People • 5 January 2003

Outspoken, left wing and not in favour of membership

Boisterous, comical at times, eloquent, articulate and loud should describe Toni Abela. A successful lawyer, and a political maverick, here he talks to Saviour Balzan

Toni Abela arrives late. What’s new?

"Wait for me next to Wembley’s."

He arrives an hour later, thankfully, I make small talk with some old acquaintances.

When he arrives we rush off to Trattoria Siracusa, an eating hole that has not changed much in décor from the old Jimmy’s restaurant days when myself and Toni Abela joked, agreed, argued and made great designs for tomorrow. Those were the good old days.

Will you contest, I asked.

"Contest the election? No I have no intention, but I do not exclude anything."

Toni Abela, lawyer, a left winger, former MLP President and dissident, and former Alternattiva front liner told me that he was not a member of the Malta Labour Party.

"But there is very clear affinity with the Labour party?"

He said that he felt closer to the MLP because of his background and upbringing and his political convictions.

"I also present this programme on Super One which focuses on social problems from a left wing perspective.” Not in an orthodox way, he pointed out.

Toni Abela devoured the antipasto; mine was still looking at me.

But why does he see the Labour in a good light today when he castigated it in the past.

"The corruption and violence have been buried," he barked.

Is this thanks to Alfred Sant?

"Yes it is thanks to him. And to the individuals that caused so much harm to the Labour party not being there. I would say the fact that the Nationalists have been so long in power has led many to look back at the mistakes of the past."

"On Europe you are more extreme than the MLP, why is this?" I asked.

"Yes, I am closer to the CNI than to the MLP.

What about the referendum, will he respect the result.

"Yes, so long as the majority that vote works out to the majority of those eligible to vote."

I see, I said to myself, forgetting to ask him how this should work out in a national election, where the difference between one party and another was a mere 1.5% and five to six per cent chose not to vote.

"In the European Union, and I say European Union not Europe, there is a very clear intention to have a federation of States.

"Time and time again, it has been proven that this federation of states does not work.

"See what happened in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia."

He saw me frowning, and he realised that he had conveniently left out the United States from the equation.

"The United States is a different case, they are all small states coming out of a long experience of colonialism.

He continued, "The treaty of Nice continues to give more power to the big nations."

I turn to his past in Alternattiva.

"Why did you leave?"

"I did not, I simply did not remain active."

"But politically you are very close to the Labour party?"

"I have always been a social democrat," he remarked.

I asked Toni Abela if his time at Alternattiva had been a waste of time.

"It definitely was not, it provided me with the perspective of seeing the parties from the outside."

Did he see the need of a third party?

"No, not in the present circumstances, and I say this because the electoral system will not change and because political division is political fodder for the electorate."

Rich I thought, as we sipped the red Corvo.

We turned to the political barometer:

"The media acolytes are attempting to portray the Nationalist party as a left off centre party and this is also advanced by some ex-Labour stalwarts such as Joe Grima and TV host Joe Azzopardi.

"This is untrue. The fiscal measures introduced by this government smack of collectivist and socialist concepts, but when it comes to spending we see a very different story.

"Just look at the Auditor’s report," he said as his untouched plate gazed at him.

"The auditor asks the questions and no one cares to respond."

I asked him about VAT.

"Essentially it is a good tax regime, because it taxes consumption, but I do not agree that VAT should be extended to essential products as this government plans."

We paused to eat and then we turned to the lower classes.

"Is there a lower class?"

"Anyone who earns less than Lm70 a week is representative of this class and this refers to the pensioners and single wage earners."

I turned to Joe Azzopardi.

"I’d rather not talk about him. He is a non-issue."

"Ok, if you say so."

On Dom Mintoff, Toni Abela was more forthcoming.

"I cannot understand why he has surfaced after the end of negotiations. More than this, I am saddened that he roped in Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici who had criticised so vehemently before."

Toni Abela is an outspoken gladiator on divorce.

What were his views on divorce and the fact that none of the parties other than Alternattiva had a position on it.

"At least the Malta Labour Party set up a Commission on the family to look into the matter," he said.

On abortion, what were his ideas?

"I agree with abortion, if the life of the mother is in danger, in the case of rape and if it is certain that the unborn foetus will be a severely handicapped child."

We tackled the Church, by that time we were drinking homemade lemoncello. Toni asked for another.

"The Church is still very relevant, somehow to most of us it means something because we spent some years of our life very close to the Church.

"With the Church, I would say that we all suffer from the ‘back to mama’ syndrome."

Together with his all time friend, Wenzu Mintoff he hosts the Friday programme Robin Hood.

"Are you competing with Xarabank?"

"No, it was not supposed to be on a Friday, but somehow it ended up on the day.

"We have a viewership of up to 20,000 which is not too bad.

"We try to raise social issues. The most interesting programme so far was the programme on the Middle East.

"Peace in that region will never materialise. 78% of the land is taken up by the Israelis and 22% by the Palestinians. Even if there is peace, I cannot imagine how Jihad and Hamas will accept this poor share of the land."

What were his impressions of Arafat?

"His white hands, and complexion shocked me. He is like a bird in a cage. But he is a very welcoming man.

"There is another thing, which struck me. We are closer to the Arabs than to the Jews, that is for sure."

On Wenzu Mintoff, he admits that they are different characters, Wenzu Mintoff is an introvert, Toni and extrovert, but he believes that they complement each other.

Politics apart what are his views on Malta.

"Claustrophobic. We put aside our traditions before globalisation set in. Our life is geared to the quantitative and not the qualitative aspects.

"It seems that it little matters if we have extracurricular activities and recreational space."

On the Maltese language, I let him roll on.

"This EU thing on language is a farce. All part of the smog machine.

"How can we take this government seriously if the University authorities have removed Maltese as a requisite for the Faculty of Law. Another case of crass hypocrisy."

Toni Abela had talked for over an hour. He is first and foremost a lawyer.

"Tell me Toni, how is your life at the courts?"

"I am tired and bored, I feel depressed about the courts.

"Things have changed to the worse, because panic has taken over the administration of justice.

"It has become nauseating to work there. Where it not that I have to earn a livelihood, I would not bat an eyelid to leave from Malta’s polite concentration camp."

"Concentration camp? "I quizzed.

"Yes, you heard right."

"What will you be doing a year from now?"

"What I am doing today!"