Essentially democratic politics is about the clash and contrast of opposing ideas. Many hold, as the late UK conservative firebrand Ian Macleod used to do, that the duty of the Opposition is to Oppose! Oppose! Oppose! Mcleod would have smacked his lips in delight at the way our Opposition parties operate. The Opposition party of the day, in fact, invariably seems to think that its mission is not simply to watchdog the government, oppose rationally and project an image of itself as a fit and proper alternative government.

The prevailing template is that the Opposition will do its best to hamstring and if possible topple the government, even when there is no controversy over the purity of the electoral result and the people’s verdict. That is certainly the case now.

The Nationalist Opposition is hell bent on negative campaigning. It addresses the Labour government as if it has been in office for four years and nine months, instead of under nine months. It expects it to carry out its electoral programme immediately.

On its part the government has wandered off course to a surprising extent which was pithily captured by Martin Scicluna writing in The Times on Tuesday. In contrast to its slick electoral campaign, Labour has presented the Nationalists, completely lost after the election which saw them viciously kicked out of office, with various sticks to beat it with.

Yet, even before that came about the Nationalists’ sense of negativity had already been projected. So long as the broad democratic framework remains in place such behaviour is par for the course. When the time comes, when it is the people’s turn to express their will again through ballot box, one will know which tactics persuaded most.

There will be an indication of that in the European Parliament election next May. But it will not be conclusive. The Big Apple is the next general election. And, whatever the impression the Nationalists desperately want to give, that is years away.

Meanwhile the country has to be governed. Martin Scicluna tellingly made the point that the Labour government is weak on governance, as the Nationalist government had been before it was thrashed out of office. Just as important, perhaps more, is the need for democratic governance. For both sides to respect the rules of the game.

When Labour was in government in the seventies and eighties, even before the perverse election result mid-way in that, the Nationalists did not do so. Their total opposition went so far as to make efforts to scare investors away from Malta. Total negativity now has brought back memories of that, with the Nationalists saying they will not honour commitments entered into by the Labour government, despite expert advice to the contrary.

It is more than time for both sides to stop the ferocity

It is more than time for both sides to stop the ferocity, pause to think more deeply and step back from precipitate action. It is time to reflect whether there are areas which, with goodwill and perhaps some sacrifice in sheathing of swords, can be tackled by consensus. There is a faint effort to do that in health matters, thanks to a fresh approach by the shadow spokesman Claudio Grech, reciprocated by Minister Godfrey Farrugia.

An easier area where consensus can be reached and practised concerns immigration, both legal from the rest of the European Union, and irregular by the boat people who manage to escape the wicked claws of the cruel sea.

Immigration is and will remain a fact of life. The government is doing its best, as Gonzi’s government had been doing, to bring the rest of the EU round to recognise that there must be a shared approach to the plight of the boat people. They are not the problem of the peripheral southern European countries alone.

The Prime Minister has established good rapport with leaders from those countries and their combined effort is somewhat reflected in this week’s statement on the issue by the EU. But one has to get serious about it. The outcome cannot completely fit the desires of Malta and Italy, Cyprus and Greece. Burden sharing will remain an ideal. It will not happen in terms of numbers though more financial resources will be thrown at the issue.

It is a mistake by the Nationalists and fellow travellers to describe this as some big defeat for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. If a defeat it is, it is one for idealism. The reality is that the issue will not go away. Attacking the government for not achieving enough will not move it forward one inch. It has to be faced.

Public policy should begin to put together a holistic plan on how to deal with this reality. It is a reality made up by boat immigrants who, either through asylum or because it is not possible to send others to their country of origin, will remain in Malta. They pose questions for education, for instance, both their own education and that of Maltese children in the mix.

Adult immigrants also need dealing with, in terms of recognising their skills and their possible contribution if they can work legally. Children and adults awaiting some sort of outcome have to be housed in much better conditions.

Our resources are scarce, especially with red line commitments to keep various benefits free and the pressure from Brussels to adhere to its impositions. But that is not an excuse for inaction.

Immigrants from the rest of the EU also pose their problems. They have to be tackled. Whoever is in government, the options are pretty much the same if we want to retain our self-respect by recognising the immigrants’ equal right to self-respect. Would it not be better, therefore, if our political class approaches these issues by consensus, rather than by false divergence?

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