Monday, 12th October 2009
Their sore point
It always fascinates me how insecure the Nationalist party is when it comes to being contested or criticised. A case in point is Labour's move to organise street demonstration on October 25th .
The Nationalist party fears mass contestation because it thrives on giving the impression that everyone is on its side and Labour is the odd one out. Predictably, the usual suspects came out to give a helping hand and pontificate on how this is a move in the wrong direction and how uncommitted voters will be driven off.
On other occasions these same writers sustained that Labour was inept and static and seemed to be on permanent vacation. I will leave it up to the readers to deduce whether they have the Labour Party's well being and success at heart.
But back to the subject of insecurity. The past weeks were rife, first with speculation and then with analysis of Marisa Micallef's defection to Labour. Reading through the contributions of a number of Nationalist leaning columnists I deduced what seemed to be a state of denial in their writings. They attempted to justify Micallef's move suggesting that it was in effect a matter of financial convenience rather than political conviction. One by one, those who refuse to tag the party line or who have contrasting opinions to the PN establishment are hunted down by these acolytes, with the tenacity of a bloodhound.
If you think I'm blowing this out of proportion read their pieces on the Renzo Piano project and earlier on the proposed St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum extension. Not to mention the Bahrija controversy last summer. You can see a pattern in the way that they attempt ridicule 'dissenters'. Marisa Micallef was next.
This task becomes more tricky however, as more people leave the fold and they start running out of reasons why he or she has gone off the tracks. In a nutshell, they truly believe that no one in his right mind could cross to the Labour side and those who do vote for Labour are ignorant twits with half a brain cell between them. It is the classical example of people who get so caught up in their own spin that they start to confuse it with reality.
They then proceed to convince their readers in every possible way that the Nationalist party is still the 'sane' choice and Labour is out of the question - permanently. This is then topped off by the Nationalist party television station and online portal quoting editorials and opinion columns in the hope of pulling them off as the 'independent voice of sanity'.
The ultimate motivation behind this charade is to have them back up its political message and prop up its standing to the non-politically aligned. As Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando so astutely put it - gone are the days when the Nationalist party had all the unions and civil society behind it. One could see some concern within the PN ranks of late, as information began to seep out that some backbenchers were using the one man majority as bargaining power to become more involved in decision making.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a whispering campaign was going on to neutralise any mutiny, however small it may be. For the powers within Nationalist party seem think that it is more important to show a false united front instead of actually consulting everyone in parliamentary group in decision making. The whole situation reveals a deep malaise, one which is fuelled by public discontent and grumbling. It significant not only because it has been going on for a while now, but the way that the PN establishment seems goes on with business as usual, proves how detached it is from people's needs.
A new scenario is opening up whereby the party in government has to gain political brownie points on its own merit rather than having others espousing its causes. The Nationalist party has to show its political backbone and prove that if it is on the right side of an argument it doesn't need it's cronies to pave its way.
Fighting off their own insecurities will play a pivotal role in recouping the public's trust.
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Comments
A company restructures for a reason.
Most companies, when restructuring, would toss all the 'dead wood' and inject some new blood with new ideas and with a proven record, by necessity better than that possessed by the tossed dead wood.
The LP is just recycling the same people with exactly the same expertise as they possessed before the musical chair game commenced.
The promised 'breath of fresh air' is proving to be nothing more then the exhalation of recycled stale air.
"A new broom sweeps clean"? True. Unfortunately, the 'new broom' (Joseph, I presume) is reshuffling dust, not sweeping clean!
Make your mind up, do you want to see a change in PL or not?
What you call a game of musical chairs is a professional restructure of an organisation. I spent the best part of my working career in Middle and Senior Management in Malta as well as a part of an International Mega Financial institution. Most of the changes that I was part of upset people, but only temporarily, until they settled down and started reaping the benefits of the positive changes.
Occasional restructuring of an organogram is essential as it rejuvenates the organisation. One of the problems which the PL was facing was that since 1992, after the big overhaul, the systems were not challenged and revisited and complacency became the order of the day. New broom sweeps clean.
I beg your pardon Charles but surely you cannot blame me for confusing titles - there seems to be so many in the LP.
What makes matter worse, this game of musical chairs is confusing a lot of people since more chairs seem to be added half way through the game!
It seems that the 'earthquake' Joseph promised turned out to be a bunch of people jumping on a super trampoline causing a lot of vibration but no earthquake! Mind you, a few fell over and are now licking their egos, but heck, c'est la vie!
With regard to the moles being found within the NP Parliamentary Group and indeed in the Cabinet, you must be joking unless you have failed to read a couple of articles regarding Dr. Franco Debono and Robert Arrigo. All the hoopla about 'imminent defections' - 'rebellions' - 'disgruntlement' seem to have evaporated. However, I grant you this much - the LP have specialists in inventing, perfecting, spinning, enlarging, and turning molehills into mountains. They seem to be in a fierce competition with their other fellow specialists who have perfected the art of mud slinging! LOL
As to moles which I call ‘fifth Columnists’ You find them anywhere but the situation becomes extremely serious when you get them in the front line, the cabinet and the parliamentary group. Is there convergence on this? If I belonged to Gonzipn I don’t think I’ll find that very entertaining.
@ J Martinelli Part One.
A view may have different interpretations at different times; typical is the half empty or half full bottle approach, which explains our difficulty to converge. But then you get the law of magnetism-unlike poles attract, like poles repel which explains our love for each other. Hahahaha. Seriously now, I swear that there is never any bad feeling for you and\or any other political opponent from my side. I do get a bit too hot under the collar sometimes but that’s where it ends.
Charlon Gouder is a first class sport, great guy and can’t hurt a fly; however, like all of us he also has his weak points. Your interpretation to his last move is completely incorrect, he was never Media Director and now he is not a reporter; the former Media Director was Mark Farrugia who is now a personal assistant to the Leader, Kurt Farrugia is now Media Officer. Charlon Gauder was an Officer in the Public Relations Division of the Party and has been line moved to One Productions as Senior Journalist, no promotion no demotion.
Though our views run parallel, close at times, they never seem to converge!
Re: Charlon Gouder, Don't titles mean anything, anymore at the LP ? From Media Director to reporter? From 'in charge of something' to being just 'one of the boys'? No demotion, eh? Then all the fanfare was just a hoax? Poor Charlon!
Seems to me that moles are indeed a dime a dozen (on both sides) since the NP had so much inside (the PL) information which proved to be true that the PL investigated itself (and framed a few) in order to stop the leaks. Remember the fuss about Dr. Falzon's e-mails?
Other than the few serious side of things, politics on our small rock are indeed entertaining!
@ J Martinelli.
Jason, Jason, Jason I already told you that there are different ways to skin a cat. Bartholomew? Yes it would sound good on him. Hehehe.
Charlon Gouder? Nothing wrong with him except an occasional gaffe, but nobody is perfect. But he didn’t get demoted did he?
Moles at PN are selling at six for a dime; I don’t need to have my own as they are giving us a free service.
I don’t have an excuse for Dr. Sant but maybe he got the wrong gen, it happened a lot to EFA too-don’t you remember his false accusations on our National TV on the eve of a general election? An occupational hazard maybe.
While you speculate how 'to skin a cat', ask Jason who has just been skinned alive! He should change his name to Bartholomew.
Ask Charlon Gouder who is still bleeding from a good skinning, or was that just a scrape?
You know so much about what is happening behind the NP's doors that I suspect that you acquired the services of a mole.
I don't have to speculate on what's happening within the LP since its bloopers cannot be hidden. And, speaking of bloopers, how about Alfred Sant's latest? Making statements before checking the facts, like he always did and miscalculated!?
@ Joseph Buttigieg Attard
Oops! I just pushed the 'Permanent Ignore' button!
Using your same weight of such definitions you can very well attribute all you said to Dr L Gonzi! Your ( IM)perfect examples of ‘principles’ and ‘yes man’ give much food for thought to all clean minds!
You can very well apply all you said to the prsent, weak and insecure GonziPN Administration.
LoL.
The price for not being a ‘yes man’ in the kingdom of Gonzipn.
Backbencher Franco Debono is under attack by the PN inner core, as a number of potential candidates are being pushed to replace him in the next General Election.
At the moment the PN is concerned to identify the “moles” who are leaking information to the press. Moreover, the recent criticism of backbenchers towards the current administration has undermined the credibility of Lawrence Gonzi as a leader of the party and of the country.
The 35-year-old lawyer, who surprisingly ousted Louis Galea in the 2008 General Election, is being considered as a “liability” for the PN ahead of the next General Election.
More than one way to skin a cat Joe.
@ J Martinelli.
Have it your way, Jason Micallef is a ‘yes man’ what difference does it make now that the problem has been solved. Speaking about problems, Jason’s difficulties were a storm in a teacup when compared to the battle of Jutland within Gonzipn.
We now hope that the Gonzi’s party problems are solved so he may focus on the countries difficulties instead on trying to salvage his sinking ship.
If Jason was a man of principles, once he sensed that he was being yanked from an elected position of Secretary General he should have resigned immediately and quit. Instead, he bowed his head and accepted a less important position in the party's echelon. That makes him a 'yes man'.
Jason called Stefan a 'liar' because Stefan contradicted Jason's words. For a second time, Jason had enough reason to call it a day. He didn't, making him a 'yes' man again even if he does not enjoy his President's trust.
If I understand your latter comment about saving the LP a lot of embarrassment when they told him it's quitting (time) a long time ago, well, then your memory must be slipping a bit because the only time this was hinted to him was immediately after the 'independent commission' reported on the cause of last election loss, putting much of the blame on Jason's shoulders. Here again, Jason was a 'yes man' because he said 'yes' to Joseph in the latter's campaign to become leader..
It is indeed ironic that Joseph appears to have squeezed the lemon dry and then tossed it! Some leadership!
How about Chris Andrews’s ‘Yesterday man’
I'm the yesterday man
well my friends that's what I am
I'm the yesterday man
well my friends that's what I am
that's what I am, a yesterday man.
You lost me.....how can you call Jason Micallef a ‘yes man’ and at the same time remind us that he called his Party President a liar? If Jason were a ‘yes man’ the PL would have been spared of the embarrassments he created when they told him its quitting time a long time ago.
GonziPN one iota or save your sinking ship!
Nor will it hide the mountain of political abuses and corruption we are witnessing now.
Nor will it help the insecurity of GonziPN’s Administration!
Nor will it divert us from your beloved party’s ‘back scratching’ policies.
Nor will it stop us all from calling GonziPN to fulfill its electoral promises!
Nor will it stop us all from making public the unlimited deceitful information your beloved party try to feed us.
Your ‘one sided past events’ will only help GonziPN to pack up as fast as possible and give the electorate a chance to solve the precarious situation we are living!: The ONLY solution that any sane person is asking for!
Your futile attempts to ignore the present are tantamount to the greatest disservice to the readers of this very paper in particular and to all intelligent persons in general.
Your fifteen years of personal imprisonment is not doing you any good nor is it a sort of advantage to your beloved party!
Not as bad as what's happening at the LP!
"Yes Sir!" said Jason while he emptied his Secretary General's desk.
"Yes Sir!" said Jason while he unseated a colleague to take his job at One Productions!
"Yes Sir" said Jason to Zrinzo "that's a lie Mr. Prez"
"I never intended to run for SG" said Dr. Zrinz - "Oh yea?" retorted Jas.
Just a few moments in the lives of Mr. Micallef and Dr. Zrinzo-Azzopardi in the harmonious confines of the Labour Party. Imagine a (former) Secretary General calling his President a liar! I wonder what's next?
No 'yes men' in the LP, eh?
"It has been the one card PN could always resort to whenever they are backed into a tight corner".
Yes, it has been the card the MLP should never have played. The player of the card was abetted by a bunch of 'yes men' who were afraid of irking their boss!
Allegedly Mr Grima started to shout and wave his hands when he was fined by a police officer for improper parking, consequently hitting the police officer in the face, breaking his glasses.
The police officer had to be treated for medical treatment, where he is still under observation due to injuries sustained to his eye.
If Mintoff, KMB, Alfred Sant, Joseph Muscat and the General Conference of the PL unanimously agreed that the PL were the sole perpetrator of political violence, got on their knees and unequivocally asked for public forgiveness and for a Papal absolution, EFA and the political party he cares for so much would still expect more.
You and your likes bombard us all with the black side of just one political movement while you play deaf and dumb to the black side of your beloved party. Your versions of our political history are miles away from the truth! You and your likes purposely work overtime to omit the black side of your beloved party but to no avail. You will never succeed. The truth always prevails.
Dig deep into your beloved party’s history and start prior to the infamous ‘Terrinu’s atrocious saga’ up to the present abuses’ by PN’s and GonzipN’s Administrations and you get all the documented facts you are asking for.
The list is endless and indefinite. Your beloved party’s shameful dark can never be weighed nor limited to a few years.
As I pointed out in my last comment your beloved party owes hundred of aplogies to the founder of this very paper! Why didn’t you comment on this?
Shameful indeed that you did not!
What facts? I gave you facts; concrete facts and documented facts and you ignored them. You talk about political transfers, let me give you some documented facts about that too-ask the duty Sergeant at your local police station to give you the names of five Police Constables who were transferred from Mellieha to Birzebbugia,Marsaxlokk and Zurrieq immediately after the PN won the election in 1962. Was it a coincidence that all these Constables had Labour tendencies?
Those political transfers were by no means isolated cases, I just gave you a little sample of the ‘hnizrijiet grassi’ which your beloved PN committed prior to or after the reigning Mintoffian terror. There were also a few bombs planted on people’s doorsteps but that was happening during the actual period of the Mintoffian Regime, where all the Victims were either Labour Party supporters or people in high office giving a paramount service to the Government. You have documented facts about those too.
The_only_question_you can raise about past political violence is which party committed more crime but no matter what you and I say nobody would be convinced because the general public is intelligent enough to judge for itself.
May I ask you and your likes when your beloved party is to publicly condemn the violence (in various manners) under various PN Administrations?
Violence, comes in different sorts and different ways, must always be condemned! It is time too that your beloved party apologise publicly for all the physical violence a good number of its supporters used in the sixties and earlier; for psychological violence used by PN Administrations these last twenty years and at present.
Joseph was more then right in asking for other political movements to behave like he did, condemn all past and present political violence and make a public apology.
Believe me your party’s past is much blacker then any local political movement. The founder of this very newspaper ( God give him eternal peace) is still waiting for your party’s apologies!
I have already explained that I do not condone even trivial indiscretions, but I am not willing to go as far as asking for the Minister's resignation.
As far as I can recall, the flight was on a privately owned plane owned by a businessman. Correct me, if I am wrong, but I am under the impression that the plane would have flown with or without Mr. Fenech, so a monetary value cannot really be attached to Tonio Fenech's ride!
You seem to buoy yourself with percentages of popular vote based on the MEP elections. If that makes you happy, why not? You also mentioned John Dalli (Minister), JPO and Robert Arrigo (elected from two districts) and Franco Debono who, if I am not mistaken unseated Louis Galea. I watched Bondi+ as you suggested and what came out was a declaration by the latter three that they were not even thinking of defecting. So, your hopes are just that - hopes.
No, we shall never forget the past since every day that passes seems to be some sort of anniversary of atrocities done by the MLP who still harbours past actors from the same era.
If you say so, Charles.
Such fuss about the Minister's acceptance of a free flight to Spain! What if Tonio Fenech had to pay for the ticket himself? Would e200 have bankrupted him? You think that he can be bought for a couple of hundred euros?
This is such a trivial matter when compared to a former Socialist Minister who had 'blackmailed' his own friend for a ransom of Lm25,000 'in order to continue with his business'. These are not my words. They are the 'victim's' and if you go back to various correspondence in this paper last August/September, regarding a certain square in Sliema formerly occupied by a restaurant, you will come across this statement by the former owner.
At LM25,000 a pop, no wonder villas were built on choice parcels of land!
I would not make such a big deal about what amounts, at worst, a small error in judgment. I do not condone even the smallest indiscretion, but be fair and put things in the right perspective, especially you, who knows quite well what went on in the Socialist reign of the 70s and 80s!
Yet Lawrence Gonzi and Tonio Fenech did not find the support they expected.
Gonzi and Fenech wanted the parliamentary group to release a statement of support for Tonio Fenech.
But MPs fiercely opposed such a statement, with one backbencher stating that this has never happened before, when fellow ministers were mentioned in similar cases. The PN parliamentary group did not even agree on having Tonio Fenech’s name mentioned in the release.
Politics are changing, and PN has always been on the forefront of concrete and material changes - both within and in the country.
Like so many pioneers, whoever cultivates change may suffer from it too.
The PN was always there to give voice to everyone, and I bet that many LP backbenchers envy the PN counterparts for their courage and capability to speak out.
Quite to the contrary to what's been said, the PN can take life easy, make sure not to step on anyone's toes and enjoy another 10 years in power - given the way that the PL mal-tackles the changes that it really needs.
PN insecure? well, who has most to lose? The PN are shaping the future, they have laid out the plans, so of course there is some sense of concern. On the other hand, sitting on the opposition and criticising does not give one much to lose.
As far as PN calling it a day - forget it - it's the worse that could happen to any country should the plans be scrapped half way.
Battle of Jutland compared to a storm in a teacup.
The last thing Lawrence Gonzi will do is emulate Alfred Sant and run like a scared mouse. There are leaders and then there are true leaders.
Better worry about the Micallef/Zrinzo/Micallef/Muscat/vella-Bonnici/Cauchi saga.
@ Deo Catania
If you have it so bad, your EU passport will entitle you free movement throughout the EU.
@ Joseph Buttigieg Attard
I watched a programme called Bondi+ as suggested by your friend (and mine) Charles J Buttigieg. I was not terribly pleased. But then I watched Dissett which put my mind at rest because the President of the Labour Party himself confirmed that which the LP supporters deny. If a party in Opposition has so many problems in its very structure, its administration, how can it possibly be trusted in running the country? People are a bit more sophisticated these days.
When one goes on National television and contradict the former Secretary General, who promptly called the President a liar, the smoothness of silk does not even remotely enter my mind! Needless to say Labour supporters are not amused.
How can you ever describe the internal turmoil within the GonziPN, if you play deaf and dumb, to its real existence? It is more serious then you can ever imagine, so much so that a good number of ‘Ministries’ personnel’ are returning to their previous departments!
The ‘Insecurity of GonziPN’ is driving the present administration to the edge of NO RETURN! Only fools, whom one can count on one palm, are not aware of the precarious state GonziPN is so deep engulfed!
But, of course, only you and your likes, will never accept facts and realities of the present situation we are living.
As always, the Labour Party (and supporters) seem to be anxious to dump unto others that which really belongs to them.
Who is 'insecure', the NP or the LP ? Why is it necessary for Nikita to allege that there is a sense of insecurity within the NP? That being the case, a Labour supporter should be snug and let calamity befall the NP without having to lift one finger to thump on a silly keyboard. Instead, the very 'secure' (in their own minds) LP and supporters are 'taking to the streets' and holding a mass meeting on October 25. Is this a show of security? Or, is it a response to the NP's festivities and mass meeting during Independence week celebrations?
Much has been said and elation reached its acme when Marisa Micallef made the 'difficult' decision to move over to Labour for a princely annual salary! So what? Does the move erase all her past criticism of the Labour Party and in particular Joseph Muscat?
Why doesn't Labour talk about the internal turmoil, the removal of a Secretary General who was voted in with a larger vote than previously by some 900 party delegates?
Continued...
Why does the LP not come clean and admit that Jason Micallef was removed (not resigned) with complete disregard to the delegates' rights?
Why does the LP not issue a statement over what Jason said regarding Dr. Zrinzo Azzopardi having 'lied' about what he had said, on Dissett?
Why does the LP talk about some former prominent MPs who have been relegated to obscurity because of divergent views with their boss?
Why does the LP pound on the NP's troubles without first taking a good look on their situation? - The application of the Party Statute only and if it suits the inner circle? Hire a CEO? By whose approval? Who is paying his salary?
A smart leader, heading a smart party would let the opposing party which as it happens, is the government, rot in its troubles and concentrate on solid plans for the day when it will govern. Instead the LP is concentrating all its limited cranial capacity in finding ways to win an election. What follows will be a mere afterthought.
But then, we know very well what Labour governments were capable of doing in the past - and nothing seems to have changed.