An unsavoury spectacle
Those of us who follow Parliament have witnessed many an altercation over the years – heated exchanges between opposing political groups are part and parcel of parliamentary debates.
But there is a limit to how badly politicians can behave. Parliamentarians, after all, should set a good example.
Monday evening, the environmental committee debate on the Bulebel industrial estate expansion saw sparks fly between firebrand PD MP Marlene Farrugia and Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri, whom she called a ġbejna.
Camilleri took great offence at the remark and a heated argument ensued. Committee chairman Alex Muscat called for calm and warned Farrugia that he would refer the matter to the Speaker if she did not retract her comments. But Farrugia refused to take her words back and the Speaker was asked to investigate and later deemed Farrugia’s remarks offensive, asking her to withdraw her comment. She didn’t.
In Facebook posts prior to the ruling, Farrugia kept up the name calling, even referring to Camilleri as a “castrated agriculture promoter”
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for whom “ġbejna mgħoxxa” would have been a more fitting description.
Godfrey Farrugia also joined the fray by saying, in a Facebook comment, that a parliamentary secretary responsible for agriculture who was failing to defend the destruction of arable land at Bulebel deserved the cheeselet title.
Marlene Farrugia is no quiet talker. She will say what she means and feels, in no uncertain terms until her voice is heard. Her frankness is perhaps why many people like her, but her coarseness is why others do not.
We feel that politicians, while being forceful in their arguments, should never resort to name calling of any sort.
On the other hand we are also amazed by Camilleri’s reaction. The parliamentary secretary was quick to claim that Marlene Farrugia had called him a ġbejna because he was Gozitan and was, by extension, insulting all those hailing from the sister island. In a tweet later on in the evening, he actually slammed the MP for “using terms having racial connotations.”
Apart from the fact that Gozitan is not a race, ġbejniet are not limited to the isle of Calypso.
The term ġbejna is normally used to describe someone who is overly calm or incompetent.
While people may argue that Clint Camilleri is not fit for purpose – that maybe as a hunter he should not have been made parliamentary secretary responsible for hunting, or that he should be speaking up about the situation at Bulebel, Żonqor and a dozen other areas – one should never resort to name calling.
One must also point out that there is some bad history between Camilleri and Farrugia. A few weeks back, Camilleri referred to the PD MP as “the one who plays the clarinet,” in an obvious reference to Farrugia’s merry participation in village feasts. That remark, too, was regarded as being in bad taste and an attempt to belittle or ridicule a fellow MP.
In conclusion, we expect all our parliamentarians, whether blue, red or orange, to respect one another and use language that is befitting of members of the country’s highest institution.
The same, naturally, goes for people in the media and the general public, especially those who frequently use the social media as a platform to insult people they do not agree with.