Malta, as some funny guys keep reminding us, is a unique place. Every time we reach what we think is the real bottom of the trough, we dig a few more endless holes of perfidy.
Yet, the people, the Joes, Carmens and Frankies of the isle seem happy. Quite, quite happy with the state of affairs of state. They keep trusting good old Robert Abela just as they would trust a revived Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela or Abe Lincoln. I won’t dare add on a local politician of old – say Pawlu Boffa or Eddie Fenech Adami – lest I am accused of fanning the tribal fire that we suffer from in Malta.
Malta has been in a bad way for a long time. The rot has been there, or inherent as part of our inner core, since time immemorial. But, today, anyone looking objectively at Malta’s situation reels at the utter meltdown of all around.
Malta has become so bad that we find it normal to laugh at the latest scandal, latest revelation, latest news that should send shivers down all our spines. We should be crying, tearing our hair out and rushing somewhere, anywhere, to scream out for a return to normality, demand resignations, beseech the authorities to bring back sanity in this country. Instead, we carry on as though all is well, all has been tidied up, all our institutions are working.
Malta has truly gone to the dogs. No, hold on: dogs are not the right animals in that phrase. We have gone to the jackals, the hyenas, the vultures.
The wall that, somehow – by some elasticity that amazes all objective onlookers – still stands despite the onrushing debris and detritus is getting weaker by the day. Each new attack on our political, social, and institutional core makes it harder for the wall, or true adherence to rule of law, to remain intact.
Even the good things that happen are so outweighed by the bad that they become derisory and irrelevant.
Four new judges have been appointed following a more open and acceptable process. An end has been put to the appointments to the judiciary of former Labour Party candidates or cronies.
This semblance of normality should be a huge cause of celebration.
The arrests of alleged money launderers and racketeers who had seeming impunity, some of whom formed part of the government or the inner sanctum of the government, is a good step, even if miniscule, forward.
Yet, these steps forward are overwhelmed by the rest of the news, the revelations, the allegations, the totally mind-boggling state of affairs.
Malta has gone to the jackals, the hyenas, the vultures- Victor Calleja
Any other country would have carried out a soul-searching exercise not just about the state of our freedom of expression and thought but about the whole fabric of our political class.
Which normal country would have a political party in power with a history as corrupt – and horrendously bloodied by the assassination of the leading journalist – as the last eight years and with no one, or hardly anyone, crying shame from within the party?
Which party in any democratic country could have the history of the Labour Party in recent years and not have whole factions crying out for a total investigation? A few, amazingly few, from the Labour Party whimpered about the need for an apology. Nothing more.
I believe in apologies. I believe everyone is capable of committing a mistake. All can and should be forgiven.
However, what the country and the Labour Party have let happen and covered up does not need an apology. It needs a cleansing. It needs an utter and complete overhaul. It needs a truly honest and deeply thorough investigation into how the party and country were allowed to be run as a criminal organisation. It needs to look at its members now and during the last decade and go through all the dealings, pacts and appointments.
If it does not do this, if it continues playing a game of silly politics and tribal manoeuvrings, this country is sadly doomed. It is already hanging way too close to the precipice.
The Labour Party has the moral obligation, especially today that is has the apparent backing of a huge majority of people in Malta, to behave in a way that transcends partisan politics.
The Labour Party needs to forget about winning electoral advantages or elections and help change the course of our politics.
Malta has, in its history, recorded heroic acts. This would be one of them. If it fails now, Malta risks falling further into criminality and eventual oblivion and darkness.
Victor Calleja is a former publisher.