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[WATCH] Choice of next president must inspire national unity – Simon Busuttil
Opposition leader’s New Year’s message: ‘common good means that not everything, citizenship included, is up for sale’
31 December 2013, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
Simon Busuttil
2014 will be a year for Malta to reflect on its constitutional achievements, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said in his New Year's message, as Malta enters its fiftieth year of independence, as well as 40 years as a Republic and 35 years since the last British forces left the country.
Busuttil said these were events which offered the Maltese an opportunity to reflect on their history and heritage, and the achievements of the country as an EU member state.
2014 will also see the appointment of a new President of the Republic, a decision which Busuttil hinted should not be reserved for a member of the Labour old guard kicked upstairs, as has been common political practice. "It should inspire unity, as did the choice of George Abela," Busuttil said, referring to the former Labour deputy leader appointed by Lawrence Gonzi in 2009.
"Unity should not be given just lip-service, but must be lived. It has to be built on strong values and principles," Busuttil said.
Busuttil said the country will need a strong drive towards job creation in the aftermath of the financial crisis of the past five years, new values to protect the most vulnerable in society, amongst them the elderly, and values that cherish community and not individual wealth.
"The common good means that not everything is up for sale," Busuttil, who opposed the IIP and the sale of citizenship, said. "There are things, like citizenship, that are priceless. Our identity and equality cannot be sold or bought."
Busuttil said the PN would be an Opposition that will call for national and bipartisan consensus on positive developments, such as healthcare, but will flag controversial matters such as in the case of the sale of citizenship.
"We want consensus on constitutional reform and we wanted to reach consensus on the sale of citizenship," Busuttil said.
"We are building a strong and credible Opposition, that can criticise and come out with its own ideas, such as the proposal for a parliamentary committee on standards and ethics for MPs and public officials, and the Constitutional amendment to remove all discrimination based on sexual orientation."
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
Rita Pizzuto •
Does consensus only mean appointing a nationalist as President of Malta? Does unity only come by appointing a PN accolade? Does this mean on Simon's part that anybody other than a Nationalist can bring national unity? Does it also mean that if he is not happy with the new President to be appointed, he will oppose, as he has been doing every decision taken by the new Government? From what he is saying, there won't be national unity if the government does not do what they say. Honestly, why is the government has such a large majority in Parliament? That is because the people want the government to abide by its election promises and we should respect the decisions taken on the people's behalf by the Government that we voted for.
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Il-consensus mhux fil-hatra ta' President biss trid issir. Ga qal li se jopponi bil-qawwa kollha l-iskema tac-cittadinanza. Nispera ma jridx ifisser dak li qed nissusspetta u cjoe` li l-PN lest biex ifixkel ghax allura inutli li wiehed jaghmel dan it-tijp ta' diskors biex imbaghad nergaw naqaw koppi.Fid-dinja biex tilhaq consensus trid tircievi u tghati, win-win situation jghidulha. U dan li jrid jifhem Simon Busuttil. Jigifieri ma jistax jottjeni dejjem dak li jrid hu biss.
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If Dr Busutill is against the sale of citizenship then how is he claiming he wanted to reach consensus on the sale of citizenship,; do you want it or don`t you , make up your mind!
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U dan il-pespus x'jindahal?! Ma jiftakarx lil Fenech Adami (self-appointed), Demarco, Ugo u, Censu kemm kienu ispiraw ghaqda fost il-Maltin?! Li kien ghalija naghmel lil John Dalli bhala President sempliciment biex narahom jinharqu.
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Kemm jahsibna fidili dan Simon. Meta kellhom 3 siggijiet maggoranza kienu qalu nibqghu ghaddejjin minn fuq kulhadd. Bla maggoranza fil-parlament is-sena l-ohra baqghu jirrumblaw l-istess minn fuq kulhadd. U issa li l-Partit Laburista ghandu 9 siggijiet maggoranza wara t-tkaxkira li qala` Simon u l-Partit tieghu irid il Consensus.
Il-President meta jigu ndaqs ikun hemm Laburisti daqs Nazzjonalisti nghazlu wiehed minn taghhom umbghad jekk ikun hemm bzonn. Ghamlu erba wara xulxin Presidenti u kumbinazzjoni l-erba li ghamlu kienu ivvutaw kontra Borg Olivier u favur ir-Repubblika.
Fil verita` Simon irid wiehed minn taghhom ghax jaf jekk isir hekk ikun hawn hafna tgergir mill-Laburisti u forsi jista jtellef xi voti. Kemm hasibna cwiec dan Simon.
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Is Dr Busuttil dumb or trying to be offensive? He should know that the 31st of March is Freedom Day (jum il-Helsien), Maybe an honest mistake, on his part, which we have all become accustommed to. That Day is the climax of efforts which lasted hundreds of years to rid ourselves of foreign military domination, affecting the lives of all Maltese.
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"Choice of next president must inspire national unity – Simon Busuttil"
Precisely why we should have one from AD this time.
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Of course it is either your choice or none at all. That is the politics of the baseless Simon. With 9 seats less, I cannot understand why the PL is even bothering to take notice of him. The People have decided last March to do away for years to come with the corrupt and discriminatory PN and the PL should not try to woo them. It is just useless and only inspires the wrath of the PL supporters who, through their blood and toil, voted for the PL to get rid of the PN. NO, for goodness sake PN leaders have been proven to be corrupt time and time again and the Island cannot be inspired towards National Unity under a PN President - God forbid.
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This guy is really nice,he want consensus after his party sold all our Silver.The only thing they left for sale is the citizenship and now he is complaning.Why don't you get lost,or change the tune.
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"cry me a river"simon, and for havens sake, stop being negative, make it a new years resolution.
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I don't want a puppet as a President. I want the right to elect my own President together with other Maltese Citizens. I want a President that I can trust, a president who can fight for my rights, a president that put his foot down to defend the peoples rights. I don't want just a figure head.
we were promised that the will of the people shall be supreme, transparency and justice shall prevail.
Priscilla Darmenia •
And for Simon, national unity means that the next president MUST be from the PN camp, otherwise he or she will not be suitable
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Nothing personal against Dr Busuttil but his voice in this recording is highly monotonous, and that scene behind him seems too over-engineered and unnatural to be resonate with the average household. Additionally, his suit jacket looks like its at least two sizes shorter than the wearer. This whole production makes Dr Busuttil look like a ventriloquist's dummy, both presentationally and metaphorically - more of a party spokesman than a party leader.
Igor P. Shuvalov •
Hope that Simon Busuttil's philosophy of consensus is different from that of fellow ex-conservative Prime Ministers Margret Tatcher who defined consensus as:
“The process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values, and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead." "There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean it."
and John Mayor who regarded "A consensus politician as someone who does something that he doesn't believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it."
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"Choice of next president must inspire national unity – Simon Busuttil" - surely not yourself then...
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Iva OK tibkiex izjed issa npoggu lil David Casa jew lil Giovanna jew lil Katie. Gonzi le ghax dak imliena bid dejn.
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PN has 4 PN presidents, Labour only 3. The next President should also be PL; then the President should be chosen form whoever is in opposition. AS for the National Day we should have only one day-incorporating all the national days together and possibly the day should be New Years day so that no Maltese will take offence!
