Sanctimony

University students about to graduate and university student organisations have been called pampered and selfish for resisting a Lm10 fee introduced by the University Council to meet some of the expenses of the University. A number of pro-PN government columnists also latched on this affair as an opportunity to press for changes to the university stipend system to make public funding of the University more sustainable, to divert to the University's academic resources part of the funds going to students' stipends and to make our young people wake up to the reality that the rest of the world does not owe them a living and they have to start sharing part of the costs that taxpayers are investing in them by funding the University with their taxes.

Being the Education Minister of the 1996-98 Labour government when we set about reforming the stipend system, I could not help reflecting that for a number of media organisations and columnists what was "wrong" then has become "right" now. In 1997 and 1998 the Labour government got no support from the same people and organisations that are now calling for the stipend system to be reformed and for students to start financing their University education through a bank loan scheme to be paid when they start earning a salary in the future.

I remember at the time I did meet a few senior PN politicians, top people in religious orders and in business organisations, who told me that individually (but very "confidentially" they whispered to me) they agreed with the need to change the stipend system. University students had protested in the main streets of Valletta. All sorts of colourful abuse and obscenities were hurled at me during those protests. Even then I could understand that young people brought up in a nest feathered by the stipend system would be very angry and upset for disturbing their comfort zone, which they had been accustomed to demand as their right.

Even now, as then, I do not fault the students for wanting to defend the comfort zone of the stipend and smart card system. I fault the PN and its politicians for corrupting our young people with the stipend system and depriving them of the mindset, skills and competences they need to survive and thrive in the 21st century world. The stipend system is in fact only one aspect of the unsustainable and reckless policies that the PN in government has followed over the years with only one goal in mind: "Spend money on what you think will buy you a vote."

I feel very frustrated when students from European countries coming to our university on the Socrates programme ask me to explain how our government gives money to individual students to buy books but then do not have money to give to the University to buy books for its library. I am very worried about the reputation of our university with these overseas students. They are not impressed that the university was founded in 1592. They judge us on the quality of our lecturing, course content and resources available at the University. More important than what the overseas students think of us... is the crucial issue of the inadequacies of our University in equipping our students with the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities that our country needs to succeed in the 21st century.

Stop lying to the people

Till just over a year ago, before the EU referendum and the general elections, the PN and its politicians continued to lull the voters into believing that we will continue to live happily ever after in fairy land if we return the PN to power. Public finances were on a sound footing. Public funding of education, health and welfare was sustainable and we could look forward to a future of prosperity and guaranteed jobs, and dramatic improvement in our environment and our quality of life. Enough time has passed to show that the PN campaigned promising sweet oranges (sweeter than the ones at San Anton gardens) but once in government is delivering very bitter lemons.

As expected, the Nationalist ministers who brought us to the present unsustainable situation of the public deficit and debt are finding it hard themselves to adjust to the real world and start governing in a responsible manner. They would still like to keep on spending and spending as if we are striking an oil well every day, and as if our budget is in surplus.

Those who in the past few days poured so much sanctimony on the university students for resisting the Lm10 fee should be castigating the Nationalist politicians for landing this country in a terrible mess, corrupting citizens with unsustainable policies as if the rest of the world owes us a living.

I remember in one of the first speeches I gave in parliament after I was elected for the first time 12 years ago, I raised the issue of the sustainability of our stipend system at the University and quoted the Yevgeny Yevtuschenko poem Do to lie to young people. In this poem he appeals to politicians not to deceive young people and give them the impression that all is right with the world and that there are no problems that they have to learn to face, cope with and overcome.

I think that the message of the poem is still very relevant for all of us in politics. The politics of deceit has destroyed the resilience of the people of this country. No wonder that our people are going through the trauma as they are shocked by the present reality after so many years of being told that "Money is no problem", "We can spend as much as we like; those who come after us will pay", "EU membership is not only no problem, but a magic wand that will solve all our problems and make us become a top European country with excellent standards in every area".