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Dr Anna Mallia’s contribution to your paper of the 5 February, 2006 made interesting reading, particularly the latter part of her article. She also hit the nail on the head when she condemned the serious overdose of consultants, boards and committees appointed by government, which in the majority of instances serve to camouflage its agendas.
Indeed, the electorate wants politicians to tell them of the solutions to our many problems particularly those problems pertaining to the financial, economic and social aspects, to enable them to decide were to cast one’s vote at elections time. But let’s be real, what are all the promises in the world worth if, as is usually the case, they turn out to be only vague talk?
We need not go far in time to recollect the deceiving slogans the party in government put up shortly before the people were asked to vote for or against Malta’s entry into the EU.
That huge billboard telling the people that the country finances were in good shape comes into vision every time I drive through Msida. There were other slogans equally deceiving, with which I need not bother your readers further.
Is it, perhaps, because the truth hurts, that politicians seem to excel in saying half truths? Those who listen/read local news bulletins, surely agree with me on this matter. Political parties’ news bulletins are very often compiled in a way that would misinform people of the whole truth, in an endeavour to give the party they represent the political slant to gain mileage over their rivals.
The situation is not much better with our national station either. Admittedly, they seem to try (at times) to perform a balancing act in an attempt to please God and the devil at the same time. But political pressures appear to compel them to echo their Master’s voice, irrespective of the station’s obligation toward the people. So you see, the truth is also lacking when it comes to public broadcasting.
We all agree that times have changed. So did the electorate; it definitely became wiser, and demands more. But politicians seem adamant to refuse to accept this, and insist on feeding the gullible with whatever propaganda they think win votes, in the same manner they did, years back. Only the diehards would have forgotten the politicians’ promises of new ways of making politics, or of new Springs ahead, or of the dire need for cultural change.
I grossly disagree with Dr Mallia’s statement that Lou Bondì had a field day that evening. To my mind, the reverse was the situation. Alfred Sant kept Lou Bondì at bay, most of the time.
Having said this, I do not want to give the impression that the MLP is up to scratch in its strategy for the forthcoming elections. The sorry state of the political situation in our country brings one to the unfortunate situation where, at the time of the reckoning, one may be compelled to decide which party to vote for, by having to pick on what is referred to, as the lesser evil. Otherwise, the alternatives are either to opt for a ‘no show’ at the polling-booth or for the more adventurous, to rely on the ‘toss of the coin’.
Dr Sant still has a lot of convincing to do, to succeed in taking over the administration of the country in the next general elections. The MLP missed a great opportunity to lead the nation in the last elections, and certainly needs to be much wiser, next time round.
The MLP successes in the local elections, though giving his party a position boost, do not necessarily translate that the way ahead is smoother or easier. Alfred Sant has to watch out for the little slip-ups that could give his critics and opponents the opportunity to make mountains out of molehills.
Dr Sant’s approach to referring to his party as a popular party is indeed in place, and needs to be maintained and fostered, and possibly proven. To convince floating voters on this issue he must also insist with the higher echelon of his party (and the party’s propaganda machinery), to refrain from calling for the support of Laborites when addressing the masses, as floating voters may feel that such calls, are excluding them.
On the truth, Dag Hammarskjold once said, that the truth is so simple, that it is regarded as a “pretentious banality”.
John G. Borg-Bartolo
Attard
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