Mixed reactions on UoM election debate

People take umbrage at being told not to be rowdy

Social media was alive with reactions from all over Malta on the much anticipated University of Malta political leaders’ debate. While politicians and public figures shared messages of praise for their respective leaders, others took to social media in order to criticise the University General Election Debate’s guidelines where it asked people to respond in a civilised way by advising that:

“No form of rowdy behaviour, such as booing, yelling, cheering or any other form of disturbance shall be tolerated”.

A satirical Facebook page called “The Democratic People’s Republic of Banana” commented that, “Ours must be the only university in the Western world to silence its students. All together now: shame on you!”

UoM public policy head of department George Vital Zammit praised a group of students from opposite ends of the political divide who posed together for a photo while displaying political banners of their respective parties.

Hotelier Winston Zahra remarked that, “Freedom of speech and expressing ones opinion in an open manner without fear of consequence is an unquestionable and fundamental part of a democratic society. Shutting down Facebook pages and muzzling our students at university are not the kind of signals that are akin to a stable democracy. This is not a society that I will be proud to form part of!”