More respect for parliament

When Malta opted for five national feasts, the government of the day decided to give each one of them a specific angle. Since the Sette Giugno riots had led – directly and indirectly – to Malta’s first elected representative Parliament, it made sense for the official anniversary celebrations to be linked with the history of our Parliament.

It has now become traditional for the Speakers of the House of Representatives to deliver a speech during the wreath laying ceremony held on that day. I used to think – with some cheek in tongue – that after the first such speech was delivered so many moons ago, the successive speeches were essentially rehashed versions of the first.

This year, with a newly appointed Speaker making his first such address, Michael Frendo was pleasantly different. Basically, he appealed for more respect for Parliament and even referred to his disappointment that there are many who cannot understand the need of a building solely and wholly dedicated to Parliament.

I share my disappointment with him. Apart from the controversies on the exact siting of a Parliamentary building and its architectural style, there should be no reason why Malta should be the only country that has no Parliamentary building. Using some ‘lent’ space in the Presidential palace is not only infra dig but also constitutionally absurd.

Moreover at the Palace, MPs do not have the space for the facilities they need to carry out their duties properly. There should be no objectively sensible reason why any Maltese should be against our country having a Parliament building. This is tantamount to disrespect for Malta’s own democratic credentials.

One must, moreover, distinguish between respect for individual Members of Parliament and respect of the Institution itself. In all countries there are MPs who behave in a way that shows that they hardly deserve any respect. The recent expenses scandal in the UK crops up immediately to mind. Malta is no exception but in Malta there are some who readily transfer their contempt from some particular individual’s act to the institution itself. This is a big mistake.

And since Mr. Speaker has so fervently argued for the respect that our Parliament deserves, is it not time for him to stop the practice of allowing children and others to meet in Parliament and ‘debate’ issues. The other week we even had seven-year olds denigrating politicians in a meeting in the House itself! One could argue that these innocent children were only reflecting what their teachers had taught them. This makes it worse, of course. Respect for the institution implies that such shenanigans should not be allowed.