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18 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 JANUARY 2019 7 January 2009 Sant, defiant, hits out at Labour's defeat report FORMER Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday lashed out at the commission appointed by the party executive to analyse the March 8 election defeat, arguing that its members, though well- intentioned, lacked the necessary political expe- rience to do their job properly. Writing in the General Workers' Union news- paper l-orizzont yesterday, Sant claimed that the resulting report missed the wood for the trees: placing great emphasis on "trivialities", while overlooking the really important issues that contributed to the PL's surprise defeat. For the former Opposition leader, these in- clude: the illegal mass-registration of voters; the squandering of public funds; the ad hoc dishing out of jobs and political favours immediately before the election; as well as the cavalier way in which the Prime Minister (and not "some fero- cious political henchman") made rash promises he knew he couldn't keep. Significantly, Sant also repeated allegations, first made by PL deputy leader Anglu Farrugia, that votes had been "bought" in the run-up to the election. Sant also lashed out at the Sunday Times, saying there was no need to heed those who always wanted to weaken the left and the PL. "The Sunday Times and those of the same ilk could not serve as a font of useful advice." "Unfortunately, nor can we follow the analy- sis and advice found in the report on last year's electoral defeat commissioned by the Labour National Executive," Sant wrote, saying the re- port had too many errors of fact and judgement. He added that those who compiled it had "lit- tle clear knowledge of the personal and organisa- tional environment of a political party." Dr Sant said he had purposely steered clear of the subject until now to enable the new party leadership to settle in, and so that his well-inten- tioned reflections would not be misinterpreted. This is the second time a high profile member of the PL's previous administration has hit out at the commission's report into Labour's electoral defeat. Immediately after its presentation to the PL last May, then deputy leader Michael Falzon – who was singled out for criticism over his role as head of the party's electoral office – accused the commission of attempting to sabotage his own leadership bid. But individual members of the commission shrugged off such criticism, arguing that negative reactions were inevitable. "In politics, whatever you do you will find people who agree or disagree," Prof. Godfrey Pirotta told MaltaToday. "But before publishing the report, we (the commission) had agreed that we would not discuss its contents afterwards. I have nothing to add to that decision." Another member of the commission, Prof. Carmen Sammut, echoed the same sentiment. "We had been approached by the party execu- tive, presumably because they had faith in our capabilities," she said, pointing out that everyone was welcome to react to the commission's find- ings as they saw fit. MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week Year of the long knives Editorial ''V18 will only be remembered for the parties.'' Theatre Director Adrian Buckle gives his terse summing-up of Valletta 2018 THE revelations on Adrian Delia's personal life have now metastasised into a circus, the like of which unfortunately always finds itself taking place in media and the social media world of public chatter and gossip. As always in such delicate matters, it is difficult to ascertain how much of the al- legations hounding the Opposition leader is rooted in truth, and how much is motivated by the turmoil currently raging within the PN (or, for that matter, by grievances of an alto- gether more intimate, personal kind). Nonetheless, it does not bode well that personalized attacks on politicians have been 'normalised' to such a degree. It reflects on the aura of profound political disquietude that has descended on Malta since last year's murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Political antagonism – in itself a vital com- ponent of any functioning democracy – has now become an end in itself. Political dis- cussion, especially on the social media, has become increasingly hostile and vitriolic, to the point that we seem to be more concerned with airing our own political pet hates and dislikes, than with actually debating matters of principle and substance. From this vantage point, it is a small step to justify any intrusion into privacy, to any degree, especially if the target is a public fig- ure. Any excuse to damage a political adver- sary has come to be viewed as automatically legitimate… even if (as domestic violence accusations so often tend to do) it may also expose innocent third parties to risk. Maltese politics are now a war of utter annihilation: and rarely has the saying 'all is fair in love and war' been more appropriate. This has been the case for some time; but the latest controversies surrounding Delia's marital life entail grave possible consequenc- es for the country. For Delia in particular, the problems are manifold. The public is now looking in from the outside, passing judgment over allega- tions that lack the necessary context for judgement to be passed over. Delia's own parliamentary group is fragmented, and MPs disloyal to Delia are hoping that the acceler- ated public scandal, over the man who wants to take the Nationalists into power, will dead-leg him enough to be forced to resign. Thirdly, Delia's aspiration to become prime minister is now publicly dented by the pub- lic's entirely justified perception that Delia lacks the necessary support of both his own family, and a substantial part of his parlia- mentary group. In political terms, Delia could already be a write-off. It goes without saying that allegations of domestic violence are not to be taken lightly. But far from indulging into the usual bout of victim-blaming, people may legitimately question whether Nickie Vella de Fremeaux's allegations were intended to kill any chance of her husband having supervised access to his children during the Christmas holidays: by mounting a counter-response to Delia's urgent request to the courts on Christmas eve, and then – on the very same day of that request – have that egregious excerpt of the counter-response leaked to various sections of the press. Even the recordings of Delia's intimate family life – arguments that are not alien to any ordinary family – seem to be so far merely intended to mire the PN leader's de- nouement into further scandal: as if mundane squabbles between parents and children are not par for the course in family life. Without minimizing the seriousness of the accusations, it can be seen that we dealing with a very sui generis case. Delia is clearly facing many adversaries on various fronts, which – for the country's democratic life – means that the Opposition leader is not only occupied with matters of the public, but also of a private life in which he is harangued and which leaves him facing important questions of social and financial importance. Can a man who aspires to be prime min- ister face such a Sisyphean challenge? Can Delia – or anyone else – genuinely cope with both the pressures of government, and the pressures of his own family strife? Given that we are also talking about a potential prime minister in waiting, these are by no means irrelevant questions. Another point worth raising is the fear of Delia's internal opponents, who remain inimical to a democratically-elected leader because he was not their own choice. This is part of the legacy of Simon Busuttil's democ- ratisation of the leadership election; and yet Delia's election so far has been treated with irreverent disdain by those who did not sup- port his popular appeal. To date, there has been a faction within the PN that just can't stomach the fact that Delia won last year's leadership election. How far is this feeling ingrained inside the PN's forma mentis, and should we fear it manifesting itself outside of the party? As the MEP elections approach, Adrian Delia will be focused on minimising the loss- es his party is expected to make. The public has probably already made its mind up. Un- less Delia manages to overcome his personal troubles and salvage his political career, the long knives will have been long sharpened by June 2019.