Saying ‘sorry' can really be hard, very hard indeed. That is, if you really mean it. Saying ‘sorry' implies an admission of guilt. It should also be accompanied by a promise to change or to make up for your mistake.
There are also various ways of saying sorry. You may say sorry, mean it and do your best not to repeat a mistake ever again. You may say sorry just to buy time when arguing with someone.
You may also mean it at the time you utter the words but know full well that you will probably repeat the same mistake all over again. You may also say ‘sorry' but still put the blame of your misdeeds on the other part.
On the 30th anniversary of Black Monday, Labour leader Dr Joseph Muscat decided to say ‘sorry' for what happened thirty years ago, the day when Labour thugs burnt The Times building in Valletta and then proceeded to attack opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami's family at their Birkirkara home. Many thought that after so many years Labour had really decided to turn the page. But indeed it did not.
Muscat's ‘sorry' was soon followed by a ‘but'. But the Nationalist Party has to apologise for inciting violence at that time Muscat told us. So it was not a genuine ‘sorry' after all but a statement aimed at pleasing everyone. Muscat wanted to persuade the floating voters that the party he is leading has changed. However, he also wanted to appease the old guard, some of which still surrounds him to this day, by blaming it on the Nationalist Party.
What is Dr Muscat saying here? Is he saying that it was Eddie Fenech Adami's fault that Labour thugs attacked his home and his family. Is he blaming the P.N. for what happened to The Times? I hope he is not referring to the fact that the P.N. at that time was a very strong opposition led by an astute Leader. Hopefully, he did not expect the P.N. opposition to keep mum in the face of so much violence, so much abuse of power.
His way of apologizing also leads me to suspect that he also blames the Nationalist Party for what happened at Zejtun and Rabat, the murder of Raymond Caruana, the frame-up of Pietru Pawl Busuttil, the beatings of PN supporters by members of a corrupt Police Corps, the beating, transfer and the witch-hunting of workers who obeyed legitimate orders to strike.
I am not one who believes that we should get stuck in the past. Yes, we should move on. But if we really mean to heal past wounds let's do this genuinely and not superficially. I suspect Dr Muscat's ‘generic' apology is only a strategic move to make him stand out from past Labour Leaders who admittedly, were less keen on uttering the ‘s' word. I fear that it does not go further than that. May Dr Muscat dig deeper into the past to see what led our electorate refute a Labour Government for around 26 years!