Hear no evil, see no evil

These are not my words but those of a former Labour candidate when being interviewed by Norman Vella, and I could percieve that he is still very much a socialist at heart and was finding it difficult to say that the only cure for Malta would be a life-long adversary, a Nationalist government led by Simon Busuttil.

But Panama is anything but the real scandal. It is just the tip of the iceberg. A submerged mountain of a multitude of shady and secret deals a clique had been planning long before they attained power, and which have come to light only because the Panama Papers scandal erupted on an international scale. The scam is so huge that it has compelled Mark Micallef to call all the other scandals, which the Labour spin machine has made so much of to discredit the Opposition, mere pinpricks.

And the reason is very easy to see. The perpetrators have the blessing of the prime minister himself, who vigorously defended Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, not only from the Opposition, from the press, and an outraged public, but also from his own ministers clamouring for resignations.

Anyone but the three proverbial monkeys can see that this is not an issue of Nationalists versus Labourites anymore but a whole nation, no matter the political affiliations, uniting to rid the country of a veritable plague that is seriously threatening our democratic wellbeing, and which could cost us even our independence, making of us a neo-colony subject to foreign, corrupt and unknown capitalist masters.

After months of agonising over a very difficult decision, I stuck my neck out and put everything at stake for this cause. This cost me my programme ‘Madwarna’, the anger of many former fans and the disapproval of those of liberal views like mine who despise both parties. But the publication of Mark Sammut’s book ‘L-Aqwa fl-Ewropa’ put my mind at rest. I had done the right thing when I put forward my candidacy with the Nationalist Party because it confirmed how serious and dangerous the situation really is, and that it needs the concerted effort of all right-minded citizens to overcome it.

Many Labourites have expressed their condemnation in public, and I am more than sure that many more are of the same mind in private. For some unfathomable reason, some are still desperately clinging to “No proof, no scandal!” But some of these diehards are much more intelligent than that and as such they should realise that they are doing a huge disservice first and foremost to their own party by trying to hide a disease that has been rapidly killing it from the inside, even before it was elected to power.

Clearly, these are not the dealings of a democratically-elected government for the benefit of all.

The time has come when people must stand up and be counted. Those Labourites who wield some influence, and who know exactly what I am talking about, are dutybound by their socialist principles to embrace the cause of cleansing their party from the threat of these capitalist infiltrators, even at the cost of losing the next election. In fact they should make sure that their party is not in government with the present leadership, as the consequences for the Labour Party can only be dire in the long term.

They must understand that their intelligence and position demand that they pass on this message to those party supporters who are still unaware that they are being used and abused to prop up an unfit leadership, which since gaining power, has been shaming all they should be standing for and undermining their representatives’ integrity.

I for one, no great fan of political parties, have taken what I consider the drastic decision of campaigning with the Nationalist team, because I believe that it is in the national interest at this time of great crisis. Staying on the sides and refraining from casting a vote against clearly institutionalised corruption because of prejudices or for personal issues is tantamount to treason.

The media should be conscious that trivialising the present dangerous situation with absurd arguments or farfetched comparisons just for the sake of being clever or to gain favour with the powers that be, will one day have to answer for the misuse of that power it knows it can wield over the public

History will judge all those who, for one reason or another, by omission or by commission are favouring the growth of this malign cancer that is threatening the very fibres of our democracy and eroding the foundations of one of the major parties, which, notwithstanding its many shortcomings, has in the past sought to contribute to the welfare of our nation first and foremost.

Harsh words I know, like when I compared Dr Muscat with the plague of 1813, while someone else said that World War II was more likely. Actually, both these calamities were thrust upon us from abroad, while the Unholy Trinity of Castille is a meticulously planned assault on Malta by fellow Maltese, which makes it much worse.

In the last few years, we have come face to face with one huge institutionalised scandal after another, denounced not by an Opposition that stands to make political gain, but by the whimpering of government ministers and representatives, and screamed out loud by honest Labourites and true Socialists, who still have at heart the well-being of their party, and found themselves compelled to launch a desperate SOS to their companions, to save what’s left of the Malta Labour Party and Malta from total ruin.