Of sowing and reaping

Tactically the Labour Party fascinates me. The General Workers' Union, which is meant to be politically independent, surprises me.

Why on earth would these two-in-one organisations choose to launch a campaign of panic, of fear and of doom and gloom so soon into this government's legislature? There are more than four years to go and it never pays an opposition to peak early.

What exactly are they trying to sow? And, more importantly, what might they reap as a consequence?

Could all this be on the reports about our PM moving on soon? Could the motive for all this be, simply and quite cruelly, to make the PM's final days, weeks or months, or a much longer time, as unpleasant as possible?

Lately Alfred Sant made a speech in parliament saying how the PM should go, not because of age or experience, mind you (he's dropped that red herring) but because of alleged government failures. Is he really trying to make it seem as if his words and this joint MLP-GWU campaign brought down the government because the PM may choose to call it a day soon? How childish!

Labour voters who went to the mass meeting came out happily convinced that the Nationalist government will fall. With the size of their majority? Come on? Why play this game if Dr Sant has already played it and lost?

In 1998 he said the victory would be bigger than in 1996. He lost that argument! In 2003, he predicted he would win and then claimed he won the referendum. That did not get him to Castille. And in 2003 again he promised victory and he lost, hugely, one has to add.

So Dr Sant knows the Nationalist government will be there till 2008. Why is he egging on his supporters in this way? They do believe their leader after all, even though he keeps saying things and changing his mind.

He has just changed his mind about the number of party contestants for the Euro parliamentary elections. He has indeed changed his mind on so many things that listing them is tiring but necessary. On VAT, local councils, EU membership... the list is endless.

For all the problems this little country has, we have a lot to be thankful for. What would the situation have been like had Dr Sant won last year' s election? Do you really think that had the majority said no to EU membership, the country would have saved the jobs lost recently?

How can the current levels of unemployment, which are similar to those in Dr Sant's brief rule, have been reached because of EU membership when we are not even in yet? I suppose all of us who voted yes for Europe are to blame for job losses too.

I hope I am wrong. I hope the MLP leadership is more mature than I think. I hope there is no element of spite and of being bad loser in this attempt to not only paint a worse picture than necessary but also in trying to make our PM's exit less positive than it should be.

Yes I hear a lot of moans about this government. Yes I complain too. There are things they do which I strongly disagree with. The inheritance tax and forced mediation come to mind immediately. But I say so and hope they listen. How many people who have not been thrown out by Labour dare criticise Labour? None.

They are afraid of doing so.

But we, the majority who make up the Nationalist voters in this country, do not need to be afraid, do not need to fear expressing our views. Don't take this luxury for granted. If Labour people are scared to criticise Dr Sant while he is still weak in opposition, how many will dare to do so if Labour were to lead us again?

It is useless saying I will not vote this time or that I will vote AD because that will just put a man who does not deserve to be PM again in charge and then the real ouch will begin. A correspondent recently wrote a letter to The Times claiming I am going to be proved wrong in the upcoming Euro elections because so many Nationalists plan to vote AD. Well, think about it if you are one of them and wonder to yourself why Labour people do not vote AD.

At the end of the day we are all free to decide as we like but do not act out of spite as Labour are doing now. We all have reason to appreciate what Dr Fenech Adami has achieved for this country and we have yet to see anyone else do better.

Think before you sow. What you may reap with your petulance may come back to haunt you. Watching Dom Mintoff in Valletta the other day and Tony Zarb threatening to rock us gave me a very bad taste of things to come as well as an appreciation of those who have maintained the peace in Malta.

It is a peace no one should take for granted.