Saviour Balzan | Sunday, 29 March 2009

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The Tower of Babylon

If only I could complete this blessed sabbatical in some peace.
Here I am, still shaven and with no immediate plans to either grow my beard back or give up on bothering other creatures, and as I was keeping warm from the cold spell, friend and foe alike were egging me on to get back to my desktop.
Sometimes I do feel like one of those of bloodthirsty characters in the Coliseum.
But just right now the music reaching my ears is like the one from a dysfunctional orchestra run by a group of angry teens unwilling to appreciate the importance of symphony in musical productions.
Before I go on, please do not forget to book Trattoria Medusa – Da Kamel in Siracusa for June on the day of the European parliamentary elections. It is a wonderful place to be in, when everyone else in Malta will be wondering for whom to vote or not to vote. And I can assure you that it has the most wonderful selection of fresh fish and pasta at unbeatable prices. Very much unlike the inflated prices here in Malta.
And just in case you need any information on what is on the menu, please send me a request by email and I will be all too happy to oblige with all the details.
If anyone is suggesting that I am launching a campaign to boycott the next elections, the answer to that is yes: this is a boycott. And guess what, it is a perfectly legitimate right in a democratic society.
So in other words, if you had any intention of voting for either the Nationalists, Labour or the Greens or Josie or some other grouping, my suggestion is to do what anyone in his right mind should be doing. Sail off to Siracusa and have the meal of your life away from it all.
And if you believe that this opinion will only be launching Exocet missiles from one side of the border to the other, please read on.
First things first. The orchestra I was talking about has very much to do with the PN’s recipe for winning or doing well in the next European parliamenatary elections. Dr Gonzi has roped together a medley of candidates who really and truly could be actors for the unscreened film ‘Tower of Babylon’.
Now surely, the ploy is to attract as many voters as is possible. This is not the first time the Nationalist party or the Labour party or any other political party has attempted to entice voters by presenting such a potpourri in their list of candidates.
But surely, the diverse opinions and backgrounds of many of the PN and PL candidates leads one to ask oneself what is the sense of having political parties.
Let us have a very quick look at the candidates. The first candidate to tickle my fancy has got to be Vince. Yes, Mr Farrugia. He said that in the 1996 election, his campaign against the introduction of VAT as GRTU director-general had much to do with the wishes of the GRTU members, and not his intentions.
In other words Mr Farrugia was trying to say that in 1996 he was simply a ventriloquist for the GRTU members.
Now anyone who knew the GRTU members and Mr Farrugia will of course be very surprised with that comment. Since when has Mr Farrugia played the part of a ventriloquist? Mr Farrugia is his own man and has always been.
Let us face it, if Mr Farrugia can get to be a candidate with the Nationalist Party then one should not be too surprised if we see Alex Sceberras Trigona standing for the next leader of the Nationalist party.
Is this excessive democracy, populism, or a party that has lost its soul? With this current trend, I wouldn’t be surprised if an elected government minister criticizes government policy.
Yes, I really think we should stop blaming Lawrence Gonzi for this malaise in the Nationalist party. The PN is suffering from the simple fact that it has been simply too long in power.
Nothing Gonzi has done is different to what Eddie Fenech Adami did. He is simply carrying out his job to run a party with the aim of re-electing itself. Everyone would do the same thing in his place.
But that should not stop me from pointing out that when you look at the list of Labour and Nationalist candidates, one really falls into fits of laughter.
Come on, from Arnold Cassola to Glenn Bedingfield to Vince Farrugia there is this undeclared motivation to contest the European elections because of the disproportionately attractive pay package, paid by our taxes and redistributed by Brussels.
And if any one of them really and truly wishes to convince me that this is not the case, then they should really spend some time as Benedictine monks before pronouncing their altruism for the nation.
To sort of green-ify the blue, the PN has come up with Alan Deidun as their candidate for green issues. Now Mr Deidun has been writing countless articles on MEPA’s incompetence in controlling abusive development. Among his first events as a PN candidate was to visit sites in Gozo where MEPA looked the other way.
Just in case no one informed Mr Deidun, MEPA is a government agency which fell under first the wings of George Pullicino, and now under the great umbrella of the Office of the Prime Minister. Mr Deidun will of course say that as a candidate for the PN he will do everything to stop the destruction, which is more often than not sanctioned by the same government itself.
Then you have Frank Portelli.
Frank is of course no fool, he too has spoken about the problem of Libya and migrants, only to be castigated by home affairs minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici.
Things are really getting confused in this Tower of Babylon. Enter PN candidate Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas, who says that the government should pay back the refunds on VAT on car registration tax. And she too gets rapped, this time by finance minister Tonio Fenech.
In the Labour camp, things are slightly more homogenous, but it is clear that the party is using the same tactic as the PN. Field as many candidates and ensure that you hit as many voters as is possible.
But surely, many of the Labour candidates could easily stand with any party. Let us face it, why does Louis Grech fit the profile of a Labour candidate? I am waiting for the right answers. Here is a man who has lived like a Bohemian all is life, and is distanced from the working class as I am from the effects of magic mushrooms.
The real working class candidates in the Labour party have no chance of getting elected. Joseph Cuschieri for example stands no chance to get a long sejour in Brussels. The party bigwigs would be glad if he did not get to reside in the Belgian capital.
Joseph Cuschieri may not be the most impressive candidate in the Western hemisphere, but if I were asked – of course – at gunpoint, and with an incendiary weapon in my pants to choose between John Attard Montalto and Mr Cuschieri, I would, albeit reluctantly, vote for Mr Cuschieri.
And Labour like the PN has tried out the same recipe. To counter Deidun’s presence as a green crusader, they have chosen Steve Borg, even though both Deidun and Borg will not be elected. They would have simply served to give the impression that the parties have a green conscience and in the process made a fool of themselves.
The parties have gone for economists, good-looking women and of course the most unlikely candidates, such as the former ‘no to Europe’ queen Sharon Ellul Bonici.
Most, but not all, of those interested in Brussels are doing so for the wrong reasons. Which is why that restaurant in Syracuse is making such great sense!
Which takes me back to the European parliament and the things that never get said because political parties are very good at hiding their true feelings.
Here are some of the things I have heard from people at the top in both parties. In repeating them I must categorically state I do not necessarily agree with their viewpoint, but is that is really not the point.

What the bigwigs at the PN would like?
1. For starters to see more voters not visit Syracuse in June.
2. To see David Casa fail in his bid to get elected.
3. To see Simon Busuttil repeat his record in the last election.
4. To ensure that the PN has two out of five seats.
5. That people do not vote for the Greens.
6. That Vince Farrugia gets elected.
7. That the hunters will not blame them for the spring hunting and trapping ban.

What the bigwigs at the PL would like?
1. For starters to four MEPs elected.
2. To see Edward Scicluna, Louis Grech, Marlene Mizzi and Glenn Bedingfield elected.
3. To see Vince Farrugia not elected.
4. That the hunters will blame the PN for the ban in spring hunting and trapping.

sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt

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