Thursday, 6th March 2008
Who you should vote for
Those who
think that by the end of this piece I will tell you vote for party X or party Y
are expecting something that I will not do. Then skip this item and go to the
next item called "I say so; therefore it is so." In these last few hours before the election I
wish to share with you a few thoughts based on what was written by our Bishops
in their pre-electoral pastoral letter and also by The Times editorial of
February 14.
The bishops say that a good choice in the elections involves a choice of "values as well as of principles and projects" and a "choice of persons".
It is therefore essential for all voters to familiarize themselves with the electoral manifesto of both parties. The Bishops encourage the Maltese people "so that in their choice they might be able to coordinate the traditional values of our society, many of which have their origins in our christian heritage, with the exigencies of modern society. These values are not something which is simply very generic, but must be clearly proclaimed in the political context. This needs to be done without losing our basic values such as the dignity of every person, whatever its nationality, from conception till death; the practical protection of the values of marriage and the family. The citizen has the duty to vote with these values in mind."
The Bishops also point out the importance of "the choice of the persons who in our opinion will faithfully and honestly put into effect the mandate given to them by the people."
The aforementioned editorial of The Times explains why discussing programmes without discussing personalities is very partial. "Let us make a couple of comparisons. Mozart wrote fantastic music which would not sound so fantastic if it is played by a second class orchestra and a bad conductor. The Greeks without Alexander the Great would not have conquered what they conquered. The same applies to politics. Well written and produced electoral programmes in the hand of mediocre politicians will bring no country any success. It would be worse if inefficient or, worse still, dishonest politicians are involved. Therefore it is essential for personalities to be discussed. People have the right and duty to inform themselves about the politicians that present themselves for an election. The electors should put the spotlight on all candidates but especially they should put the spotlight on the leaders of the party. In modern democracies the role of the leader of any political party is pivotal and he or she would have to bear most of the heat."
Reflection on the above has to be done in the light of the common good. One can understand that we all tend to be pleased or hurt by particular decisions which affect us and our dear once. Election time is not the time to pay back for hurts received or invest in personal gains that one can get. Election time is the time where our future, the future of our children and the future of our country is determined. Consequently for whom one casts one's vote is a very responsible and important decision.
"I say so; therefore it is so."
It is very clear that Mr Abela who took me to task (in the
comments section) for voicing the concerns of the National Commission Persons
with Disability and the 
Maltese
Council of Disabled Persons is part of the brigade who believe that "I say so;
therefore it is so." They believe that something becomes a reality if they say
it. Mr Abela said that my opinions (which were the opinions of these two
Councils made up of persons with disabilities and their families) show that I
am anti-Gospel and anti Church social teaching. He then said that "Fr Joe Borg
= PN"
I had come through this when I was heading RTK and to a lesser extent when I was chairman of the Editorial Board of PBS. Let me put the record straight.
i. During these two periods I was never found guilty by the Broadcasting Authority of any incident of impartial or in any other way biased reporting. More than that, RTK was praised by the Broadcasting Authority for its news service.
ii. Though I have been a registered editor of a newspaper and two radio stations for more years that I would like to count I was found guilty by any Court for any wrong doing. On the contrary I took to Court the Labour and pro-Labour media for the character assassination campaign they mounted against me and I won several libel suits. The Courts over and over again said that these media lied about me.
iii. I am the first Maltese journalist to receive the Gold Award for my contribution to journalism. The citation of the committee says that my writing are "impartial, without sensationalism, without falsehoods, without deceit and without calumnies."
The "I say so; therefore it is so" brigade makes mudslinging as it raison d'etre and programme of activity. They believe that if you throw mud, some of it will stick especially in an emotive period like that of an electoral campaign. We have seen a lot of mud thrown in this campaign. Let's hope that people will see through it.
Lucky fellow
Some people have all the luck in the world. Georg Sapiano, the new Nationalist candidate on the 9th electoral district, is one of them. He said that for reasons of conscience he was not going to print any propaganda brochures or make newspaper adverts so that he does not go beyond the Lm600 limit imposed on spending by candidates for the election. You can hardly do a campaign on that miserly sum.
That should have signalled the death of his campaign had the Labour Party not stepped in to finance his campaign following his duel on Bondi+ with the leader of the MLP. It seems that the MLP were not amused with the result of their encounter. So instead of ignoring Georg they exalted him by buying half page adverts in different papers showing him together with the Prime Minister. They did not say nice things about him but the adage that "all publicity is good publicity" is what really counts in such cases. Targeting a new candidate as if he is a potential minister helps that candidate a lot. Moreover the attack on Georg Sapiano was similar to the attack they had launched - not so publicly and forcefully - against their former deputy leader, Dr George Abela.
Georg's luck has no limits it seems. Last Sunday he was attacked by the Labour weekly, KullHadd. Within a couple of hours the former Labour candidate Teddie Busuttil issued a statement saying that what was written in the Labour Party was not true.
So here we have a candidate endorsed by one political party whose electoral campaign is financed by the opposition party. This is quite an innovative scenario.
The way forward
The way forward for persons with disability is their
integration in the community. A few day after my piece about the subject The
Times (March 3) publishes a news item stating that a new home allowing persons
with disability to live independently in the community was opened by the Prime
Minister.
I reproduce the short news item which must have been lost to many because all the election clutter.
"Agenzija Sapport has set up a home in Cospicua to receive up to six residents with a disability as part of a supported living programme. The home will allow six young people to live within the community and lead a more independent life, while reassuring their parents that they will be cared for when they are unable to do so themselves.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who inaugurated the home this morning, stressed the importance of looking at the abilities of people rather than getting sidetracked by their disability. He said the concept of locking people with a disability in institutions was wrong and showed defeat when confronted with disability.
The home in Cospicua is one of a number of homes around the island for people with a disability. Apart from a number of employees, the homes are also manned by volunteers who dedicate some of their time to help others. Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina said the house was given to Agenzija Sapport by the Housing Authority and a number of companies helped out in furnishing it."
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Comments
Thank you Fr Joe.
I say again, I speak from direct experience, but as far as I know, you were never involved in the field of services and voluntary work for the disabled.
It is surprising that the two bodies you referred to had to use you as their mouthpiece; normally they do not fall short from issuing Press Releases.
Please speak to parents who have children with intellectual disabilities or severely physical disabilities and ask them if they agree or not to send their children to Mt Carmel and SVPR.
The Labour mud spinning machine is really overworked in these past four weeks. Never I have seen in my life a dirtier electoral campaign than this one. Whenever they see someone posing a threat to them they try to take him out.
According to Labour 3/4 of the ministers are corrupt and 1/2 of the PN new candidates are corrupt too. This is a repeat of the 1996 campaign by Labour. Fortunately for us we all know how that went about and this time round the people won't make the same mistakes.
Georg is a very intelligent person, very friendly and has the guts to confrontate some one face to face rather then run as we know who did.
I am proud to be able to vote on the ninth district and I urge my fellow ninth disctrict voters to yes VOTE GONZI and GET GEORG!
I have no idea whether that is the case or not but if Labour had any proof then they would have come out with it immediately in order to destroy any credibility that Dr. Sapiano may have had. The fact that they didn't shows, quite clearly, that they are flinging mud at anybody that crosses their path in the hope that some of it sticks.
Another odd implication of their amusing little ad is that one should somehow be ashamed of making money. Is Georg Sapiano the first person to make money off government contracts ? I seriously doubt it. Is he the only (or one of the only) people to be singled-out as having made money in this way ? It certainly looks like it.
Why is that ?
Why is the earning of money something so shameful to Labour ? Have they no money of their own ? Will they want ours ?
Good grief!
The Nationalist party isn't the Holy Grail that its supporters make it out to be but at least its pro-business.
I would suggest that the VOTE GONZI GET GEORG tag line, is a Freudian slip from MLP’s part. An outright acknowledgment of Georg’s worth.