Malta and Gozo have seen substantial social, cultural and economic upheavals in a relatively short span of years. Indeed, questions are also often raised about what our entire society stands for today and what its priorities are.

Political parties, like all sectors of and realities within society, have not been immune to such rapid change. Where are the politicians of previous generations, many ask? Is today’s generation of politicians really made of the same breed as the one they succeeded?

The Nationalist Party has certainly not been immune to the challenges born out of these upheavals. Added to these challenges faced from the outside, it has been quite active in cooking up internal upheavals of its own making.

One of the clearest messages from the last election was that given by over 50,000 voters who chose not to exercise their right to vote mainly in order to give a resounding message to the political class in general.

It is clear that, even faced with a well-oiled machine dishing out abuse of the power of incumbency, thousands chose not to vote in favour of the governing party. Thousands have seen through the extent of the shocking web of undiluted widespread corruption and abuse of power emanating from the corridors of the highest executive offices in the land. 

In the past few years, many chose to be silent no longer. Many others, faced with an ever-rising cost of living matched with an ever-depleting quality of life, have joined their ranks after last March.

Yet, these same 50,000 plus shunning the last-minute Labour overtures have not voted for the Nationalist Party either.

Maltese society is at a crossroads. Some argue that it has already gone beyond this and that we have reached a point of no return.

Frustration piles upon frustration at our environment attacked from all sides; at the free-for-all mentality purposely encouraged to fester as a post-2013 political strategy; at the web of complicit silence, denial and self-preservation in the face of crass corruption and at so many who have become insensitive to the crude national awakening of October 16, 2017,  as a woman, wife, mother, daughter and sister was singled out and assassinated for having the courage to stand up for what is right and to fight what is wrong.

I choose to believe that we are not yet at a point of no return and that the steadily growing national mood is one of intolerance at the current state of affairs and determination to embrace drastic change.

In choosing to believe this I acknowledge, applaud and support the manner in which sections, organisations and individuals across Maltese society have stepped and continue to step forward to stand up and be counted, often very emphatically and with determining results. This is, on all counts, very good news for our society in general and augurs well for the future.

At the same time, I equally acknowledge that a huge burden of responsibility falls squarely on the Nationalist Party as one of the two major political parties and as Malta’s opposition.

We must move ahead. We must do so in full awareness even of our realities and imperfections but we must do so with courage.

Indeed, as I had written in another contribution to this newspaper some time ago, the Nationalist Party was not perfect when it established Malta as an independent state. It was not flawless when it restored a shaken democracy and ushered in the technological world at the time in the late 1980s.

The PN is still imperfect today and still has a lot to learn- Alex Perici Calascione

It had its failings when it spearheaded an enviable financial services centre. It had its shortcomings when it fought, together with others, for us to join the European Union with the subsequent flow of capital and potential into our economy. It had its problems when it guided, wisely and securely, our country through the worst global economic and financial  crisis in over 100 years.

The Nationalist Party is still imperfect today and still has a lot to learn.

We are called to rise above all internal contention and all individual disappointment. We are called to put into practice our beliefs in the values and principles which have guided us over all these determining changes which shaped Maltese modern society and forged our framework as a nation.

These are universal values not limited by belief or straitjacketed by extremes. They are values expressed in solidarity; respect; good governance; the rule of law; a quality of life ensuring dignity to all matched with an environment which allows this and the furtherance of policies which assist all to reach their maximum potential. 

Have we always and at all times placed these values as priorities? Indeed, hand on heart, we have not always done so to the fullest extent that we should have.

Are we being called upon to ensure at all costs that we do so fully once again? Indeed, we are.

The Nationalist Party leadership is fully aware of this and of the duties it is called to discharge. This is what it fully intends to do. This is also, if not equally, a responsibility to which all sections within the party are called to live up to; from the party governing bodies to its parliamentary group; from the various branches and district structures to the thousands who have voted for it last March. But not only. This is a national moment and, indeed, the call for this shared duty is addressed to all.

Political parties are called to embrace and take heed of the collective national mood and to respond to the rightful aspirations of the country.

The opposition is called upon to hold the government to account and to propose its own national strategies and policies.

The Nationalist Party is committed and determined to do so, fully aware of the face-value odds, the disillusionment and the challenges ahead.

The urgency of the national moment imposes on us the collective responsibility to rise up and forge ahead. This is what we shall do.

Alex Perici Calascione is the deputy leader of the Nationalist Party.