Tag: mediocrity

Categories
Citizenship Environment

Unprofessional

unprofessional_akkuza

Someone at the Juventus marketing division (or at a marketing firm contracted by Juventus) should be getting his knuckles rapped by now. It so happens that Juventus’ latest drive for memberships featured a picture of a woman’s face painted in the world famous black and white stripes with the wording “Pure Enjoyment”. A huge poster featuring this face was also displayed at Rome’s Stazione Termini much to the chagrin of the capitolini who probably regard the station as “home territory”. It was clear that Juventus wanted to follow up their successes last season with an aggressive membership drive, only to be spoilt by the lax laziness of some designer in an office who couldn’t be bothered with getting creative.

No. Said designer opted to plagiarise an idea from a fourth tier Spanish football team (Badajoz) who had featured the same black and white face in their own (more modest campaign). Even if the photo is sourced from some stock photo database the fact remains that the designer guy/lass copied the gist of Badajoz campaign without so much as an if you please.

It’s about standards really. Juventus FC’s image will not suffer much beyond the spoofs of rival supporters such as those of Inter FC (a team who until now has copied its logo (off Real) and plagiarised its tune (an injuction was issued by Celentano I believe to stop them playing it)).

 

It is the lack of professionalism that jars – and a lack of pride in one’s own work. Forgive me if I go back to Alfred E. Baldacchino’s intervention in the parliamentary Permanent Committee on Environment and Planning but it really was an example of how things should be done. Call it old style if you wish, or proper civil servant but it is there for all to see. (See Baldacchino’s post on the matter in his blog).

Pride in your own work is also important because each and every one of us is a cog in a greater wheel. This greater wheel and system is intended to function when every part of it works accordingly. If you look at MEPA as an institution that is currently under the lens we begin to understand the convoluted contradictions both in legal development as well as in planning practice that have grown over time. When architects and planners stay mum when faced with evident distortions of the law and deviations from proper policy, when the autonomy of an institution is put into serious jeopardy in order to satisfy a web of interests that have nothing to do with the aims of the institution itself then things go awry and they do so fast.

At the base of all this is an unprofessional approach to work, to ethics and to policy. This danger is all pervasive and does not stop at MEPA. Professionalism is strongly linked to dignity of the person. Dignity, in its turn is linked to happiness and enjoyment of life. Unprofessional, undignified behaviour may bring short term bursts of satisfaction to the weak minded and short-visioned but in the long term it promises misery for them and those around them.

I’ll be renewing my International Premium Membership with Juventus FC but I cannot say I am not concerned by the slip in the marketing department. It is this kind of sign of weakness that must be catered for immediately before you start a ride on the slippery slope to mediocrity. On and off the field.

Categories
Politics

Labour’s Impropriety

impropriety_akkuza

The Taghna Lkoll apologists are beginning to cut quite a sorry figure during their online interventions. Their attempts to parrot the tu quoque arguments championed by their leader have become pathetic to say the least and the main reason is that this government’s actions all round have become indefensible. That this would happen was predictable from the start – too many cheques to cash, too many contradicting promises, too many mouths to feed and most of all (as we like to repeat) the glaring absence of a real political plan.

It is blatantly evident that the only road map Labour cares about is the one dotted with milestones and achievements that are only measured by how much money ends up lining the pockets of the Taghna Lkoll extended family. If there was a political plan in Joseph Muscat’s mind it was a short-term calculation that exploited the ugly deficiencies of our political system to the maximum. Muscat will have a place in history as he so crassly aspires – he will be remembered as the Prime Minister to have dragged our politics to the pits. I still cannot understand what kind of ambition can be driven by so much negativity – there is no apparent place for the real good of the people.

It is just there that the Labour government’s performance is at its worst. The complete and utter absence of consideration for the greater good of the nation. While words and spin are all about Taghna Lkoll, the good of the south, the new middle class and such similar claptrap the actions of the Labour government are those of one big plunderer intent on ransacking the public good as quickly as possible.

It does not stop or start at the ODZ – or even more particularly at Zonqor – it is a plunder that is happening step by step and eroding the institutions and heritage of our nation in much the same way woodworm will crawl and erode a fabulous bit of furniture from within. We have seen in the past few days how the Lands Department is practically run as a Labour appointee’s fiefdom allowing for undemocratic obscenities to be perpetrated.

That we get this kind of information from a blog that has had to assume the role of a kind of Wikileaks is very telling of the current state of affairs. The opposition is still hard at work to rebuild credibility thanks to the massive bombardment that it had suffered in the eye of the public. It cannot work in parliament because Labour treats parliament like a playground for despots – hiding behind petty and trumped up excuses in order to obfuscate the truth about its contracts and dealings. You only have to look at the Konrad Mizzi AWOL farce last week to see the way Labour treats its obligations of accountability to the nation’s supreme institution.

The first sign of voters’ anger and indignation is the increased stories being passed on to willing outlets of information. No matter how much noise the rent-a-privitera movement is making on the web you can feel that there is a growing counter-movement eager to throw light on the misdoings of the government and its friends. These angry voters might still not have understood the importance of activism and participation in the anti-ODZ development movement but are sufficiently angry to start asking questions and doing their bit by providing relevant information wherever they can.

Labour’s game has been uncovered because it necessarily dealt with property in many forms. Public good in the form of ODZ was the first area in which alarm bells started ringing. Muscat and his “what’s the fuss” attitude contributed to the acceleration of the denouement – citizens were finally seeing the careless attitude Muscat had with public property. It would have been bad enough were Muscat selling land to some reputable university, but when the mask finally fell that the land was being sold to Jordanian builders who had no previous experience in education it was a bit too much.

Meanwhile we are still dragging the power station saga with the government using public funds (also public property) to guarantee a loan to a private enterprise in order to get things going. That there are some people in some quarters trying to stir the tu quoque argument even in the light of this kind of proof is an indicator of how sick our politics has become.

As for Gaffarena Gate it is an eye opener (if one was still needed) as to what the effects of Taghna Lkoll politics are. We already had a race to mediocrity fuelled by alternation whereby the only point that counted in an electoral manifesto was the not being the other party. Taghna Lkoll threw in a strong dose of mediocrity plus with its army of incompetent appointees that are only bound to expose the ugly truth of this kind of short-term power politics.

It is now the PN’s duty to first and foremost document meticulously every faux pas of the Labour government – from its birth to the current almost daily gaffe-fest. It is also its duty to continue working on real change based on politics and values while trying to attract a new wave of politicians willing to sign up on that kind of ticket. It must be a ticket that does not fear the absence of compromises for the sake of gaining power. It must be a ticket that clearly states a program not just for tomorrow but for the future. It must be a program of building, creating and inventing. It must inspire confidence.

Labour’s government by impropriety must end.

 

 

Categories
Politics

the edge of politics

LA FEMME NUE DANS LE DESERT-1 There was a time when this blog would devour any news political coming out of the island in a voracious manner. Analyse, chew, criticise and expect viral reaction. Or so went the music and momentum. It’s hard to put your finger on the moment when you stop caring so deeply – for want of a better description. The irony is that what goes by the name of politics in the republic has followed the most predictable path foreseen by this blog from the very earliest of musings. The phrases “race to the bottom” and “battleground of mediocrity” had become a cliche in these columns long before the realisation dawned in other observatories.

There is little or no comfort in having been right though. With clockwork regularity every stroke and news item from the political milieu seems to confirm even the wildest of suspicions that we may have had as to the heartless direction that political representation could have taken. The blatant cynicism of one party combined with the clueless misdirection of the other can only be fuelled by an electorate that not only hangs on dearly to a partisan vocation but also throws in a level of short-sighted calculation that baffles even the most prophetic among us.

There is a moment of realisation that the business of government still owes much to the governed. J’accuse was much enamoured with the phrase “you reap what you sow” and playing the blame game with an electorate that is often reluctant to shift the goalposts remains a sordid temptation. It’s all there to see though – as much as the “paese di coglioni” formula that remains just as apt as when it was first conjured up mid-blog. What to make of a governing party that has rewritten all the rules of the game and manages to make transparent the dirtiest truth of the political game : everybody has a price? Somewhere in the Labour unconscious lies a stock market of sorts where every shaping factor in Maltese society has a price and a trade to work upon. Morbid calculations mean that everything goes so long as the final judge and jury can remain sufficiently opiated with new age doses of newspeak.

On the other hand the party in opposition remains at sea grappling for an old fashioned tidal wave of a rallying factor that would bring it back to drier and safer ground. It’s internal conflicts and failures are evident even in what should be mini-triumphs while it has still found itself unable to redefine itself and give itself a purpose. The opposition runs the risk of being stuck in opposition mode (and it is not even there yet) for a long while to come. It finds the new playing ground a very uneven place to work and is still unaccustomed to the shifted goalposts. This is not about shifting to trendier liberal stances but about being a more congruent, consistent whole once again. Without that newfound centre of gravity it is destined to play second fiddle to the puppet master’s shenanigans.

Right now, in what should be an important maturing point for the young republic, non-partisan observers have been pushed to the edge of politics. I like to think of this as our moment out in the desert in the manner of the prophets of the old book. The current order is a disaster in the waiting. Policies of appeasement and populism are destined to fail in the long run and there is only so many hacks at its breast that the golden goose can take.

In the meantime we observe the events unfold. At the edge of politics.

Categories
Values

Nazzjon medjokri?

Żgur Brittania

Għaddew Olimpijadi oħra. Il-Brittanniċċi saħħruna għal darb’oħra bir-rikkezza ta’ pajjiżhom u bil-għana ta’ l-istorja millenarja ta’ gżirithom. Kienu inkwetaw li ma humiex se jkunu “up to standard“. Inkwetaw li wara l-immensita Ċiniza kienu se jidhru ċkejknin u amatorjali. Minflok kull min seta’ jixhed iċ-ċerimonji ta’ ftuħ u għeluq l-Olimpijadi kellu mafkar tajjeb ta’ dak li jissarraf fih il-kunċett ta’ Gran Bretanja. Lejn l-aħħar ta’ l-egħluq kien hemm siparju sabiħ fejn żeffiena Indjani tħalltu ma Morris Dancers f’taħlita kulturali li tiżboq il-preġudizzji u nazzjonaliżmi u li tfakkarna fil-kobor post-imperjali li issawwar fuq pedamenti differenti filwaqt li żamm sod fuq il-wirt storiku.

Il-Brittaniċi għandhom il-lussu li jqiegħdu lil the Queen, Pink Floyd u John Lennon f’nifs wieħed. Għaddieli il-ħsieb li fuq storja millenarja ta’ żvilupp uman aħna kellna x-xorti/żvintura li ngħixu l-biċċa l-kbira mill-ħajja kulturali u soċjali tagħna f’dinja anglo-ċentrika. Jekk tieħu l-popolazzjoni kollha ta’ ġnus li qatt għexu, ftit ħafna ikunu dawk li qatt semgħu b’McCartney u Lennon pero illum dawn l-ismijiet huma simboli ta’ l-era post-nukleari li għadna ngħixu illum avolja ftit li xejn għadna nirreferu għaliha.

Midalji Qoros

Fit-tabella tal-midalji li intrebħu żdiedu xi uċuħ ġodda. F’għajnejja jispikka ċ-Ċipru. M’huwiex xi pajjiż li wisq jispirani f’sens nazzjonalistiku minħabba dak illi jiena nara bħala nuqqas ta’ kburija kull meta jiġru biex jilgħaqu sorm il-Griegi. Qatt ma ħabbejt il-ħsieb li nitkejlu maċ-Ċiprijoti għax dejjem rajthom appendiċi imwarrba ta’ pajjiż ikbar. Aħna mhux hekk, anzi, aħna għandna ħabta naspiraw dejjem biex nikkompetu… jew talanqas nipparteċipaw bi spirtu faux de Coubertjan. Aħna l-innu tagħna u tagħna biss. Aħna l-bandiera tperper u ferħanin għax “Ara, ara… għaddejin il-Maltin fuq it-televixin”. Imma biex nirbħu? Ħożż fl-ilma.

Għandi suspett li l-isport jirrefletti xi ftit jew wisq il-limitazzjonijiet tagħna bħala pajjiz. Pajjiż li ilu kważi nofs ta’ seklu indipendenti iżda li baqa magħluq sewwa bejn l-erba ħitan akkwatiċi li jdawwruna. Pajjiż diffidenti li ma jafx jekk jifraħx bil-barrani (sakemm jibqa sterjotippizzat, ħlejju u preferibbilment mhux Għarbi) jew jinsultah b’xi “jekk ma jogħgbokx itlaq”. Irnexxilu, minkejja kollox isir parti minn klabb ferm ikbar minnu u jpoġġ mal-istess mejda ta’ qawwiet u forzi storiċi. Sabiħa wisq. Kburi li Malti? U mela le.

Imma x’inhuma is-simboli ta’ kobortna? L-isterjotipi hemm qiegħdin.. l-ilsien li tatna ommna, l-wirt storiku ta’ nies li għaddew u għal min għadu nisrani mhux biss ta’ l-isem il-kattoliċiżmu Mediterran. Kważi kważi pero dawn iktar huma karatteristiċi milli monumenti għall-ħila ta’ pajjiż. Hemm hi. Ħarbitli l-kelma. Ħila. Kapaċita. F’hiex u għal xiex aħna tajbin? L-isport storja tal-biki. Ibellħuni il-Magjari… l-Ungeriżi biex niftehmu. Ġejjin minn pajjiż imdawwar biss b’art u ħlief għal kbir Danubju ilma xejn. Imma hemm ikunu… fil-quċċata Olimpika tal-għawm, tal-qbiż mill-għoli u fuq kollox f’dak l-imbierek Waterpolo. Iva il-waterpolo.

Xejn. Lanqas nifs. Nistgħu indumu inżeggu bid-derby Sliema – Neptunes u nsarrfu għall-elf darba il-kampaniliżmu tagħna f-munita oħra ta’ għira u ġlied… imma Malta magħquda? Malta żobb. U mhux waterpolo biss. Ara il-karajbi – xi gżejjer żgħar qishom nofs ħarja ta’ ħamiema imtektin madwar Kuba u l-kbar. Imbagħad joħorġulek ġganti li jiġru b’impenn. U mhux impenn tal-billboards. “Imma dawk għandhom il-flus… jinvestu fl-isport mhux bħalna”. Appuntu baħnan. Aħna fejn investejnihom il-flus?

U imbagħad semmi l-flus lil Stephen Kiprotich. Min? Iva Kiprotich. Rebaħ l-ikbar midalja fl-Olimpijadi… deheb fil-maratona. Kiprotich jiġi mill-Uganda. Iva l-Uganda fejn il-Maltin intbagħtu eżilju mill-Ingliżi. Familtu bdiewa u mhux li kellu ħafna flus biex jikkompeti. Imma Kiprotich kellu bżonn biss par saqajn jiġru u rieda u impenn. Rebaħ il-maratona… tellieqa dominata mill-ġganti tad-distanza – dawk l-Emiri u Xejikki tal-Kenja u l-Etjopja. Taf int. Dawk jgħumu fil-flus.

Medjokrita

Forsi mhux ġust li nippretendi pajjiż li jirbaħ midalji. Forsi mhux ġust li nippretendi pajjiż li mhux biss jipparteċipa imma li huwa ukoll konxju tal-impenn neċessarju sabiex tasal u tirnexxi. Mhux ġust għax forsi fil-ħamsin sena li ilna naqdfu waħedna flok tgħallimna nikkompetu b’mod san li jippremja lil min ħaqqu ħloqna biss illużjoni ta’ kompetizzjoni. F’din l-illużjoni jiġi ippremjat il-medjokri. Bqajna nitkejlu biss bejnietna u allura l-ġganti u personalitajiet tal-pajjiż nofs ħarja fil-Mediterran komplew jiċkienu u jonqsu fl-istatura.

Iż-zgħażagħ Brittaniċi inħolqilhom panteon ta’ eroj oħra li jistgħu jaspiraw ikunu bħalhom. Għaż-żgħażagħ tagħna x’qed jissawwar? Il-ħolma tal-Middle Class? Aspira biex tkun medjokri. Il-ħolma li jekk tgħid iva u taċċetta bla ma taħseb u jekk tippappagalja allura taf tasal u tilħaq. Aspira għall-medjokrita. Kisser l-ideal.

F’dan il-pajjiż ma nsolvux problemi. Nindukrawhom.

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

Propaganda Pay-As-You-Please

Just imagine. The tax collector comes round and you tell him “Dude, I’m experiencing cashflow problems, mind if I pay you later?” No need to get that extreme. Just imagine checking out at the till of your supermarket and when the uber-bored guy at the till robotically announces the amount (and points to the five million packs of free water that you have just “won”) you tell him “Righto, I’ll pack the water but I’ll pay you next month… if I find the cash”.

It’s not done is it? You rent a place to run a restaurant or a strip joint, whatever, and you are expected to cough up the rent. Pronto. No rent and you are evicted. You don’t pay your water and electricity bills and you find yourself showering at the neighbours (if they can tolerate the mess you leave behind).

Except of course if you’re a political party. Ever since the PLPN decreed that “pluralism” (whatever happened to that word that used to be uttered like some magic mantra) would be showered on the expectant peoples, and ever since the likes of 101, SuperOne, Net TV and OneTV were unleashed on us the parties have had the lion’s share of broadcasting on the islands.

It is no secret that quality wise this increase in “competition” has been of no benefit whatsoever to the consumer. Given the talent gene pool limitations it would be hardly surprising should this island sustain one good quality TV structure (broadcasting corporation) branching out into specialised channels. Instead we have the two political channels lording it out and churning out Malta’s worst – thankfully in a language that is only intelligible to the island’s converted insiders.

Now we have the Malta Broadcasting Authority openly admitting that: “over the years, the Authority has taken cognisance of the fact that most national broadcasting stations face cash flow problems – from time to time situations have arisen on certain occasions where stations have fallen behind in their payments.”. Which is quite a polite way of saying that more often than not the public secret ends up being the factual truth: our political parties couldn’t give a flying armadillo whether or not they afford to pay the €15,000 or so needed annually for a broadcasting licence.

Why should they? Who will have the guts to shut them and their operations down? This is a country that constitutionally takes the existence of a bi-party system for granted. It encourages the obvious inefficiencies of an inexistent competition – and this battle for the mediocre ground spreads from values, to business, to ideas and creativity to markets.

As I said in a previous post – and I think this will be J’accuse’s seasonal motto:

In this country we do not solve problems. We nurture them.

Categories
Articles

Well Hung

Why Cameron would love to be Maltese

I cannot help wondering how David Cameron must wish that he was a Maltese politician. Rather than sitting at the negotiating table with that pesky Nick Clegg (the tiddler that he is) he’d be sitting firmly, decisively and stably at the head of some carcade on Tower Road, Sliema, celebrating his relative majority victory – the constitutional provisions written for the “Big Two” would have done the rest.

How silly of the Brits not to have thought of the advanced electoral systems that have been refined through the ages by the PLPN. Cameron would not be fretting over conjuring some “big, open and comprehensive” offer to lure Nick into his coalition government. He would be sitting happily at the head of a fictitiously constructed majority of seats – purposely engineered to compensate for any defects resulting from the expression of the will of the people.

Of course, the above scenario would perforce include an electoral system that would preclude any of the Lib Dems obtaining a seat in the first place – and Dave’s your uncle. Poor Dave. He cannot enjoy the automatic coronation for relative majorities proffered to the anointed ones under the Maltese Constitution: instead he will have to sweat it out to build a government that really represents a majority of the elected parties. A coalition between Tories and Lib Dems (18 million votes) just makes it into a decent 59 per cent of the electorate.

Numerologies

Let’s face it: the UK election results were disappointing for the movement of reform that was promised under Cleggmania. The Lib Dems actually obtained five fewer seats than last time around but, and that is a big but, let us look at the numbers that count. Out of 30 million voters, 11 million chose Tory, nine million chose Labour and seven million opted for the Lib Dems. A close call, no?

Let us translate those figures into percentages of the voting population. The Tories had 36 per cent of the votes, Labour 29 per cent and the Lib Dems 23 per cent. No absolute majority. No biggie here. Vote-wise, a Lib-Lab coalition (52 per cent) forms a parliamentary majority as much as a Tory-Lib Dem coalition (59 per cent) would.

The situation goes awry when we see the number of seats that each party won in Parliament expressed as a percentage. The Tories got 47 per cent of the seats (with 36 per cent of the vote), Brown’s Labour got 39 per cent of the seats (with 29 per cent of the vote) and the Liberals? Ah, the Liberals’ nine million votes (23 per cent of the voting population) got… drum roll please…. nine per cent of the seats in Parliament. Nine per cent. You read it right.

So, disappointing as the result may be, it is not for the reasons most people have come to expect. You see the result is NOT disappointing because now, more than ever, it is an eye-opener of the blatant distortive effect that an electoral system plotted out to ensure bipartisan “stability” has on effective parliamentary representation. An electoral law that serves to dumb down representation in order to preserve stability has this twisted effect on democratic rationality: there is none.

Election Night
Image by Patrick Rasenberg via Flickr

Clegg’s Law

It might not be about to replace Sod’s Law, but Clegg’s Law is a firm candidate for the prizes of Phyrric Victory, Lose-lose Situation of the Year and Sacrificial Lamb on the Altar of Democracy rolled into one. Clegg, you see, is in a dilemma. He is exactly at the point where all the naysayers of proportional representation want him to be: the much demonised and warned-against “kingmaker”.

Before the election Clegg made two semi-commitments regarding possible coalition governments. The first was that he believed (erroneously, according to J’accuse) that the party with the relative majority of votes had some sort of moral right to govern. The second was that no matter who he formed a coalition with, Gordon Brown would no longer be Prime Minister (again, with the benefit of hindsight a premature claim). As things stand, these conditions would point to a coalition government with the Bullingdon Babyface.

It’s not so easy though. Following the early results, the Lib Dems put their kingmaker position up to auction. The initial bid had to conform to a number of conditions, but most important of all was the eternally elusive question of voting reform. Because, you see, the Lib Dems had to wear two hats in these elections. First they wore the hat of the normal party, with policies to iron out, programmes to put into effect and plans for government – coalition or otherwise. Secondly though, they also had to wear the hat of pioneers of change – the hat of the only party insisting openly on a clear reform of the rules of the game.

The kingmaker has no crown

It is this dilemma that risks turning Clegg’s brave stand into a schizophrenic disaster. The Lib Dem’s bipolar situation raises their stakes tenfold. They have a duty to the electorate – a mandate obtained both via policy promises (Hat number 1) and reform promises (Hat number 2). Sitting at the coalition table with someone like Cameron means negotiating a compromise plan. Cameron knows that. His “openness” has involved, until now, no offer for electoral reform.

Clegg can stand firm on electoral reform – making it a sine qua non of the negotiations, thus risking being labelled a stirrer of instability. This would not only throw mud on Clegg’s face but also on future possibilities of stronger electoral performances of the Lib Dems as a party. In the eyes of the electorate, Cameron’s refusal to work for a fairer representative system will be eclipsed by Clegg’s breaking down of a possible stronger stable government. The kingmaker shamed – every naysayer’s dream.

Then there is Brown. Rather than bow out gracefully, he has (rightly, again in our opinion) pointed out that, should Cameron fail to entice Clegg with his all or nothing approach, then he is willing to provide the second option for a coalition. Clegg is still bound by his “governing without Brown” promise and Brown knows that. Which is probably why he has dangled the electoral reform carrot in front of him. Brown accepts a fast track for a referendum on electoral reform. With Brown, Clegg would get a fair chance to discuss reform (note, though, that the referendum might not succeed).

Constitutionally, there would be nothing wrong should Clegg opt for a Lib-Lab coalition. Cameron’s questionable moral authority to govern simply because of his relative majority of votes can be put even further into representative perspective when we look at it geographically. Do you know how many seats the Conservatives won in Scotland? One out of 59: Dumfriesshire. They only did slightly better in Wales, wining eight out of 40 seats. The best bet for a strong Tory government would probably be an Independent England. Otherwise, they have about as much moral authority to govern certain parts of the UK as Edward Longshanks.

Democracy in the 21st

So Clegg is in a right fix. Stable and moral government under current rules means playing along with the game and forgetting about electoral reform. A Labour coalition might open a long shot for the referendum, but what does that say for the chances of the referendum actually succeeding after the predictable vilification Clegg will suffer for not having chosen the horse with the highest feelings of legitimacy?

Clegg’s fix is the fix of every other party that will try to break a bipartisan mentality, and I have begun to strongly believe that the solution for change is not to wait for the incumbents (PLPN, Labservatives) to cash in on their feeble promises of reform – but to educate, educate and educate the electorate. It is after all the electorate that needs to understand that the current status quo only results in electing two versions of the same, the same but different politics intent on performing in the inevitable race to mediocrity.

Joseph 2010 tries Eddie 1981

That was the verdict after a tearful (is that true?) Joseph Muscat led his angered troops out of what passes as our temple of representative democracy following a heated vote and ruling by newbie speaker Frendo. Labour stormed out of Parliament in a collective tantrum after Frendo opted to re-listen to votes in order to understand whether allegations by members from the government benches would be substantiated – and whether MP for Gozo Justyne Caruana had also erred in her vote.

’Coz Mario did it first, you know. He was tired, miskin. Exhausting, this government business. He said “yes” instead of “no” and then it was too late. The House of Representatives (of what?) descended into absolute chaos as bullies started a yelling competition while Tonio Borg tried to make a point of order. Our representative relative majority government and relatively incapable Opposition went about representing us as well as they could.

Prior to the voting debacle, grown-up men on the government benches defended the Power Station contract and agreements blindly and ignored the big questions that had been raised in the Auditor General’s report. Then grown-up men from the Opposition benches had a parallel discussion with presumably a different interlocutor. It was evident from the discussion that all sides were intent on speaking and no one was listening. Our young journalist of an Opposition leader rued the opportunity to have the debate screened live on public TV so he could preen and crow in a show paid for by our taxes.

At the bottom of the power station contract issues lie the problems of transparency, of political party funding, of reforming our system of representation in order to create a wider gap between private interests and partisan politics. None of this was discussed, except for when the renegade Franco Debono reminded the House of the need for a law on party funding. His calls were soon drowned by the ruckus and by what has been described farcically as an “attakk fahxi” on Justyne Caruana – Malta’s new version of Burma’s Aun San Suu Kyi.

bert4j_100509

Well Hung

It’s pretty clear that if the UK electorate did not vote strongly enough to force through the necessary electoral reform, it will be a hundred times more difficult to get that kind of message through to this masochistic electorate of ours. Our PLPN farce that has once again descended to incredible levels of mediocrity this week will hang on for another mandate. Whether we have the not so smooth operators of PN or the bungling drama queens of Labour in government after the next election, J’accuse is still of the same opinion as it has been in recent times – the greatest losers are the voters, hung parliament or not.

Malta’s number one political blog and mediawatch still has the same address: www.akkuza.com – blogging so you don’t have to.

This article and accompanying Bertoon appeared in today’s Malta Independent on Sunday.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]