Oh, I see, it’s the Leader of the Opposition who is attacking the institutions, is he? At least, that’s what I seem to remember the Prime Minister being reported as having said.

This is rich, capable of inducing mirth in titanic proportions, side-splittingly amusing. Or, at least, it would be, if it wasn’t proof positive that the Prime Minister and his sidekicks, especially the tame unquestioning media that wears livery that identifies it with the Labour Party, think they can say anything and we, the Great Unwashed, will swallow it without a murmur. It is to l-Orizzont and to similar publications that I refer, of course. We all know who they are, so I needn’t remind you that MaltaToday and Illum are among them.

So, there we have it: the Leader of the Nationalist Opposition, we are told by the Leader of the (Malta) Labour Party, also the Prime Minister, is attacking the great democratic institutions of the country. Yes, folks, you read that one correctly.

Let’s get ourselves up to speed here, shall we?

Anyone my age, and over, and plenty under my age (and there are plenty) will recall, with a degree of horror that is not easily ignored, the way people like Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, predecessors of the current Prime Minister both as prime ministers and as leaders of the Labour Party, used to look at the courts.

Mintoff suspended the Constitutional Court for ages, Mifsud Bonnici’s behaviour towards the judiciary during the Church schools’ fight was abominable and the amount of respect either of them had for the rule of law is common knowledge. And those are only a few examples.

Insofar as concerns the Fourth Estate, well, here words almost fail me. Being seen with a Nationalist newspaper was a recipe for getting a beating, the building of Times of Malta was burnt down and public broadcasting was a joke, a horrendously bad joke.

Of course, neither Mifsud Bonnici nor Mintoff were personally responsible for any of that but, just as Joseph Muscat today bears political responsibility for the racist venom some people spew out, so do they bear responsibility for what happened in their day, and then some.

Oh, and before some misguided twerp pipes up and comes up with the argument that broadcasting under the Nationalist Party (when it was in government, of course) was as bad as the 1980s, would said twerp please spare us his insipid posing?

How is criticism of something tantamount to undermining democracy?

So, Simon Busuttil has attacked the institutions, has he? Does it mean he’s reduced Parliament to a rubber stamp or that he’s politicised the Executive, what? Muscat should put some meat on the bones and tell us in words that even his supporters are capable of understanding how Busuttil has attacked the institutions.

What about the pig’s dinner Muscat’s Minister Helena Dalli has made of the Industrial Tribunal, ay, just as an example?

What about, to be going on with, the patently insufficient-for-purpose appointments some of his ministers have made, even when they’ve made them in compliance with the law in the first place?

I’ve nothing against people of trust being appointed but, for Heaven’s sake, they should be competent and competence doesn’t reside solely in loyalty to the almighty Labour Party.

And what, pray, about the goings-on within the Police Force, under the wing of Minister Manwel Mallia, whose gaffes go from strength to strength?

Data protection rules, anybody, or shall we approach some Orwellian buff and ask him to rewrite them for us?

The Prime Minister accused Busuttil of undermining democracy because, horror of horrors, the latter had the nerve to criticise the findings of the Police Review Board which, wonder of wonders, managed to find the officer who had arraigned the right guy to be at fault while apparently not finding anything remiss with the actions of the chaps who had played fast and loose with an innocent man’s rights.

Precisely how, if the Prime Minister would be so kind as to illustrate, is criticism of something tantamount to undermining democracy? Is it perhaps that he has confused himself with the Sun King, the One out of whose Gorgeous Visage splendour glows?

Is it, mayhap, his position that the ancient institute of lese majestè should be revived, and made a capital crime, punishable by hanging, drawing and quartering?

Actually, I suppose I should be kind and understanding: with so many estimable media operators (see above) bowing and scraping to him, with so many of the Great and Good still dazzled by his youth and vigour, it’s hardly surprising that he does think that he and his government can get away with anything, all the time.

All I can say is, good luck with that and, in the meantime, forgive us, the sceptical, for not swallowing it all down like good little children, gasping for a pat on the back and the keys to a small apartment in the Kingdom of Joseph.

imbocca@gmail.com

www.timesofmalta.com/articles/author/20