Electoral Races - Alfred Sant

We all agree that the best way by which Malta should be run is in democratic mode. It is not generally accepted though that in a small community like ours, where we all practically know each other, democracy directly shapes personal behaviour.

For the better? In a way that is for sure, since at the end, it guarantees that authoritarianism will not end up always on top. At some time or other, when enough people get fed up with it, they can send authoritarians packing.

On the other hand though, when the popularity of this or that politician needs to be kept going, the most “natural” procedure by which to solve the problem goes by way of acceding to the demands of voters whose support is at stake. Quite soon, this develops into a fully fledged system by which to dispense goodies.

As of now, there has been no one to propose how such a system can be put into reverse. All those who argue that what needs to be done is for politicians to renounce any recourse to clientelism, have not yet indicated how, after doing so, they would remain electorally viable. For by and large, in our democracy, those who have worked on such lines were not re-elected.

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Foreigners in Malta

In recent times, there were many to complain about the number of foreigners who came to live and work in Malta. As at the end of 2019, at least some 28 percent of full-time workers in Malta were foreign. That makes for quite a substantial number.

But it was not the first time this happened. Few are aware of the fact that when its first foundations and buildings were being laid, Valletta as a new city could be built so fast because many construction workers were imported from Sicily. During the almost two centuries and a half that they stayed in Malta, the

Knights of St John themselves maintained soldiers, retainers and slaves as well as other dependents who in all amounted to a substantial foreign contingent.

Then, the British government, having decided to run Malta as a fortress, stationed here lots of soldiers, some with their families. Tourism later became one of the economic pillars of the island’s economic development, and brought to the country hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors, though admittedly they would only stay for a short while.

What makes the contemporary swell of foreign arrivals different from the previous ones is that they came to take up productive employment – which was not really the case for soliders and tourists.

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Money Laundering

Our financial institutions are at last giving ever increasing attention to the demands set by the ongoing efforts against money laundering. Over the years, these efforts were being stepped up in Europe and the US even if from here, we seem not to have noticed so much that this was happening. The issue can hardly be sidelined any more.

So, complicated regulations that elsewhere were introduced year in year out ... and meanwhile getting progressively more complex... have now had to be introduced quite suddenly. In their abruptness, they are being felt as very tough since they clamp down on how many were accustomed to do business.

However there is no other alternative except that of unfailingly implementing antimoney laundering (AML) regulations. It is a good thing that the Council of Europe’s Moneyval system has accepted that Malta is now implementing such regulations and has given due recognition to how this is being done.

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Resistance to change

All change brings resistance in its wake... and it comes from those whose interests are going to be badly hit by it... as well as from others who do not understand what it entails or how it could afford them a better deal. This with reference to change that is meant as reform which stops short of revolution. For the latter – by seeking to completely overturn the current state of affairs, including by violence should this be necessary in order to ensure that it will succeed against all forms of resistance – gives rise to different issues.

In “democratic” change, resistance should not be simply ignored. It must be met with an open and transparent response, even while recognizing that in responding further to it opponents will not necessarily follow suit. And that it could also mobilise increased resistance.

Up to now in this country, efforts to resist change have been more successful than efforts to introduce it, even if eventually the change ended up becoming a “natural” feature of life in our society.

Perhaps the clearest instance of this were provided by the changes in the public health system launched by the Labour government in the mid-1970’s. They provoked the strongest resistance ever here against a reform programme, with huge personal and social costs. Today those reforms are considered a normal feature of life as it is lived now...

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Occult Manouvres

I’m still surprised... but perhaps I should not be... with how up to now, in this country and even for matters which today are linked to “Europe” where they’re supposedly being settled, decisions taken still do not respect criteria of meritocracy and transparency.

Instead, they are concluded through occult manoeuvres and arrangements which all seem linked to deeply rooted alliances. So, people who end up getting rewarded only do so because there has been some protector to give them a leg-up, even when they deserve what they get on their own merits.

I have seen this happen under governments of all stripe, despite the pious declarations they will have made. What’s worse is that all seem to accept this as a state of affairs that makes sense in the world we live in...

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Conflicts of Interest

We seem only to notice conflicts of interest when they could affect negatively the message we seek to convey. For the rest, we ignore them, even when they could affect the way by which an inquiry or a judicial process are being conducted.

For instance, no one apparently has found it strange that leading lawyers participating in the legal processes related to the Caruana Galizia murder case also happen to be leading spokespersons of the Nationalist Opposition. The issue of where the political interest commences and where end the professional interest in the criminal aspects seems not to be considered important.

A similar treatment extends to other areas which have a bearing on administrative and political decisions. Typical of this is the case set by the Commissioner for Public Standards. I cannot imagine how the appointee can expect to be carrying out his functions transparently when for reasons that reflect a conflict of interest, he has evidently failed to run his own new office in a way that really demonstrates how it is all being managed correctly. Caesar’s wife, so it is said..