[WATCH] Chant-wars dominate unruly MCAST leaders’ debate

It was an animated, bordering on unruly, audience that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Labour leader Joseph Muscat and AD chairperson Michael Briguglio had to contend with during Wednesday's political debate at MCAST.

Videography and photography by Ray Attard

A far cry from the relatively sedate audience present during the Insite debate a week earlier, the audience that gathered at MCAST did not hold back from jeering or booing whenever they heard something they did not appreciate.

Statements by Muscat and Gonzi in particular were often jeered at, and none-too-friendly remarks were also often hurled across the hall as the political leaders were in mid-sentence.

However what dominated the event were the recurrent 'chant-wars' that broke out between Labour-leaning and Nationalist-leaning audience members, which either took turns to chant, or competitively chanted simultaneously in a bid to gain the decibel upper hand.

The arguments tabled by the leaders during the debate itself were not out of the ordinary insofar as they largely stuck to the tried-and-tested formula of reiterating their electoral proposals, while delivering the occasional jab at their opponents to undermine their credibility.

The leaders fielded a variety of questions - mostly asked by students directly - which predictably touched upon stipends and employment, but also included several other issues, such as secularisation, animal welfare, and even culture.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi put much stock in emphasising the Nationalist administration's track record on investment in both education as well as employment, kicking off the debate by saying "I am pleased to be here before you in the MCAST campus which we invested in and built for you."

He also reiterated the PN's line that while other EU countries are facing rampant unemployment, local youths had no trouble finding employment, and insisted that a Nationalist government would guarantee the creation of 25,000 new jobs over the next five years.

Labour Leader Joseph Muscat dedicated most of his time to emphasising how Labour represents a change of direction from the current administration.

He waxed lyrical about the "thirst" that the country has for change, and pledged that a Labour government would be a government that represents a change by being first and foremost willing to listen to what the people are saying.

Muscat also pressed Labour's advantage on the PN's contentious 'red/blue-face' billboard, and insisted that a Labour government would work in the interest of the whole of Malta.

On the issue of stipends, all three leaders affirmed their commitment to retaining the stipend system, insisting that it serves the dual purpose of both incentivising and supporting students seeking to further their education.

However the leaders' responses quickly descended to the oft-heard accusations. Gonzi accused Labour of, during Alfred Sant's 1996-1998 administration, breaking its promise to not touch stipends. Muscat countered by reminding the audience that the only political leader present to reduce stipends was Gonzi himself.

Briguglio chipped by saying that he was on "the front lines" of the student protests of the 1990s that fought against Sant's stipend reform.

Labour's proposal to grant a stipend to those students who fail and repeat years at tertiary level was also threshed out.

Gonzi insisted that stipends represent an incentive for people to succeed, and insisted that if this is removed, this incentive would end - a statement that was met with mixed reactions among students and a resoundingly positive reception among teachers.

Muscat on the other hand, said that the Labour party is of the opinion that students who might do badly in an exam, "such as by blanking perhaps, which happens to many people", should not lose their opportunity to receive assistance to further their education.

"If a student fails once, we will give a year's opportunity to keep paying stipend," Muscat said as students cheered while teachers audibly expressed their scepticism.

Gonzi and Muscat also went head to head over questions calling for more parking in the MCAST campus.

While Gonzi insisted that government had already invested millions in the campus, and that a car park for teachers and students is in its final stages, Muscat was able to win points by referring to the Arriva reform and saying that Malta needs a more effective and efficient transportation system.

AD's Michael Briguglio delivered a strong performance by both affirming his party's stance on a myriad of issues, but also by taking both Muscat and Gonzi to task on their own weaker points.

He called both Gonzi and Muscat out to proclaim themselves against hunting and trapping, insisting that AD is the only party that is "not influenced by hunters", and similarly called on them to say whether they are in favour of rampant land theft and exploitation, pointing to the Armier squatters.

Briguglio also reiterated AD's accusation that both the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party are pandering to an electoral auction, and questioned where the funding for their wealth of give-away proposals would be coming from.

"If you want to promise everything to everyone. Fine. But don't treat people like idiots. You need to tell us where the money is going to come from," Briguglio said, adding that the PN and PL's economic growth projections supporting their electoral proposals are overly optimistic.

Muscat later responded to this accusation by insisting that Labour was being "cautious" by basing its own economic growth figures on the official figures issued by the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund.

In his concluding remarks, Briguglio called on students to make a break with the past and end "the usual stifling pique" and the "domination" of the PN and the PL through all levels of Maltese society by voting for AD.

"If 2,000 people in a single district vote for AD, they can be the 2,000 people responsible for making history," he said.

Muscat said that after the 10 March, irrespective of who wins the election, "serenity should reign" both on the MCAST campus and elsewhere in Malta.

"We might not agree, but we can do so by respecting one another and having a mature discussion. I am convinced that any government that led the country did its best," Muscat said.

"We should have a country that feels united and that does not look at people's faces, but that operates on the basis of what one is capable of, and not who that person knows."

Gonzi wrapped up the debate by reiterating that over the past four years, the majority of the population managed to find employment. "We are prepared for the coming five years. 20,000 new students will graduate. You have my guarantee that we will provide work for you as well."