Change and principle come from the outside

The Prime Minister’s continued attempts to insist on a time limit on the public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia is shocking, but unfortunately not surprising.

It is also a terrible move on the part of the Labour Party, as it implies it is only willing to undergo cosmetic reform rather than meaningfully distance itself from the corruption of the Muscat administration.

The ongoing public inquiry has been an embarrassment for the corridors of power, but a necessary one for the sake of the wellbeing of our country and has been crucial for the course of justice. Are we truly leaving no stone unturned, or are we trying to place rocks on inconvenient truths? There can be few greater crimes than to attempt to silence the courts in the name of political expediency at this sensitive time in our country’s history. This episode offers us a chance to shine a lens on the fact that there is fundamental resistance to turning over a new leaf from our political elites, and therefore highlights why third party politics is more desperately needed than ever.

Though trumpeting the idea of a new direction and tough action being taken, contradictions still abound. On one hand, for example, we have rhetoric about placing wellbeing first in our economic direction, and about respecting the natural environment, and yet thanks to vested interests, the country continues to be ransacked wholesale.

How are we supposed to believe that the National Strategy for the Environment 2050 is more than hot air when Transport Malta is proposing a 136mlong pier at the Blue Lagoon? How can we believe that Gozo’s character and identity is being respected and will not become another Malta, when the government plans to go ahead with the Gozo Tunnel despite all the objections from Gozitan NGOs and associations, including the Association for Gozitan Employees in Malta?

How can good governance mean anything when the only areas considered for reform are a result of pressure from the Venice Commission, and our own experts such as Judge Emeritus Giovanni Bonello or Prof Kevin Aquilina continue to be ignored? Furthermore, these contradictions all make a mockery of the people of good-will in either major political party, who toe the party line and have to smile through the humiliations.

In Malta, reform is always, it would seem, a reaction to something, rather than a proactive approach that puts the interests of the general population first. We have seen how businessmen get exclusive access to power, and are allowed to work out favourable deals behind closed doors and have regulations and legislation adapted to their whims and backroom agreements.

So let us do away with rhetoric and get to the crux of the matter. In our country, meaningful reform has always been championed by third parties first and foremost. Only after much struggle and toil do the incumbent powers pick and choose elements of these ideas as window dressing, as a reaction to outside pressure, and then fail at the implementation stage. Our country will only be delivered from the fire when the people, who are in this out of passion and conviction, are granted authority to make the necessary changes, rather than hypocrites.

Even when third parties are not in power, meaningful resistance has the effect of shifting the Overton Window. The Overton Window is best defined as the area within which politicians feel they are free to act. By campaigning and applying pressure where change is most desperately needed, mainstream politicians eventually feel they must follow. This is why third parties have always been at the forefront of change which is eventually reluctantly accepted by the establishment. It is why the Nationalist Party is now calling for party financing reform and the abolishment of party owned media long after Partit Demokratiku and Alternattiva Demokratika called for it. It is also important to always keep in mind that one will always find the opportunists where the gravy train is stationed. Those with most conviction do not make compromises with dirty money and broken policies. That is why third party politics remains our country’s best bet for a clean break from the past.