Even a combat sport like boxing has clear rules of acceptable
behaviour: no hitting below the belt. Anything below the belt is
considered to be abusive, vicious, offensive, overly hurtful and openly
unfair. No doubt, if boxing embraces such minimum thresholds of
tolerable manners, what should we expect from political leaders?The electorate expects politicians to play by the rules, to lead by example, to respect and protect freedom of expression, to encourage a dissenting opinion, to fight fair and square.
This is why I was shocked and stunned when Joseph Muscat, then leader of the Opposition, warned me and Peppi Azzopardi in the presence of other people, that he would hit us hard below the belt twice over for any action which he perceived as going against the interests of the Labour Party.
True to his word, the Prime Minister is systematically implementing his serious declaration, as part of an overall political creed, that every man has his price and if you can’t buy them or appease them, than take the ‘below the belt’ approach in an attempt to exert and increase your authority through fear.
His were not empty words. He put these words into practice. And not just with me.
Anġlu Farrugia was made to resign from his position as deputy leader of the Labour Party on the eve of an electoral victory. He had described the way he was treated as political assassination.
We have recently witnessed other political assassinations. I am referring to Godfrey Farrugia and Joseph Cuschieri. I am sure that neither Anġlu Farrugia nor Cuschieri want or need my understanding or support in dealing with the Labour Party. Truth be told, neither am I interested in defending their case.
It is their choice of bed. They made it, they can very well stay in it.
But I am going to defend the interests of other people who like me are feeling the blows coming below the belt. I will defend the interests of the public officers who are being transferred indiscriminately. I will defend the interests of those public officers, policemen and army people who had their contract terminated, who were not reappointed or who were overlooked for promotion simply because they were not deemed to be close to Muscat’s inner circle.
I will defend the interests of Enemalta employees who are being hit below the belt. Before the election, Muscat promised them in no uncertain terms that Enemalta would not be privatised. They assumed that this meant that under a Labour government their conditions of work would not be decided in some boardroom in Shanghai. They were wrong because this is precisely what is happening.
There are others who are feeling cheated by this government. Despite
the promise of Malta Tagħna Lkoll, a number of employees known to have
Nationalist sympathies are losing their employment with the national
airline. Some of these may have voted Labour for the first time,
believing the mantra of equal treatment.
The residents of the southern districts also feel they were shortchanged when the government unveiled its plans to permanently anchor a tanker full of LNG in the middle of Marsaxlokk Bay, putting financial considerations over their justified safety concerns.
There are literally hundreds of people who are being mistreated simply because someone has decided they could be a threat to the great plan of the Leader. The more you are considered to be a threat, the bigger the punishment.
I can speak from personal experience, having been subjected to the full extent of political vindictiveness. My career in journalism was stopped overnight. I was even arrested and interrogated over some trumped-up charges.
I understood these to be the double hits below the belt that were pledged to me by Muscat, and duly delivered.
It is unfortunate that our country is heading towards a political apartheid scenario. It is even more regrettable considering that this government, thanks to the parliamentary majority it enjoys, is in a position to do so much better. It can really govern in the interests of all. On the contrary, this government is choosing to protect the interests of the inner few. And if it needs to strike below the belt to protect these interests, then so be it.
This government may have its virtues; fair play is certainly not one of them. In addition to perfecting the appeasement politics approach, Muscat has clearly adopted a new additional way of doing politics: ‘below the belt’ politics.
No wonder people are again feeling a sense of fear in the air.
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