A new leader, a new PN cycle

There is a new leader, yet there comes a time in the life of man or woman, with its ups and downs, its tragedies and its happiness, its failures and its successes, when this life needs to be periodically appraised, reformed and adjusted. This also applies to organisations such as the Nationalist Party. Way back in 1977, a large number of PN officials felt there was a man who should be appraised – a man who raised Malta to the highest levels of statehood, who built an economy from scratch after the rundown of the British forces and probably the most astute man I have ever met – and as a result they also felt that the party had to be appraised. This was done.

Simon Busuttil has certainly hit the ground running, much faster than Joseph Muscat in Government

A new leadership was born. A formidable team that I doubt I will ever see again in my lifetime.

Names have been mentioned over and over again, so I will not repeat and bore. This leadership, with sweat and blood (yes blood) faced a momentous task and challenge. First to restore Malta to full democracy and then to build a new economy and infrastructure to replace the one coming out of the Middle Ages.

This it did with great success, eventually (after many Labour obstacles and trip-ups) leading us into the European Union.

At the very beginning, in the 1970s, this team revised the party’s statute and restructured its various organs to have the set-up fully prepared to serve the challenges ahead.

With EU membership achieved by a couple of whiskers, albeit against a harsh, deceptive and ultimately dishonest Labour campaign, another great appraised himself (this time) and decided to call it a day. He retired even before Malta’s official entry to the EU. The transition to a new leadership in 2003 was not smooth either, but then with power contests nothing is ever plain sailing.

There was much bitterness and acrimony, and unfortunately this went on and on until literally this week. It is a pity that a defeated contestant could not stomach that defeat. There is so much to learn from the integrity and gentlemanly conduct of the defeated contestant in last week’s leadership contest.

The recently deposed government suffered terribly under its rebels who expected high positions as if by divine right. It suffered terribly under the demi-gods who thought they knew it all, insisted on controlling all and made sure to exclude all, as they strutted about through PN headquarters. Some have now obviously moved on to better pastures with lucrative posts in the commercial sector, possibly to cream favours made in the past. So here we are. The PN now has a new leadership (or will have by the end of the month). Time will judge Simon Busuttil. He has certainly hit the ground running, much faster than Joseph Muscat in Government, and, what’s more, I get the feeling he will keep his promises and deliver more than the Prime Minister’s lot with their fads.

This is a time for reflection and learning from the past. But it is crucial to keep up with the times. As we have heard ad nauseam in recent years, the word is “liberalism”, though upholding our strong Catholic and social principles. These cannot be compromised. I for one will not abandon “religio et patria”. Or shall I sell my soul to the devil? I also still have much respect for our traditional Christian Democratic principles; although these were fundamentally absorbed by the European People’s Party. But there is a lot of leeway for compromise between liberalism and these principles. So we can modernise our principles, our ideas and our structures without betraying the fundamental principles of the PN.

The PN is a party that triumphs in the face of adversity and has won absolutely every one of its battles without fail. When it was founded by Fortunato Mizzi (“Padre della Patria”) in 1880 (the Labour Party was founded in 1921), it was this “movement” (please note, Dr Muscat) that started to fight for the rights of the Maltese people (for some time in tandem with Lord Strickland’s group, to be fair). Enrico Mizzi was persecuted for his pro-Italian views and was exiled to Uganda, illegally and in contempt of a court judgement. A relatively young Sir Ugo Mifsud died after falling ill in Parliament during a heated discussion on the internment of our co-nationals. With Mizzi fighting malaria and Sir Ugo having passed away, it was the only remaining member of the council of Government, very young indeed, who took over the reins of the Nationalist Party. The denigrated Mizzi came back after the Second World War and became Prime Minister, albeit for only three months before his death – unbelievable.

Message: Busuttil and team – very difficult task ahead but not insurmountable. Good luck.