 27th, 22:14

You must be one of Joey's team posing as a 'new' PL voter. Well, that's fine Pierre but I suspect that your one vote will be drowned in the sea of votes by fresh minds, recently graduated & educated for free happy to have escaped Varist & Dwardu's net ready to be cast on students & their stipends, if they have their way, that is.
Labour never got it right, is not getting it right and never will.

George Cutajar

Jan 27th, 22:29

@ Victor Vella - it is because of people li,e you who try to rewrite history that we cannot forget the past. In 1981 Labour did not get a majority of votes but got a majority of seats and they governed full term with all the physical violence, corruption and death that came along. In 2008 PN got a majority of votes -0.5% more than Labour. Where's the horror mate?

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 23:54

Reducing to a bare minimum Malta's history since our independence would serve only the agenda of those who are continually urging us to forget the lessons of the 70s and the 80s - and everyone knows who those people are, don't we?

Eddy Privitera

Jan 27th, 20:04

G Mangion: You should be more concerned about the present and future for your children and grand children. Do you want them to live in a country where corruption becomes a normal thing ?

Eddy Privitera

Jan 27th, 20:06

D Agius: It seems you never listen to Dr. Muscat's speeches. Even Dr. Fenech Adami seems to be learning from Dr. Muscat !

Derek Grillo

Jan 28th, 11:47

@ Privitera

Int imma bis-serjetà?! lol...

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 17:03

It is hypocritical of any MLP supporter to criticise NON-VIOLENT civil disobedience by a political party that had been denied democratic government when the majority of the electorate voted for it, when it was official Mintoff policy (his 6th point) to demand the acceptance of VIOLENCE in politics.

That should help you to understand.

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Jan 27th, 18:09

>It is hypocritical of any MLP supporter to criticise NON-VIOLENT civil disobedience by a political party

Therein lies your BS, FS...

The civil disobedience was anything but NON_VIOLENT.

We know-we suffered it DIRECTLY whether you deny it or not. It was true & stopped abruptly once the govt changed.

Of course you will deny, but the link I gave is there for all to see and make their minds up.

Joseph Grech Attard

Jan 27th, 18:38

Francis Saliba M.D. I do not need the help of a megalomaniac like you to understand. I have lived 66 happy years so far without your nasty help. Pjacir bla mitlub kollu mirluf. You twist tacts as you please, living as you are deep down in the earth's darkness. Enjoy. Provocation and violence are in the minds of sad people like you who dare call others hypocrites!

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 28th, 00:03

@IvanGrechAttard.

During the civil disobedience campaign the VERY VIOLENT INCIDENT I recall was the beating up of dockyard workers by their MLP fellow workers for observing the traditional Mnarja holiday. Yes, that incident was violent and as usual the MLP suldati tal-azzar carried it out.

@JGA

Temper! Temper!

C Busuttil

Jan 27th, 18:16

Fuq Marie Louise Coliero staqsi lin-nies ta' Hal-Qormi Kemm hija mara sewwa u tghin fejn tista lil kulhadd lavurist jew nazzjonalist!!!!
Sciberras Trigona mhux hiereg u Debono Grech bilkemm jitla

Imma fil-labour hemm ucuh ohra jigifiri int qed tghid li xi Michael Falzon, Franco Mercieca jew Ian Borg ha jkunu bhal Lorry Sant.
Irovinawlu z-zghozija tesagerax ta' qed tpingi Malta bhas-Siria

GL Calleja

Jan 27th, 18:02

Mr Seychell no matter which political party wins, we will again be reliving the past. A FREE TABLET and a FREEBIE TICKET on the ailing Air Malta is not going to change anything. The corruption is well set in, the crime is here, the incompetence and injustice in our courts is known all over, and the deficit is getting out of reach. Fix the present before you try to leap into the future.

Alfred Vassallo

Jan 27th, 19:33

Mr. seychell.

Apart from stating that both parties have their uglies, and that's a Fact. Did you or anyone re-live it in 1996 when LP was in power? The answer is NO. So Why the hysterics?

Johnny Xerri

Jan 27th, 20:06

The by your own yard stick if we vote PN we will be in for a repeat of;

(1) a power station that pollutes & is full of faults.
(2) lies to hunters.
(3) a public transport fiasco
(4) arrogant ministers...tipo augostino pi...pi...pi..pio
(5) a state of the art hospital...that needs to be supplemented by a 'friend's' hospital
(6) no tax cut
(7) & all the lies PN dished out.

No thanks

Roberta Sciberras

Jan 27th, 16:48

That's what you would like to think and that is the PN strategy. It will fail miserably.... and the more negative they are the greater the defeat will be. I have never agreed much with EFA but on this one he is spot on.

Keep looking backwards and the PN defeat will more closely resemble an avalanche. Wake up and smell the coffee.

GL Calleja

Jan 27th, 17:54

Roberta i think that the young children should look back from the sixties onward, not to criticize maybe, but to learn from the past so they do not repeat it. I was there in the sixties ad onward and both parties did a lot of damage to the country, same as has been happening in the last fifteen or so years. This country has become so politically corrupt, full of crime and full of hatred.

J Grech

Jan 27th, 21:34

Leave the past to our History books Mr Calleja - we want to move on ... past is past, full stop.

GL Calleja

Jan 27th, 18:11

Mr Grech you know nothing until you have lived the sixties and seventies. Ask around on both sides and you will be amazed. The government was brave enough to requisition (confiscate) empty properties without the right compensation to property owners, it is still that way up to this day. Talk to Lino Spiteri and maybe he will explain.

J Grech

Jan 27th, 21:31

@ GL Calleja

Read further up please - there is part 2 of my comment. And reread the last sentence! The past is history - I don't "care" what happened in the past - I leave that to History books. What I care about is my future, mine and my children's.

Johnny Xerri

Jan 27th, 20:12

ohhh...my...shall we lock up our homes in despair if PL win...

in 1996 Pl won...true it was not the best of govt that malta has ever had...but we did not have the violence you are trying to scare us with.

& what about the burial of people under the pre PL administration...& the mortal sin?

& what's the fixation with the MD...trying to boost a comment coz its coming from a MD...

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 29th, 17:16

Providence decreed that the PL government elected in 1996 devastated our economy for 22 months only. Malta should not rely that a similar deliverance would be repeated now.
I use the MD after my name to identify me from all others with the same name. If I felt the need "to boost a comment" I would use all my degrees and diplomas. I do not hide behind anonymity such as your plain Johnny Xerri

Alfred J. McEwen

Mar 12th, 14:53

Your pomposity knows no bounds bursting your buttons at the slightest excuse, top world class surgeons in Australia go by their first names and don`t even bother placing their degrees after their names.

E. Vassallo

Jan 27th, 14:54

If EFAhad been harping on the past as you have alleged, he would have not stopped mentioning the fact that your fellow supporters beat up his wife , attacked his family and ransacked his home. You and your party should be ashamed.

J Martinelli

Jan 27th, 15:14

Why does the past bother you so much, Neville? The young don't care because they have not lived the 70s and 80s but the older folk did, & there are more of us than those born after the 80s.
In EFA's time the 'past' was a few months or years old not 30 years, so, EFA is right on both counts.
So you infer that unsolved crimes of political murders should be forgotten because they happened long ago?!

Paul Micallef

Jan 27th, 15:28

@J martinelli

You have SELECTIVE MEMORY, it must be the CANADIAN AIR, well what about the INTERDET???? And the FAXIST PN, ejja la tridu issemghu il passat ejja, tahseb lil ilum ghawn xi hadd li jimprutah mil 80s???? We as a party that loosk foward, we are not dinasaurs locked in the past as we look foward, not like the PN and bloggers, reminisent of a gone by era.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 15:55

@NDebattista.
No matter how often in the past EFA harped on the past violent Mintoff-KMB era, clearly it was not often enough if a young generation has grown up disinterested in their nation's post independence turbulent history during which our newly acquired freedoms were imperilled by wholesale suppression of our basic fundamental human rights. Nauseated would be those who hanker for a return.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 17:33

@PaulMicallef.
The Nationalist Party couldn't and didn't issue any "interdett". That was brought down on the heads of MLP hardliners who supported Mintoff in his quarrel with the Archbishop because Mintoff wanted to suppress every different opinion i.e. the press, the free trade unions, the intelligentia, the professional class, the banks, the teachers and all who wouldn't lick his boots.

J Martinelli

Jan 27th, 15:37

Joe, the NP was never in cahoots with the Church. It was the LP's lame excuse for losing the Integration referendum and election. Whether you espouse the church or not is immaterial. What counts is the huge progress we experienced since 1987 without having to ride on any dictator's back. Nobody 'blackmailed' anyone voting NP in & the NP never sent thugs at polling stations to scare LP voters away.

Mr Nathan zammit

Jan 28th, 02:33

@j martinelli in nies li indifnu fil mizbla jew izzewgu fis sagristija ghax kienu laburisti ta veru kienu ukoll!! specjalment dak iz zmien fejn kien ghawn tant nies devoti.
saru hafna ingustizzji mil-labour fit 80ijat. vera. kien hemm minn baghta, pero hafna gawdew..
u jekk tridu issemmu lil mintoff.. sar hafna hazen tahtu specjalment al nies PN.. imma l malta gabarha. libbisha dewwieha u temahha

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 14:31

@P Cumbo
As long as the LP rostrum is crowded with the relics from the 70s and the 80s there is no credible proof that Joseph Muscat's LP had distanced itself from the perpetrators of its technique of violence, that it has put that violence behind it, that it regrets it and won't ever revert to it again. That clear repentence and contrition are an essential prerequisite for Christian forgiveness

Michael Seychell

Jan 27th, 15:11

How can one accept not to talk on the past when persons like me are still around onlyby the grace of God, more so when J.M. called back and is surrounded by people like AST,KV, JDG and others including some of the thugs that were involved in my case and in many other cases.
I may forgive the thugs and the M/L.Party, but will never forget what I & my family went through.
M.Seychel T'Pieta

Paul Micallef

Jan 27th, 15:32

@ inglott
Ghandek ragun PL HAS ADDAPTID, just like GERMANY, ITALY, JAPAN, ROMANIA, RUSSIA.
Billi tbidel hsibek naturali ghalina tal PL ara intkhom tal PN, DINOSAURI, IMWAHLIN FIL PASSAT, Ghalekm il-poplu ha warrabkhom ghax xebbaw mil LISTESS IDEJAT U UCUH skaduti.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 17:38

@PaulMicallef today 15:32.

Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia etc have adapted themselves following their sour experience with dictatorships by BANNING the return of the criminals that had plagued their countries not by reinstating them into any position of power. We should do the same.

Michael Seychell

Jan 27th, 15:22

P.B. I cannot accept that those who murdered R.Caruana; L.Cauchi; Kr.Grech, Il-Fusellu; & W.Cardona are still enjoying their life with their family, in most cases because the Police acted very wrongly, including not protecting the scene of the crime, and/or accusing innocent people like the case of P.Busuttil. How can the families of these people ever forget the past.

M. Seychell Pieta

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 16:02

Evidently, you know absolutely nothing about the incidence of unsolved crime, including homicide, in the UK and all over the world. It has nothing to do with the efficiency of the police in Malta. Let us only hope that our Police Force will never return to its black days of conspirators in aid of institutionalised political violence.

P Bonnici

Jan 27th, 19:30

Under the PN the police force remind to a certain extent in the dark days of the Mintoff regime. I believe that this crime should have been solved by the police.

We also has a double murder last year with a surviving witness, this remains unsolved. If there were no witness, I could understand why it would remain unsolved. I understand the PN inherited a semi-functional police force from the LP.

J Martinelli

Jan 27th, 15:52

John, 25 yrs are a bat of an eye in terms of history and though the 80s are gone, we still suffer the effects of division, of 'them and us' & there appear no signs of change. It had to be 'them and us' because the NP supporters 'battle front' consisted of unarmed citizens who got a fair dose of tear gas, rubber & real bullets, beatings etc, for doing what people did in democratic countries.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 14:33

EFA did not say that he does not care about the past. He WARNED of the danger of returning to it.

J Martinelli

Jan 27th, 15:59

People who have walls plastered with certificates and degrees but who have little knowledge of their country's history are just zombies living in a world of their own.
Your status today, Shaun is the product of your country's past, good or bad, hopefully more good than bad.
Going back to the bad era is like taking drugs for a few minutes of euphoria but a lifetime of pain.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 14:40

EFA did not "work very hard ... to achieve power" He worked hard and risked his life to restore a true functioning democracy to the nation respecting fundamental human rights and freedoms. Joseph Muscat is not faced with the same problems EFA had to face. He is unlikely to have to face them as long as Malta remains in the EU where EFA planted Malta while Joseoh Muscat strenuously opposed it.

ANTHONY PAVIA

Jan 27th, 16:27

Agreed!

E. Vassallo

Jan 27th, 17:12

Joseph Muscat used to ridicule EFA at every opporunity. Muscat is just rehashing marketing tactics with the ultimate vision being elected prime minister

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 14:42

No! he is doing nothing of the sort. Your interpretation is invalid.

Joe Grech

Jan 27th, 12:09

If there had not been a governing party containing ministers whose hired thugs beat up anyone who peacefully demonstrated then there may not have been the need for any "protection". The legitimacy of a government taking power when the opposition party has polled the majority of votes cast is more than a bit dubious, surely even for a dyed-in-the-wool Labourite.

David Spiteri

Jan 27th, 12:35

@V Caruana by "Civil Disobedience" do you mean standing up for your rights? Stop twisting history please. The protestors in Valletta asking for water in their homes .. yes, water .. the students chaining themselves in protest .. I need not repeat facts we lived through and repeated many times! If you need a refresher, see the article in TheTimes by A Borg Cardona titled "Gone, not to be forgotten"

Anthony Portelli

Jan 27th, 13:17

we had civil disobiedience when we had an illegitimate government-a DIKTATORIAT- int kont thix hawn jew? Il-poplu ried haga u il labor dawwar id-distrewtti biex ikollu siggijiet iktar fil parlament-
Fejn kienet id-demokrazija
Jew jaghzel il poplu jew Diktatorjat

HERMANN PAUL FARRUGIA

Jan 27th, 13:14

Mr Grech Mintoff: Your leader has just acknowledged that Dr Eddie Fenech Adami's election was crucial for Malta in1987.What authority are you to assert "In truth"?Your reference quoted is baseless as it is a partisan presentation of the facts and nowhere does it state that the PN was acting as a National Movement against SocialistTotalitarianism & Oppression of the majority of Malta's Electorate

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Jan 27th, 15:03

@HPF

1)In 1987 change was needed. Thereafter, violence stopped OVERNIGHT and people accused of being violent were PROMOTED. How strange!

2)Change is equally required now.

3)I backed my claim with pictures dates & places and even EFA's own voice making up excuses to justify the PN violence! How you claim that to be baseless is beyond me unless your claim is an emotional rather than logical one.

H. Psaila

Jan 27th, 12:30

Did ever Mintoff or the Labour party ever apologize to Maltese citizens for the hardship in those days for violence of personal and public properties, breaking the laws, lack of commodities, unemployment, riots and many much more. You are calling PN violence, why dont you read the history way back in the 80's and read all about the violence that MLP has done to all Maltese citizens.

Anthony Portelli

Jan 27th, 13:24

Int bis-serjeta Mintoff?
ghandek hafna baggage man.
fiz-zmienkom ma kont tista tixtri
Prodotti Francizi
Corned Beef
Tonn taz-zejt
Ma kenx hawn dawl (Eleticku)
Ma kien hawn ilkma( tax-xorb)
u hafna affariet ohra, inkluz ma kontx tista tuza Malat fil titolu ta xi kumpanijia, gazetta, ma kont tista tixtri karozza radio controlled, ghax keinu jahsbu li se taghmel xi att-- bruuuuu,

Anthony Borg

Jan 27th, 14:35

@ A portelli Dr fenech adami says “My own strong belief is there’s no going back... I don’t think people care about it.”.. tergax taqa ghal passat .... Illum infaqna il miljuni u xorta ghadna li inkunu bla dawl (2013) ......

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Jan 27th, 15:07

@HP

Read what o wrote carefully!

@AP

Serjissimu.

Jien ghixthom dak iz-zmienijiet ukoll u soffrejna HAFNA vjolenza wkoll...

nerga nghidlek tizax emozjoni halli tahseb fic-car:

illum hawn faqar tmissu kuljum: mur ghid lil hafna biex imoru ihalsu kontijiet tad -dawl ecc ahseb u ara jixtru l-lussu.

Int tahseb li ma kienx hawn vjolenza nazzjonalista? Ara l-link li bghatlek ta l-anqas..

Joe Fenech

Jan 27th, 21:20

U t-transfers u l-korruzzjoni taht il-PN li ikkrejeaw tant vjolenza psikologika....

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Jan 27th, 12:09

>@ all those falsely alleging any disagreement between EFA and myself.
>That is one more lie.

More classic FS!!!

George Azzopardi

Jan 27th, 12:20

EFA's own words

“My own strong belief is there’s no going back... I don’t think people care about it.”

Wally Vella-Zarb

Jan 27th, 12:44

We also know the PNs opposition to the 'one man,one vote' system, votes for women, voting at age eighteen, state pensions, compulsory education, virtually no decent employment for labourites in the fifties and sixties, the casting aside of labourites after 1987, the minister who boasted that he'd rather see desks empty than occupied by labour supporters...etc., etc. We will all remember on 9 March

David Farrugia

Jan 27th, 12:54

Francis, don't despair...remember, Malta Taghna Lkoll!

George Azzopardi

Jan 27th, 13:55

You say the same thing!! Here is what EFA is saying ..


EFA: Young people not interested in the past - would have called election earlier!

Do you agree with this? Earlier on, you weren't!!

Joe Borg (Senior)

Jan 27th, 14:35

Dottore .. ghandek problema kbira ta kredibilita!! Biex anqas qed taqbel ma EFA .. issa kbira!!! issa izzejjed!!

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 14:50

@GeorgeAzzopardi.

EFA clearly did not say that today's generation doesn't care whether or not we actually went back to the violence of the 70s and 80s. He is warning the young generation against taking things for granted and that the present situation cannot be endangered by their unconcern.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 15:00

@George Azzopardi today at 13:55

I agree with EFA that Franco Debono & Co should have been ejected earlier even if that meant an earlier election with a cleansed NP better poised to win that election.

EFA is no way approving the young generation's disinterest in past MLP atrocities. He is warning them that their unconcern poses the risk of a return to that past.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 13:05

I understand better than you do what EFA meant when he WARNED "that it would be a mistake to take everything for granted". That meant that whilst forgiving, we should not forget

George Azzopardi

Jan 27th, 14:27

Dr.Saliba, we should not take everything for granted who's saying that's not true but please start the sentence from the beginning ..

People are conscious the country has moved forward and there’s no going back,”

Like GonziPN you're still trying to scare people when EFA has realized that this strategy is wrong! Malta Today's survey is the result of GonziPN strategy. PL now leading by 14%!

Joe Borg (Senior)

Jan 27th, 14:29

@Francis Saliba M.D. ... whilst forgiving, we should not forget

issa qed tikwotta lil Kbir Duminku Mintoff ghax din i-frazi hu kien qala!!!

Joe Borg (Senior)

Jan 27th, 15:26

@Dr.Saliba ..Like GonziPN you're still trying to scare people when EFA has realized that this strategy is wrong! From surveys done today by other newspaper PL now leading by 14%! This is the result of GonziPN strategy.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 16:33

@JoeBorg(sen)
Both Mintoff and myself may be quoting the same aphorism - but take my word for it, I never quote Mintoff in support of anything I say (sew jekk Mintoff kbir fil-gid, sew jekk kbir biss fid-deni).

Joe Borg (Senior)

Jan 27th, 11:24

Jahasra mhux qed tindunha li bi kliemek qeed tmerri is-sewwa marruf li qed ghid u jinsisti EFA stess. Int rajti dal-Klip jew tant ghami bli qed jghid GonziPN li mhux qed tisma x'qed jghid l-aqwa leader li qatt kellu l-PN!!!!

jane galea

Jan 27th, 11:43

Jiddispjacini ghalik I Mercieca int mintiex hlief fanatiku tal-PN ghax jghidu x' jghidu jkun min jkun ghandek amad li tara parti wahda biss,ghid jekk xi darba dawn in-nies ghamlulek xi haga lilek personali gia la darba qed takkuzhom.Naqbel ma EFA ahna se jsir irridu nafu u li jinghad jkun kredibli.

I Mercieca

Jan 27th, 13:56

Da zgur li ghamluli Jane, JIen kont zaghzugh fi zmien ir-Regim Socjalista (jew tisthu ltghidu llum li intom Socjalisti), kien zmien meta biex tavvanza fl-edukazzjoni kellek bzonn il-PARRINU, mhux bhall -lum min hu kapaci jkompli javvanza.

Joe, nahseb iktar ghami int f'kull kumment li tikteb tixhed dan. X'hinu s-sewwa mgharuf ghidilna?
Li l-polpu irregetta l-Partit tieghek elezzjoni wara l-ohra.

I Mercieca

Jan 27th, 14:01

Tassew ma tafnix biex tghidli fanatiku.

Jien din l-elezzjoni ma kontx se nivvota 100% u l-bosta u bosta nies li jafuni jafuh dan, izda wara li naqra dak kollu li intom is-Socjalisti, Laburisti, Progressivi, Moderati (LOL) u x'naf jien, tiktbu bilfors nerga nivvota PN.

Jekk ikun se jibdieli u ma mmurx nivvota kemm nara ftit is-Super 1 u mmur gas down....

E. Vassallo

Jan 27th, 15:01

The truth is that Joseph muscat is trying to lure disgruntled PN voters by various marketing ploys.....gloryfying Eddie fenech Adami,.wearing blue ties, never mention his party by name but referring to as a Moviment but the greatest electoral weapon is attacking Austin Gatt and vilify him through not only the MLP media but with the help of so called independent media.

M Farrugia

Jan 27th, 11:34

Best joke ever......Muscat influencing EFA......perhaps when he was still at school or a journalist with Super 1 ???????? Kif qatt ma tghid wahda tajba Sur Privitera.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 11:48

@ Eddy Privitera
There were many MLP stalwarts who expected that they continue to enjoy the privileges that their party had bestowed on them undeservedly and at the expense of worthier people on the principle that benefits were to be heaped on Labourites first and foremost and if any goodies remained they would be assignd also to Labourites. What brazen cheek!

H. Psaila

Jan 27th, 12:33

All Maltese have their personal experience during the 80's especially of the MLP violence in those days. So dont talk about personal experience.

Eddy Privitera

Jan 27th, 13:13

M. Farrugia: Dr. MUscat is Influencing Dr. EFA TODAY with his speeches on unity ! But you are too blinkered to realize this !

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 15:08

@EddyPrivitera
Your brash opinion that Eddie Fenech Adami would ever take any lessons from the same Muscat who has recalled to LP service the perpetrators of the Mintoff-KMB violence against his family and wrecked his home is gross banality that exceeds anything you have ever produced.

Alfred J. McEwen

Jan 27th, 16:41

@ Francis Saliba M.D

This Brazen Cheek may also be attributed to the Partit Nazionalista, so it`s ditto on all counts I`m afraid as the have had their fair share of bazulismo and probably still do. Talk about throwing stones at glass windows....!!

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 18:17

@A.J McEwen
You’ve got everything wrong. It is “Those who live in glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones” and the glasshouse is at the Mile End.
Even if your allegation of “bazulismo” were true (it isn’t) that is hardly a good reason to change a government with an outstanding success in surmounting an international recession and to adopt an MLP with the VAT shambles to its discredit.

Giov DeMartino

Jan 27th, 10:52

When I mention labour's atrocious past I always give concrete facts. I challenge you to do the same with regards
to the 60's shameful past.

Joe Vella

Jan 27th, 10:57

A. Tonna,I can guarantee you as a Nationalist Party supporter the 1960's is a glory part of the great history of the PN. The PN gave the Maltese a Nation to the Maltese, equal among all Nations at the UN. A. Tonna, the PL and it's exponents always talk about corruption; the Alfred Sant had set up a commission to investigate and what the commission told him that there was none.


Joe Tabone

Jan 27th, 11:03

@ Tonna,
That's what Labour and A Sant said before they were elected in 1996, but after 22 months in Government NOT ONE person was prosecuted. PL Labour today with the same mud slinging!!

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 11:09

The PN does not forget and it does not try to make anyone forget the bitter confrontation stirred up by Mintoff against the Church in Malta and against its archbishop. It was one facet of Mintoff's policy to suppress the voice of the intelligentia, of the professional class, of the free (unmarried) trade unions, of the educators and of the free press. The NP was in favour of fundamental freedoms.

C Muscat

Jan 27th, 12:54

60's shamefu lpast.
a, biex tidhol mal-gvern trid tkun nazzjonalist; ir-rikmandazzjoni tal-kappilankienet tkun bl-iswed jew bil-blu skond kien PL jew PN;
b. il-gazetti laburisti ma kont issibhom imkien mill-gfvern;
c. min kien laburist kellu dnub mejjet u ma kienx jista jiehju l-ebda sagrament fosthom bdil tal- buletttin.
d. tahdem ta serva paga mizera;
e. tallaba
f.. handicapped mohbija.

Eddy Privitera

Jan 27th, 13:17

Giov DeMartinio: So you are rubbishing what Dr. Fenech ADami has told The Sunday Times in today's interview ! Dr. Gonzi seems to have lost even Dr. EFA's support !

Marion Storace

Jan 27th, 11:39

@ A. Muscat - People in glass houses should not throw stones. I for one will never forget the 60@s during a PN administration and Archbishop Gonzi at its helm. Interdett, if you sympathised with a political party, no absolution or rather one could not go to confession, no receiving of holy communion, people being buried in the trash, pealing of church bells during the MPL meetings (Pt.1).

Marion Storace

Jan 27th, 11:44

A. Muscat (Pt. 2)
During this last PN legislature, it has gone worse with arrogance, CORRUPTION and LIES galore, u-turns, division amongst the people (which started with EFA) and then you have the audacity to mention the 70's and 80's. Other comments will be superfluous.

Trevor Lorenzo Mizzi

Jan 27th, 13:53

@ Marion Storace,

No one was literally buried in the trash, they were buried in coffins and in normal Maltese style public graves that happened to be in non consecrated grounds as a mean punishment by the Maltese version of the Roman Catholic church as it was playing mind games with the living that did not share its political views.
The dead, as the Bible says" know nothing" & don't care.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 10:57

@Alfred Vassallo
The eradication of violence as a political weapon had been accomplished by EFA for a decade before Alfred Sant appeared on the scene. Don't forget that although Sant distanced himself from the MLP authors of the violence they were reinstalled by Muscat and they are still there prominently. If the remembrance of that MLP violence really harmed the NP you would not be opposing it.

Eddy Privitera

Jan 27th, 10:56

Margaret: You have a chance to have a very DIFFERENT type of politician running the country. A young man who has a vision so different to former politicians. Why not give him a chance to prove to you that he is different ? His name is JOSEPH MUSCAT !

C Briffa

Jan 27th, 11:28

@eddy he already had the chance to prove himself but he voted against the EU membership, he kept the old faces from the 70's & behind closed doors he says that Malta will be tal-Laburisti. I will not gamble with my family's future

M Farrugia

Jan 27th, 11:39

Margaret, all governments around the world are in debt, some governments like our current one are capable of managing the debt and keep the country going well, others governed by poor inexperienced politicians went to the wall in the last 4 years. Choose wisely in the next election.

L Zammit

Jan 27th, 12:29

@Eddie Privitera: Voting for Labour is a leap in the dark.

H. Psaila

Jan 27th, 12:38

Margaret - As E. Privitera is telling you, vote for a young man who is an uncapable politician only full of dreams, a young man without a single vision, only illusions. He is the man who wanted us to choose our style like Cyprus did and see what happened to Cyprus. He is saying that as soon as he is elected he will lower W& E, but now he is saying not after 3years. It this the kind of PM we want?

Joseph Micallef

Jan 27th, 18:28

@ C Briffa, L Zammit,

The problem is that as time goes by, the majority of the voters are not thinking it your way. I am one of those who will vote PL for the first time. I've been a member of PN for decades but I can't see myself associated with PN anymore. On the other side, PL is appealing for me and many others.

Joseph Micallef

Jan 27th, 18:29

@ L Zammit,

A leap in the dark would be caused by voting for PN... with all these regular power cuts.

L Zammit

Jan 27th, 21:48

@ J.Micallef: A typical labour reply. Always trying to ridicule. No, labour will never change.

Joseph M. Grech.

Jan 27th, 10:09

And Ms Tanti who is trying to gain power through fear?
Is it not the MLP/PL when they are sending letters to families in the south where Dr Muscat is telling them how horrified he was when they came to the knowledge of how a certain family had 8 people with cancer, the increase in the amount of cancers due to the power station? Or that Pn will increase the utility tariffs? Come on let's be fair!

Martin Attard

Jan 27th, 10:15

that's it ! well done josephine

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 10:18

@JosephineTanti.

If we do not keep in mind the potholes into which Malta stumbled the last times the MLP/LP governed, Malta would crash into the same potholes while striving to move "FORWARDS" under the same leaders of that violent past.

Donna Parnis

Jan 27th, 11:02

Joseph M Grech, and is it not Gonzi who is sending letters to workers telling them that if the LP get in their jobs would go, Like he sent letters last election telling workers their jobs were safe then after the election they got their notice, Now hes promising jobs again, but saying labour will take them away, Scare tactics always from the PN.

Eddy Privitera

Jan 27th, 11:02

Joseph M. Grech: That power stations using heavy fuel oil are dangerous to health, is not an inventyion of Dr. Muscat. This has been said by the World Health Organization. And even prominent oncologists, including the former Chief of the oncology department at Boffa Hospital, Dr. Stephen Brincat, and various other Specialists !

Don't you believe Dr. Eddie Fenech Adami any longer then ?

Joseph Micallef

Jan 27th, 18:31

@ Joseph M Grech,

You're speaking about fairness? for fairness sake! Power through fear: żewġ bombi tal-gass daqs il-knisja tal-mosta, l-labour jeħodna lura għas-snin 80. Bil-labour taqla transfer (do you recall those nasty leaflets?), il-labour jaqtalek l-istipendju ecc... Possibli, ma tafx bihom dawn? Welcome to Malta.

Josephine Tanti

Jan 27th, 09:33

Well said. The present PN has become unrecognisable to most except the inner circle of friends. They, like the MLP of the past, will have to go through a transition of self-reflection, acceptance of reality and hopefully change. I pray to God that they will be ready in 10 years

Should the LP, who I believe will win the coming election, fall into complacency at least we'll then have an option.

twanny borg

Jan 27th, 10:01

Mario nahseb int ma fehmtx xejn. X'differenza minn dak iz-zmien ghal-lum!! Il-fatt biss li l-pulizija tiehu passi kontra kullhadd hija bizzejjed. Tista' tikritika bla biza. Mhux kollox fuq ir-rubini imma nafu fejn qeghdin.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 09:25

Eddie Fenech Adami is saying things that we all know but which LP stalwarts want to sweep under the carpet while their leadership is crowded with leaders from the MLP violent past. He felt the need to warn that we must not take our present peace for granted.

David Magro

Jan 27th, 11:01

Dr.Saliba, l-istorja had ma jistgha jhassara. Daqstant iehor wiehed ma jistghax ihassa l-ugieh ta qalb ta dak li gara way back in the 1960`s. Jien ma nafx kemm ghandek zmien, pero hnizrijiet saru hafna ta f`dawk iz-zminijiet, specjalment l-interdiction lil Laburisti, vendikazzjonijiet, emigrazzjoni qawwija lil eluf ta Laburisti ( missieri wiehed minnhom ). Anke L-orizzont banned from san Luqa!

David Magro

Jan 27th, 11:01

Dr.Saliba, l-istorja had ma jistgha jhassara. Daqstant iehor wiehed ma jistghax ihassa l-ugieh ta qalb ta dak li gara way back in the 1960`s. Jien ma nafx kemm ghandek zmien, pero hnizrijiet saru hafna ta f`dawk iz-zminijiet, specjalment l-interdiction lil Laburisti, vendikazzjonijiet, emigrazzjoni qawwija lil eluf ta Laburisti ( missieri wiehed minnhom ). Anke L-orizzont banned from san Luqa!

Karl Consiglio

Jan 27th, 11:05

So true.

Mr Aldo Grech

Jan 27th, 09:22

Guess its exactly how our generation feels about the 7 gugnio events...

Ronnie Callus

Jan 27th, 09:48

Mark, they do not want to recall the past because it does not smell good for them. If it was otherwise they surely do.

David Magro

Jan 27th, 10:28

Mark, its the same for me, what happened way back to my father in the 60`s when he was interdicted by the church because of his beliiefs...today its cool for my child to understand what occuered!

Anna Camilleri

Jan 27th, 09:28

I invite you to read the full interview on The Sunday Times.....

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 10:13

@DavidFarrugia
You are another one who pretends a contested wisdom to pontificate what EFA "basically" meant as if the rest do not have brains of their own.

Kevin Bonello

Jan 27th, 09:10

Ahjar terga taqra SEW xqal siehbek Eddie! Kolla angli ta Pn tibqaw issemmu passat forsi taqbdu ma tibna fil maltemp!

M. Bezzina

Jan 27th, 09:12

If the MLP has to be ashamed with he past I would be ashamed with the current situation where corruption is 1st and foremost....the misery of salaries we have ...where the MPS had 500E weekly, fairmouth, arriva, mater dei, power station you mention it you will never stop writing!!!
I forgot that its PL fault sorry!!!!

Luciano Chetcuti

Jan 27th, 09:36

Look around and compare if you wish. Illum is-sinjur sar iktar sinjur u l-fqir ftaqar iktar. Imma l-aqwa li ghanda ftit state-of-the art items which have cost the taxpayer (including you if you pay taxes) millions and nothing is gained from them: Mater Dei: lesser patient space; Open air theatre: farce with a canvas top; Parliament building: monster/barumbara tal-hamiem; and so on and so on.

Joseph Bugeja

Jan 27th, 09:49

Mr Vella,
What is the past for you? Years and events you care to pick up? Weren't the 'dnub il-mejjet' years with the government mum or helping on the sidelines past too? You could not even take a left leaning newspaper in a 'public' hospital! I can go on and on and like you pick what I choose. The truth is everyone has skeletons in his cupboard and that includes you and me.

carmel cassar

Jan 27th, 10:35

Why dont we go further back, like the sixties,or even further. both parties cant afford to air their arm pits, but what we are going to achieve? Let move forward and plan for a better living, hoping that we get a maltese government.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 08:52

If your comment is typical of today's young people then, sorry to say, they woulde be prime idiots and not people giving scientific(!) answers. Science has nothing to do with discarding the bitter lessons of our recent history. The only obstruction to a reversion to the horrors of the 70s and 80s is our membership of the European Union (thanks to EFA) rather than membership to the AAPSO of MLP.

Andre Briffa

Jan 27th, 08:58

@Victor Vella, are you serious? Whats so scientific about it ?

Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti

Jan 27th, 08:59

Francis, your hero (EFA) does not support your stance. You are on the outer.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 09:13

@JosephCarmelChetcuti

I do not acknowledge any competence by you to interpret Eddie Fenech Adami's stance regarding anything.

Victor Vella

Jan 27th, 09:19

Dear Francis. As usual. You say a lot of things without answering the questions. The `horrors` you are talking about are the instigation brought about by EFA. While I dissociated with the perpetrators of criminal offenses even small ones, they were so small in number that you are trying to draw the picture as `horror`. Today the horrors are psychological brought by GonziPN.

Denis Pace

Jan 27th, 09:23

Missed the whole point..

That was not the 80's. Those days were characterised by:
Lack of freedom of Speech
Lack of jobs
Lack of educational opportunities
Lack of choice for consumers
Lack of investment
Economic stagnation
Plenty of power in the hands of an arrogant, at times, violent, clique which was above the law.

Ronnie Callus

Jan 27th, 09:39

Well said Victor. May I ask who was the one who called people infront of him in a meeting to crucifix one of our leaders?

Jesmond Chetcuti

Jan 27th, 09:48

the political violence in the 80 `s served a purpose and the real loser were the maltese people...EFA got what he wanted by dividing the nation, and then afterwards he preached for unity...before his time as PN leader, politic was banter nothing else, he changed it to hatred..
he wasnt the pioneer of such strategy other foregin leaders tried it and worked for them too...

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 10:30

@VictorVella today 09:19
I hate it when people ask silly questions instead of using what brains the good God gave them to understand comments in plain English! Do not ask. Make statements about the violence of the MLP in the 70s and 80s and I will tear them to shreds as I have done in the past. The LP ploy is to beg that its past violence be forgotten. We forgive but do not stupidly forget it

David Magro

Jan 27th, 10:31

Dr.Saliba, may I remind you the horrors that happened during the 60`s, when my father suffered interdiction because of his belief`s and the amount of vendication he suffered because he supported the MLP. My generation will remember what happened by my children will find it difficult to understand.

Ivan Grech Mintoff

Jan 27th, 10:49

@FS

Not that you will listen to anyone, even your hero is telling you to get yourself a life...

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 11:27

@DMagro
I deprecate the Church-MLP confrontation as much as you do but I do not attach blame to the Nationalist Party. I lay the blame, fare and square, on a MIntoff who brooked no different opinion from the intelligentia, from the professions, from the banking community, from the free trade unions, from the press, from the teaching profession and anything else that obstructed his lust for power.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 12:53

@IvanGrechMintoff

I listen to all who have anything worth listening to. And since you do not take a hint I state clearly that is why I do not listen to you.

t aguis

Jan 27th, 10:12

U l futur , jinbena fuq l present !!!!!!

Mauro debattista

Jan 27th, 10:32


Mr Callus, History is about the historical knowledge. With your argument we should not accept the germans or italians who form the biggest number of tourists after the british. Let's just grow up and mature.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 08:58

Eddie Fenech Adami always practised what he preaches. It was his statesmanship that prevented his aggrieved followers from exacting retribution against an MLP violent persecutiion and suppression of civil liberties for 16 years culminating in the murder of Raymond Caruana,

Denis Pace

Jan 27th, 09:26

Young people did not live through those dark times and cannot feel "involved" when discussing the 80's.
That does not mean that they are fed up, as you described it.
Can you EVER imagine a violent PN crowd attacking the leader of the opposition's home and destroying everything in site, terrifying his children???? Not in a million years...

BUT THIS HAPPENED!

Ronnie Callus

Jan 27th, 09:45

Hundred percent correct tony.

twanny borg

Jan 27th, 10:06

Hemm bahar kbir jaqsam. X'differenza!!

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 09:19

@A Mizzi

Because Eddie Fenech Adami has a brilliant mind of his own and does not have to anybody's bidding. least if all yours.

Joseph M. Grech.

Jan 27th, 08:24

How easy it is to point fingers!
What about the perverse result and the interpretation of 'democracy' by MLP?
I wonder what would have happened had the election result been the other way round!
The real instigators were the marmalja that took over the law into their hands.
Mr Balzan unfortunately you cannot change history.
If you condemn EFA you can condemn Gandhi as well for peaceful protests.

Anton Zammit

Jan 27th, 08:34

Well, I for one will never forget, beatings, insults, lock outs, university lockdown, etc. It seems that you Mr Balzan had as Maltese state halqek fix-xghir..., maybe you were one of the few who could buy a colour TV, who could choose a building plot donated by the Government, ...maybe you are not the brother of Raymond Caruana.....

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 09:09

@ R Balzan
You are heavily blinkered. The politicians who until very recently threatened Nationalists that they do not know what is going to hit them if they lose the coming election or that Nationalists were excluded from the family, all belonged to the LP with no counterparts in the NP camp.

P. Ciantar

Jan 27th, 09:27

mt Balzan you are trying to re write history . Typical labour Borg Olivier was better than Eddie in 1981 and Eddie better than Gonzi always the same kantalena but always 40 yrs late

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 10:45

It is a lie that EFA was "the main instigator of political divisiveness and partisanship among the blue/red party followers ... " I was by his side in 1987 when news filtered to PN stamperija that the election had been won. He sent us out immediately to restrain any pent up celebrations at the return of suppressed fundamental freedoms without tV provocations about the end of "Malta Socjalista"

L Zammit

Jan 27th, 11:15

Veru ma tafx x'qed tghid sur Balzan. Alla hares ma kien hawn Eddie dak iz-zmien. Konna ga nezlin il-precipizzju u Eddie gibidna minn xgharna.Ma nafx kif ma tisthix tghid dawn il-kliem. Forsi ghadek zghir u ma tiftakarx?

R. Balzan

Jan 27th, 11:21

@ Joseph M. Grech, Anton Zammit, Francis Saliba and P. Ciantar. I happen to know Dr EFA perhaps better than all of you and have followed his career from Day 1, probably also because my family and his are related. I repeat: Dr EFA did a lot of good BUT he sowed divisiveness among Maltese families (through his action or inaction) more than any other Maltese politician.

R. Balzan

Jan 27th, 12:47

@ L. Zammit - ghadni zghir? Nixtieq. Ghandi aktar minn 70 sena u naf sewwa x'qed nghid. Dr EFA ghamel hafna gid kemm dam Prim Ministru imma certamentghamel ftit li xejn biex igib ir-rikoncilljazzjoni bejn il-partiti, tant li l-politka tieghu gabet akatar firda fost il-familji. Biex taqghad spicca l-karriera tieghu bhala self-appointed President ta' nofs il-Maltin biss. Fact.

E. Vassallo

Jan 27th, 14:56

R.Balzan

The main political division was brought about by the British, Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici and his acolytes in the eighties.

L Zammit

Jan 27th, 15:13

X'qed tghid? Gab il-firda? Gab ir-rikonciljazzjoni meta kienet tidher impossibbli. Il-firda gabitha l-ghira li kellkhom ghalin u ghal PN. Nerga nghidlek Alla hares ma kienx hu u shabu.

Francis Saliba M.D.

Jan 27th, 15:25

@R Balzan today at 11:21

It is unbelievable that any 70 year old would lie execrably and accuse EFA that he sowed divisiveness among Maltese families. Any honest witness of those days knows that the diviseveness, up to political murders, was there for 16 years before and that EFA actually suppressed it as soon as he became prime minister.

Charles Micallef

Jan 27th, 09:44

Beppe please listen to your father's advice!

Mario zerafa

Jan 27th, 11:20

You think it's easy when this family suffered the injustice and physical infliction first hand themselves.. easier said than done.

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