Slogans and hard facts

One of the famous quotes of the great British statesman Sir Winston Churchill, when in opposition, was “When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticise or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.”

Our leaders of the opposition, Simon Busuttil and Marlene Farrugia, and their deputies should, albeit at a very late stage, seriously take heed of this advice from their illustrious Conservative counterpart and refrain from their constant antagonism, aggressiveness, ridicule and bickering, abroad and at home, about our country.

The Nationalist Party itself has rendered meaningless and hollow its electoral battle cry “Jien Naghzel Malta”, and through its chaotic and dangerous coalition “Forza Nazzjonali”, has once again shown that it has not sensed the mood of our people, who detest such bogan arrogance. Another confirmation that the Nationalist Party is so out of touch with the people, who always feel a sense of national pride and love towards our country and its leaders.

The present Nationalist Party leaders, unlike most of their predecessors, have lost this patriotic feeling towards Malta and all that makes us Maltese, and are always dead set to politicise and destroy every initiative taken by our government. Their blindfolded negativeness has once again reared its head on the recent positive news which our Prime Minister announced on Air Malta.

Dr Muscat, while refraining from mentioning  names, singled out one of the foreign consortia, which is led by a large equity firm, which is ready with a letter of commitment from potential strategic partners to invest in our ailing company. Our Prime Minister added that “our country should retain its majority say in this strategic asset”, while not excluding Maltese shareholding in Air Malta. The idea of employee shareholding should, in my opinion, also be put on the table for discussion. 

This is the required turnaround for our national airline, which symbolises the national pride and identity of our people. Air Malta was profitable only until 1992, thanks to stark mistakes such as the AzzurAir deal and the purchase of RJ-70 aircraft and maladministration under Nationalist governments, and other factors such as the sharp increases in oil prices and cutthroat competition with the advent of low cost carriers. 

Air Malta badly needs this strategic direction and is restructuring to get its house in order to ensure its future sustainability and maintain, if not also increase, its air connectivity, so essential for our exporting and touristic industries. However, the predictable, unpatriotic Simon Busuttil, on hearing this positive news, immediately sounded his divisive alarm bells, rather than welcoming and offering a consensual helping hand to our Prime Minister, not least for the sake of our 44 year old Labour airline milestone and its over 1,000 dedicated employees and their families. 

But for Simon Busuttil this is what “Jien Naghzel Malta” actually means.

Robert Abela is a Labour candidate on the sixth district