If Simon Busuttil has regrettably earned himself a reputation as lacking the courage of his own convictions (when you’re stuck with other people’s convictions, it’s tough to sound convincing), Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, in contrast, would seem to have far too much courage and one conviction too many. Conviction – a criminal conviction – being the operative word here.
His latest ‘soldier of steel’ endorsement – lauding Cyrus Engerer a hero –was a show of eye-smartingly bad taste and timing. It demonstrated poor judgement, blasted a hole in Muscat’s credibility and came dangerously close to a slap in the face to the rule of law. Not something I’d have expected from a Prime Minister who sets so much store on trust and accountability and who was hell bent on ridding us of the flotsam and jetsam – the untrustworthy, flaky limescale and residue politics has a habit of building up and collecting.
When the Nationalist Party was on the fag ends of power, it had clearly lost its political and moral compass – ministerial (and a lot of other) accountability, responsibility and consequentialism didn’t really feature in its political vocabulary and landscape. It was all over the place; coming apart at the seams. And yet, despite its overindulgence, arrogance and excesses, even its members knew better than to get into a head-on (or even a back-handed) power struggle with, of all things, the judiciary or the police corps.
Whatever your feelings on the independence of your own country’s institutions, you wear your most sober expression and tell reporters – and the people at home – that a sound police force and an independent judiciary are the bedrock of society; that real constitutional and democratic freedom can only be secured when there is a separation of powers. You don’t ever mix (or even appear to mix) your politics with your police or your justice system – even if you privately feel they might have been mixed.
The political hangover you will be made to suffer by the Opposition for starters, is not worth whatever short-term fix or mileage you might gain. Although I fail to see how there could be any short or long-term gain here – unless this is another of Muscat’s cunning plans. Because as I’m finding out, you can’t rule anything out with Muscat.
The same judge who found Engerer guilty of the charges preferred against him was the same judge who ordered the Police Commissioner to institute proceedings against minister Chris Said in 2010. Back then, Muscat was Leader of the Opposition and I don’t recall him second guessing that particular police decision or court ruling. On the contrary, I do remember him stating, quite rightly, that then prime minister Lawrence Gonzi’s comments about how certain he was that justice would prevail and that Said would be reinstated, were inopportune and an indirect exertion on the independence of the judiciary.
Fast forward a few years. Muscat really did sweep clean a lot of the old cobwebs – although vacuum cleaned might be better suited to his style. You might recall, when still in Opposition, Muscat wasted no time getting rid of one of his deputy leaders, ostensibly over an untoward remark passed in respect of the Court of Magistrates – incidentally, the same court which originally acquitted Engerer of the same pornographic circulation and related charges.
Even his Cabinet reshuffle was symptomatic of his unflinching ability to take unpopular decisions head-on, without equivocation. Which is perhaps the quality I appreciate most in Muscat, even when I don’t necessarily agree with him or his decisions. Especially when I don’t, actually. He may appear too impulsive at times, but he’s energetic, forthright and decisive.
And this assumes more importance when you disagree with him because at least you know exactly how the cookie will crumble. Not only has Muscat dared to govern differently, he’s dared to govern, period.
However much I disagree with spring hunting, for instance, I feel more comfortable with Muscat’s tell-it-like-it-is admission that he is pro-spring hunting and that he will be campaigning for it. The fact that Busuttil has resisted telling us exactly where he stands unequivocally – although I’m inclined to think that Busuttil feels much the same way I do – makes me far more uncomfortable. I hoped he’d trust his own instincts and answer Saviour Balzan’s question on Reporter last Monday. Instead, he opted for a non-committal: “Saviour, you know what my position is”.
Lauding Cyrus Engerer a hero was a show of eye-smartingly bad taste and timing
Well, Balzan may be Malta Today – but I think that Busuttil might be taking the appellation too literally. The rest of Malta, today, has a right to know what Busuttil’s position is without having to call upon Balzan.
This seems to be symptomatic of the PN today – still so cagey, mealy-mouthed, neither here nor there. Which is why 46 per cent still prefer Muscat’s style of government, with or without his ‘soldier of steel’.
Back to that. Even if (and I have it on good authority) Engerer was politically sheltered under the PN and then persecuted and prosecuted very hurriedly under the PL – his prosecution was ultimately validated by the Court of Criminal Appeal and this was studiously ignored by the Prime Minister.
Any allusion to Engerer’s alacritous and spontaneous withdrawal from the MEP race needed to be viewed in the broader context of why he was forced to resign. Less would certainly have been more this time round. This was no time for cavalier bravado.
And if Muscat had to take a leaf out of Dom Mintoff’s book, he should have recalled and put into practice another metaphor – the one about the northeasterly grigal wind. Mintoff was known to compare bad news in Malta to a grigal. In other words, however bad it gets, you sit tight and weather the storm because it too shall pass.
Everything is eventually forgotten, because that is the nature of the beast. So whatever you do, don’t be shoving it in everyone’s face making sure they don’t.
michelaspiteri@gmail.com