Opinion • December 14 2003

Swearing over your dead aunts and uncles

If you want to protest and wish to vote for Arnold Cassola then say nothing and just get on with it, Saviour Balzan writes

Over the years I have met many a Nationalist diehard who has sworn over his dead aunts and uncles that they will not vote for the Nationalists again.
When an election does finally appear they are suddenly and inexplicably struck by amnesia and remorse.
They stroll to the polling booth like dazed zombies and tick an unmistakable big black 1 on the cutest, silliest and most intellectually limited of all the Nationalist candidates. Thanks to the outdated single transferable vote, preferential votes usually confer victory to those with the biggest simpleton smiles with pot bellies that would put Popeye to shame.
In the next elections, the one for local councils and the one for the European elections, those same Nationalists who swear by the same unfortunate deceased family members have once again promised themselves that they will not vote for the Nationalists.
They argue this is not a national election so they could very well try out an alternative. "I will vote for Cassola," they say still thinking that I am still part of Alternattiva. I am not, though I still have a big soft spot for the third way.
From all the leaked stories to the press it appears that the most probable PN candidates are former minister Michael Falzon, radio propagandist David Casa, the well-dressed Karl Stagno Navarro and wannabe Soares Prof. Guido de Marco.
From the Labour flower patch we have Maltastar editor no longer a poodle Joseph Muscat, former Air Malta turned politician, ‘good looks’ Louis Grech, Super One journalist Glenn Bedingfield, and the vain but reasonable Labour MP John Attard Montalto.
The greens are trumpeting their one and only, the loquacious self-made green Arnold Cassola.
From the loony right to the loony left, enter fascist Norman Lowell, and men’s rights champions Emy Bezzina and John Zammit.
The most experienced of the candidates remain Michael Falzon and John Attard Montalto. Followed by Arnold Cassola and Joseph Muscat.
On the candidature of Guido de Marco I would rather say nothing though if I were given the choice at gunpoint to choose between either Norman and Guido, I would probably vote for Norman Lowell. At least I know very well where Mr Lowell stands and the europarliament would do well with some more mediocrity.
But in all fairness, next June, I would very much like three people to definitely represent Malta. They are Michael Falzon, Arnold Cassola and John Attard Montalto.
All three are over 45 years, are not doing it for the money and have an independent mind of their own which makes it very difficult for rigor mortis to sink into their grey cells.
Perhaps the first ‘mini wini’ thing they could do for Malta is to guarantee that we receive more funds. More than the monies promised by Nationalist bigwigs.
Last Friday, I was supposed to attend a reception at the Tigne chapel, when word got to me that the company organising the ‘Christmas do’ has been asked to kindly refrain from giving any adverts to MaltaToday. Now some thoughtful sympathisers told me. "You must have offended the chairman."
The idea of someone boycotting MaltaToday excites me rather than angers me, more so when it comes from a septuagenarian, who continues to believe that he can pull strings and make people sing his song.
Or better still: one who believes that the world of Maltese business still rotates completely around him.
Those readers who believe that the real pressure on the media comes from the politicians should look elsewhere. The real pressure comes from the commercial sector, those who have made themselves believe that loads of money gives them the ‘G given right’ to do what the skittles they like and that the media is a prostitute they can control any way they please.