A Bush moment for Gatt

Students across the world are known for their irreverence towards power. Probably in most countries it is only a vocal minority which actively contests power but nobody is surprised when students make life difficult for politicians. Perhaps it is because for a brief time in their life students can afford the luxury of speaking truth to power without fearing consequences. This is why ministers in most European countries tend to avoid close encounters on campus.

But this is not the case in Malta where ministers still afford courtesy visits on campus to inaugurate pet projects. But in small Malta students are generally less carefree. Those with a political mind tend to harbour big aspirations. They are already old by the time they make it to the student council. I clearly remember diehard Nationalists shying away from more radical forms of protests during stipend protests, because they admittedly wanted to become ministers some day in the future and therefore had to show respect to the institutions.

Those who are politically apathetic mostly consider university as a utilitarian career move and have no interest whatever in what happens around them unless they are directly affected.

The general apathy among students could well be a reflection of the fact that students in Malta are less vulnerable to the vagaries of the economy. This could be the consequences of two factors: the government’s success in keeping unemployment down and its realisation that university students are an integral part of its hegemonic block.

To some extent students are sheltered by the stipend system even if most of them can also rely on family support. This is because despite the stipend system, most students still hail from the traditional middle classes. The conservatism of this class also fits with the Dubai-inspired vision of the present university rector who constantly harps on the importance of IT while clamping down on subversive literature.

The emergence of a new middle class composed of students hailing from working class families could slowly change things. So far these students are few and far between and perhaps too grateful to the system through which they made it. My hunch is that relaxing entry requirements for university and making courses more flexible for those who work could have a greater impact on the university class structure than stipends. When this happens university politics will definitely take a turn towards the left.

Moreover graduate unemployment has been largely kept at bay even if precarious employment is slowly rising its head.

The so-called 'Arriva Girl' incident represents a symbolic albeit isolated rapture of a student who speaks her mind without fearing the consequences, at least for the short time span between her outburst and her apology.

Surely in typical tal-Qroqq tradition she spoke on an issue on which she was personally aggrieved. There were no signs of spontaneous anger when the university authorities censored a piece of literature, an act which would have set universities ablaze in other European countries. She spoke more like an enraged individual than someone interested in changing the world. It was not a case of collective action.

Still, having used busses for 30 years I understand the frustration one feels inside when you when waiting in vain for a bus. She found the courage to speak her little piece of personal truth to power.

The Austin factor

But what made the incident even more symbolic and theatrical was the target of the verbal assault-the mighty Austin Gatt. It was Malta’s mini equivalent to the Iraqi shoe-thrower incident, which saw George Bush - the man who rid the world of Saddam Hussien but made a mess in the process - acrobatically ducking the attack.

On her part Ms Garrett confronted Austin Gatt, a minister who unashamedly personifies ministerial arrogance. What was also striking was Gatt’s silence and lack of response. He did not lose his cool. Nor did he reply with his brazen sense of humour. He did not grab an opportunity to sit and listen to a frustrated citizen. He remained aloof of the problems caused by a complex reform for which he is politically responsible. He only reacted by issuing a press release a day later.

Where I disagree with the girl is calling Gatt a “wanker”- not because it is a mildly offensive term (to the extent that it was used in the Simpsons cartoons) but because I find it more fitting for many of Gatt’s colleagues who talk a lot but fear treading on dangerous ground. Gatt is not the typical teflon politician. I have to admit that given the choice of saving one Nationalist minister from the whole lot, I would be tempted to choose him were it not for his archaic views on divorce, the serious questions raised by the Delimara tender and the blurred boundaries between the state and private sector interests in his own ministry… three things which disqualify him from my choice.

Surely Gatt takes bold decisions like getting rid of the bus drivers’ monopoly or linking utility bills to energy prices, two decisions with which I agree in principle. In the face of criticism he never looks back. But he imposes his decisions in a top-down steamroller manner without caring about the collateral damage he causes. He could well have represented the reformist, albeit neo-liberal element in this administration. Instead he has gained a reputation as the government’s Genghis Khan. No-wonder he gained the praise of a US embassy led by Republican appointees as recently revealed in Wikileaks cables.

The Arriva factor

The theatrical impact was even more amplified because of the Arriva link, a subject which tends to arouse emotions even among those who have never used a bus.

As I have previously written, as a regular bus user for the past 30 years, unlike Ms Garrett I find the new service an improvement over the old system. My contention is that reform was impossible until bus drivers remained owners, something which gave them the collective strength to hold the country at ransom without being even bound by a time bound contractual obligation. I consider myself lucky as the routes I usually take (namely 21, 22, 23 and 32) are quite efficient at least in the morning. I have always have arrived to work on time. For the first time I also feel comfortable using public transport for family outings.

But a large number of people still take more time to arrive from point A to point B than before and many blame this on long-winded routes, which were his own Ministry’s own creation.

My hunch is that some routes were crammed in order to reduce costs for the new company and thus keep subsidy at a low €4.8 million. With the cost kept down at a cheap €6.50 for a week ticket despite perks like air-conditioning something had to give. Moreover with expectations so high, Arriva’s failings are bound to create even more frustration among users who feel cheated by promises of a state of the art system.

The Gatt prophecy

Gatt’s habit of taking on the right challenge while saying or doing all the wrong things, was also evident when he expressed his conviction that the PN will win elections for the next 20 years. In so doing he is the only PN politician to address the “change” issue head on. But he did so by reminding voters that by electing the PN again they risk having the same party in government for three decades. Gatt has already declared that he won’t contest the next election. Perhaps the Arriva girl has given Austin Gatt his George Bush moment, which salutes his announced political exit. Still I have a hunch that Gatt is too much a political animal to ever call it a day.