Thursday, 7th August 2008
Labour 0 – Jason 1
Many called for Joseph Muscat to publicly disapprove of Jason Micallef’s candidacy before Monday’s election. Maybe it was wise of Dr Muscat not to heed their hasty advice. With the result as it is, he can now comfortably shake Mr Micallef’s hand, and he has avoided identifying himself with any one of the party’s factions. Dr Muscat’s intervention might have changed the outcome of the vote, but with 370 delegates favouring Jason Micallef such intervention will not have been taken lightly, and might well have triggered a speedy end to the all-round reverence he has been enjoying within the party.
It is difficult for me to understand why Mr Micallef has such a strong hold on so many Labourites. More than one half of the delegates did not vote for Mr Micallef, but 370 makes a lot of people who like Jason Micallef. I also fail to understand why Mr Micallef so badly wants to be in a team where he is obviously not wanted. And why he so badly wants to do something that he is obviously not good at. But there you go, he is obviously good at internal electoral campaigns.
The worst thing for Labour is not simply that it got lumped with a man who many see as the wrong secretary general, but that the battle for his seat was so sanguine. Too many MLP exponents came out against Mr Micallef, and he came out against too many of his colleagues – the atmosphere at Mile End must be awfully cool now. It’s going to be difficult for everyone to forgive and forget and work together again, and for Toni Abela and Anglu Farrugia to exercise authority over Mr Micallef.
Moreover, Malta now knows that these people are not as happy with their party as they would like to be. Voters might forget one person’s sins, but in-fighting leaves a lasting distrust.
It does not help that Mr Micallef lacks discretion and diplomacy, and does not seem to understand the “for the greater good” concept. His idea of meditation and reconciliation after the general election was a slimy speech on Super One radio attacking Michael Falzon for his counting hall hug with Joe Saliba. Who knows, had Mr Micallef had been there, Dr Falzon might have hugged him instead.
But all is not lost. Two months under Joseph Muscat have already yielded a noticeable change in Labour – the party is not the whiny sulking slob it once was. Maybe Jason Micallef under Joseph Muscat will be better than Jason Micallef under Alfred Sant. And if this sounds too good to be true, we can still argue that the role of Secretary General of the Labour Party does not have to be as vital as it is to the Nationalist Party, because Labour has the added role of deputy leader of party affairs. Of course any talk of Labour doing away with this extra post next year must now be shelved – firstly, Toni Abela is too valuable to be sent away, and secondly, it is murder – particide – to shift all party duties into the Secretary General’s realm just when the Secretary General’s office has been severely weakened.
An intelligent Labour Party administration would do well to limit the amount of press coverage Mr Micallef receives during the next five years, and Mr Micallef must be the first to understand why. Unlike Dr Muscat’s unifying campaign, Mr Micallef’s was divisive and negative, and voters have, rightly or wrongly, come to see Mr Micallef as the epitome of all that is bad about Labour. Just as the Nationalist Party hid some of the ministers during last electoral campaign, the Labour Party must now hide Jason Micallef.
Mr Micallef has sadly been given another chance, but he can use it to prove his worth by doing his job well for starters, and discreetly, for the benefit of the Party that pays his salary.
The outcome of this election was the worst that it could have been. But the Labour party does not have to go to the slums just because their Secretary General is everyone’s least favourite man. The party is full of people who genuinely want to see it do better in future polls, and with friendly Joseph Muscat at the helm these people might get the chance to do their bit. It is up to the leadership to make sure that it is these people who are empowered, and not the cowboys and prima donnas. If Jason Micallef somehow forgets to do his work again, there are many people who would be happy to fill in for him out of sheer love for their party and their country. It goes without saying, however, that Joseph Muscat’s job has just become seventy-seven times more difficult.
Sylvia Cremona is currently reading for a Communications Degree. This blog was produced by Insite – The Student Media Organisation. www.insite.org.mt
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so we should be debating why students reacted like they did not whether insite thinks it was wrong or right. insites job is to give us the info as it is, as far as i can see, not to make judgements - thats our job.
The students' voice is here and it is here to stay. May more of us of young people realise and master the untapped power which lies in our unspoken thoughts and emerging ideals.
My initial contribution was precisely aimed, as then stated, to understand your concern. As initially presented, your message could have led many to think that the motivation behind your call for people to write and campaign against pregnant women coming on boats was fuelled by racist motives.
Now that you have explained yourself better I can appreciate your stand a bit further, although I still do not share your view.
If my mother was being persecuted in her country and she had risked her life and mine to give me a better life I would consider her as my hero, not a criminal. Personally, I think that our focus should not be on the symptoms but on the cause behind them. So as I see things the question is how to stop the persecution. And what WE can do to hasten that process.
We Maltese like to play the guru game because we are 40 something we accuse students that they can't think for themselves when writing something about politics!!!!!!!!!
REMEMBER EXPRESSING YOUR VIEWS IS A RIGHT AND NOT A PRIVILEGE
@All students: Please voice your concerns on the invasion of our Island. This is your future we are talking about. Don't forget the pregnant women that are used as tools. For the traffickers.
Students have pretty few outlets of expression.mr muscat has just said that he wished that people start voting at 16.this is a great opportunity for students to have there say too.lets hope it wouldn't be rediridiculed cluded because it was suggested from a labourite.
- Insite as a student media organisation is primarily concerned with giving students a chance to voice their opinion's and to be active critical thinkers. We welcome all opinions and have no interest in whether it sides with any political party or not. I would like to reassure Effie that we will not censor or include a blog simply because of the political opinion it may express.
- Regarding the political debate organised by Insite, this organisation simply provided the opportunity for debate, we neither condemn nor condone the outcome of this debate.
Again I express Insite's interest in recieving blogs expressing as wide a variety of opinions as possible. If you are a University student and you would like to write about something that interests you or that you have an opinion on, please send it in to us on: insitemalta@gmail.com
Reg debate i seem to remember insite saying it does not condone or condemn the outcome, you need to give the whole truth not part of it.
@Kenneth Cassar: You can't silence me as long as people like you and Katie Micallef(a member of the media)are condoning such crimes. Allowing unborn babies coming to Malta in an unsafe matter. With no retribution to the parents.
@All students of our great University: Does anyone have the guts to write such an article, or ALL our students going to close their eyes.
Your opinion, is an opinion like any other, and whatever it expresses, whether it is for Jason or for Paul, for or against divorce, for or aginst illegal immigration, or for or against any oher arguement that this country loves to debate...we want to hear your voice.
And no...do not rebutt any comments...do not waste your time....spend it writing something new...we want to hear more.....to balance things out I would like to read one about Paul Borg Olivier
What's really upsetting you? The rights of the unborn child? Or the fact that once he is born on Maltese soil he is given access to benefits you would not like to share with him?
It's always nice to unpack one's words .. and I am quite eager to understand your concern thoroughly so I'd appreciate if you could elaborate a bit further.
I am also, Proud to be going in my 4th year Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree. In Management dear Effie, and im also a member of Insite: the only student media organisation.
@Kathie Micallef: Criminal charges brought against parents, who commit such crimes.Would this be considered constructively?
For example: "An intelligent Labour Party administration would do well to limit the amount of press coverage Mr Micallef receives during the next five years, and Mr Micallef must be the first to understand why." is a very arrogant thing to say, as it presumes that everyone shares the same view, and she writes it as if it is a fact.
Appendix: Quote 1 Stephen Daughton, Quote 2 Sylvia Cremona
Therefore to answer your question; if a student is of the opinion that illegal immigration is irresponsible and an unnecessary risk to unborn children, and they wish to express this point constructively through a blog then of course Insite will publish it.
This blog does not reflect the views of Insite, but those of the many different students who write on it.
Again I remind all students that we would love to recieve their blogs and give them a platform for intelligent debate. So get writing!
Katie Micallef
Media Officer
Insite
I'd love to know what you think if (when) they publish my next blog, then.
Shouldn't us students be entitled to write what we wish though? If Ms. Cremona decided to write a blog on Jason Micallef, she should be entitled to do so.
This blog is here to help students voice their opinions, whatever that opinion may be. To restrict it to University problems would be limiting their voice.
We value the diversity of thought and give equal opportunity to every article sent to us.
If you are a student and you would like to write about something, then please send us an article to insitemalta@gmail.com
Katie Micallef
Media Officer
Insite
It's funny to see how the minute a person says exactly what she thinks that same person is swiftly labeled as either a Nationalist or a Labourite. This smells of political immaturity really :)
refer to the link below for an interesting discussion on political maturity
http://www.timesofmalta.com/blogs/view/20080804/fr-joe-borg/are-we-politically-mature-enough