Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1068299
25 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 JANUARY 2019 OPINION the next few weeks at least? Possibly months, maybe even years… heck, it even has the makings of a story that may change the entire course of Maltese political history as we know it. Major political parties don't just spontaneously com- bust like this every day, you know. Something tells me the tremors of this ongoing earthquake will continue to be felt for decades to come… in the same way as the demise of the Constitutional Party reshaped Maltese politics in the post-war years leading to Independence. There is, in fact, much more than a fair chance that Malta's political landscape will look very different in just a few years' time; and that what we are witnessing today is but the beginning of the major cataclysm. But let's not race too far ahead. Going only on the situation as it stands today: I don't think any local political party leader has ever faced quite the same sort of 'fric- tion' or 'pressure' Adrian Delia is now under. And I say this merely as a statement of fact, by the way; and not necessarily to 'defend' Delia himself (Note: it is indicative that I even feel the need to point this out. In war situa- tions, 'not to attack' is often indistinguishable from 'to defend'). For all I know, the Opposition leader might re- ally be the wife- and child- beating monster into which he 'seems to have' suddenly metamorphosed. Maybe he really is running around with his pockets stuffed with ill- gotten booty from the PN's coffers, as some party bigwig has (apparently) claimed. What I do know, however, is that both those claims have yet to be proven. The first is a statement made in court during what is clearly an acrimonious marital break-up (erm… did I mention 'under- statements' earlier?); and no offence to anyone concerned, but claims uttered in such situations always need to be handled with the utmost cau- tion, for reasons that are too obvious to even spell out. The second 'appears to be' an entirely gratuitous and un- substantiated remark made by an anonymous 'party insider', who – merely by virtue of be- ing also embroiled in a tumul- tuous civil war - obviously has an anti-Delia axe to grind. All the same: as with all oth- er unproven allegations, I will leave them both in the hands of ongoing judicial processes (which now also include a libel case against Lovin Malta by Adrian Delia). What I find truly unprecedented in all this, however, is the sheer extent to which attempts are now being made to utterly demolish what is left of the man himself. Oh, don't get me wrong: Maltese politics has never exactly been timid or bash- ful when it comes to political confrontation, and even all- out character assassination. Yet the only analogous past situation I could think up off- hand (if you don't include the Borg Olivier saga, which was before my time) was the cam- paign against Alfred Sant… which had also extended to private, family-related affairs: for instance, by quoting from his separation proceedings, 20 years earlier, in newspaper headlines. Back then, this sortie into previously uncharted political waters was considered 'unac- ceptable' enough for The Malta Independent's board of directors to immediately sack editor Ray Bugeja. I worked for that newspaper at the time (around '98), and I had mixed feelings about Bugeja's abrupt dismissal. But looked back on today, and compared to what is now being published and circulated about Delia… to be honest, it makes me laugh. This time round, it is not just 'court documents' that are being rifled through in search of juicy tidbits to spice up a smear campaign. This time round, Delia has very clearly been the victim of a cyber-attack. His mo- bile phone has been hacked – which is not only disturb- ing in itself, but also illegal - and his private WhatsApp conversations are doing the rounds on the social media as we speak (which yet again reminds me: 'Get WhatsApp', they said… 'it's safe and se- cure', they said…) It is in this sense that I have quite frankly never seen anything like it, in some 20 years of following the lo- cal political scene. I have seen party leaders discred- ited before, certainly… with everything thrown at them but the kitchen sink. But this is different. This is like some bizarre, freakish Reality Show, in which a family is seen dis- integrating through its own eyes… its every argument and dispute filmed on its own members' i-phones and iPads, and distributed for the gratification of a mesmerized online audience. Will he call his daughter a 'bitch' again this time? Or just a 'kabocca', like the time before? And who will get voted out first? Oh, I just can't wait for the next episode of 'Un Altro Giorno in Casa Delia'… I mean, honestly. To think that, in just 60 years, we went from debating notions of Statehood and self-deter- mination to… this. It almost makes up for the fact that I won't actually be around to witness all the next 60 years, and beyond. (There is, after all, only such melodrama a man can take…) One other thing that makes this a truly unprecedented situation is that all the concerted media and cyber- attacks perpetrated upon Adrian Delia – and I imagine soon also upon his support- ers within the party, and vice versa – are being perpetrated by other Nationalists. Again, the closest histori- cal equivalent remains Sant, whose 96-98 government was brought to an end by one of its own backbenchers, Dom Mintoff. But it's hardly comparable on any other level. Mintoff was alone and isolated within Labour at the time; he didn't represent one of at least four 'anti-Sant' fac- tions, all trying to undermine their own leader at once. And I don't recall any delving into family affairs, either. That's a threshold of political warfare we 'seem to have' crossed a good deal more recently. But we've well and truly crossed it now, and – like the Rubicon – there can be no turning back. The future of Maltese politics now clearly lies in the direction of an increasingly invasive, border- line-criminal obsession with 'the private life of the Maltese politician'; and, what's more, the country's largest Opposi- tion Party has now inflicted onto itself the sort of inter- nal haemorrhage-inducing wounds that will simply never, ever heal. And to conclude on that cheerful, optimistic note: Happy New year, everyone. (May that turn out to be an understatement, too…) I mean, honestly. To think that, in just 60 years, we went from debating notions of Statehood and self- determination to… this. It almost makes up for the fact that I won't actually be around to witness all the next 60 years, and beyond. (There is, after all, only such melodrama a man can take…) Again, the closest historical equivalent remains Sant, whose 96-98 government was brought to an end by one of its own backbenchers, Dom Mintoff