Revel Barker’s statement that “In Malta, the majority of people don’t have opinions, they have parties”, in his contribution entitled ‘You can’t handle truth’ (October 21), hit the nail on its head.

When we define democracy as “government of the people, by the people and for the people” it is being implied that the people, rather than parties, have a say in what goes on in society. However, in Malta, the majority of us are so enslaved to what the parties promote and uphold that many of us are unable to form an objective, unbiased opinion.

It is only when we have MPs like Marlene Farrugia, who was able to speak out publicly against her own party and break away from it for the common good, that democracy would be considered healthy.

I had praised Simon Busuttil for having decided that the Nationalist Party should sacrifice its autonomy as a party and unite with the Democratic Party in Forza Nazzjonali to safeguard the common good. But I had shown my disapproval when, after the law on gay marriage was approved, he stated that, though a number of MPs in his party had objections to parts of the law, they still voted in favour out of loyalty to the party’s position and for the sake of party unity.

The common good should take precedence over personal and party gain. Daphne Caruana Galizia is being honoured and praised by one and all because she wrote without fear or favour. This is the lesson we should learn from her if her brutal murder is not to be in vain.

Truth is sacrosanct and should be proclaimed everywhere, anytime by anyone. No person, group or party is above the truth. It is only when we leave aside our own interests and remove our partisan blinkers that we can see things differently and unite as a people, irrespective of the party we belong to.