Fifty-two years after Malta attained political inde-pendence we seem to have entered a new phase in our political development. The discourse has suddenly turned to political coalitions. Past, and not so past, events seem to have made this introspection a political necessity.

Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil  is talking about a “political coalition against corruption”.

Marlene Farrugia,  leader of the new Democratic Party, speaks of a political coalition “to promote good governance”.

Fr Joe Borg, writing in The Sunday Times of Malta (October 2), without openly entering into the discourse of coalitions came out promoting “Malta our common home”, insisting “this could provide the underpinning essential for the new kind of politics that our country needs to move forward”. The politics of the common good.

“The common good,” he said, “more than the individualistic, egositic, ‘good’ should reign supreme. The common good frame is about interdependence, shared responsibility and shared benefit. Society as a whole, and the State, in particular, are obliged to defend and promote the common good.”

The Times of Malta leader ‘Let the common good prevail, always’ (September 20) highlighted what seems to be a fact that “the big business interests are increasingly being seen as the unacceptable face of capitalism”. Then it argued that “there is groundswell of public discontent at the way ordinary citizens’ interests and their legitimate right to enjoy the environment are being consistently sidelined in favour of vested interests”. Finally, it appealed to the government “to reset the balance in favour of the common good, not big business”.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, after first making it the central idea of his speech at St John’s Cathedral on Independece Day, in his article ‘Criteria for good governance’ (September 22) spoke openly and very clearly about what constitutes the common good.

From a coalition against corruption and for good governance, the discourse has now taken a more positive tone for a coalition for the common good.

According to the Archbishop: “In 1964, Malta became an independent State with a rightful place in the society of nations. The Independence Constitution adopts its list of fundamental principles and its list of fundamental human rights and aspirations. But the people of Malta, organised as a State, will foster and promote their common good to the extent that they share in the transcendental aspirations of the human family in the everyday workings of the authority, the powers, the governance of the State.”

The time for all political parties in Malta to really come together seems to have arrived

After mentioning the four transcendental values of unity, goodness, truthfulness and beauty, the Archbishop said: “Policies that are based on the privilege of the few or that blatantly promote loyalty to a political party rather than to the State are a travesty and a mortal poison to the common good of society... Every citizen has the right to belong to the commonwealth of the State and to benefit from the services of government, irrespective of who he or she is, under the rule of law as an expression of the common good... When the common good is sacrificed to the selfish interests of the few, to a pseudo-ethos based on the relentless quest for material gain at all costs, then we can say the State is sick.”

An example of this is the projected high-rise towers in Malta. In an interview with Joe Gasan (October 2), Times of Malta columnist Martin Scicluna was quoted by the interviewer as describing the developers as “people who appear to have lost all sense of moral corporate responsibility in their efforts to become even richer than they are already”.

Fr Borg was also quoted. He had referred to the developers as “the big-moneyed bullies who are ruling the roost and making millions thanks to pre-electoral shady deals”.

Gasan’s attention was drawn to the fact that “the issue” was “the difference between making a profit and putting his profits ahead of the interests of the man in the street”. Other words for the common good.

Gasan, while acknowledging that they “were being accused of pre-electoral deals, of being greedy, of being rich”, promptly rejected the accusations and added: “We have a very clear conscience.”

The Archbishop was also quoted as saying in The Malta Independent: “Once they ruin our lanscape and turn our cityscapes into concrete jungles, they themselves and their children and grandchildren will only have their money to set their eyes on.”

In my article ‘Time to come together’ (May 26), I expressed my hope that, after 50 years of independence, it was time to go for a new way of doing politics. The politics of the common good. Since then, the idea of political coalitions between the political parties is gaining ground.

I advocated covenantal politics, when people in politics create cooperation by joining together in a moral association, talk together, work side by side and act by consensus, because there are things they care about together. This, while respecting the freedom, integrity and difference of each.

The time for all political parties in Malta to really come together seems to have arrived. A great opportunity for the political paties and civil society to really work together is the proposed Convention on the Constitution, by beginning to agree to increase the institutions that are put in place by a two-thirds majority in Parliament, like the posts of Ombudsman and the Auditor General.

Another is for national institutions to be chaired by members of political parties who are not in government, like the post of chair of the finance committee of Parliament.

Prime ministers and mayors should not be in place for more than two consecutive terms, as in  the US model. This will eliminate the possibilities, and probabilities, of having ‘dictators’, ‘monarchs’, ‘sovereigns’ and ‘kings’ in a democratic environment. Provision for this should also be made in the Constitution.

A coalition against corruption is part of the commitment to the common good.

A coalition for good governance is another part.

A coalition to help the vulnerable and minorities is another. A coalition for the promotion of societal values and the just distribution of the common wealth is a very big part of  the common good.

The  work, preferably joint work, of the political parties, even at grassroot level, and with civil society, is one of the main  means to this end.

Tony Mifsud studied politics and social affairs in Oxford.