Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1453707
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 FEBRUARY 2022 8 INTERVIEW Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt 'I am a voice for people who are afraid' At your campaign launch, you argued that this election was not just about choosing a government: but also, choosing a 'strong, vociferous opposi- tion'. Yet you are effectively a single in- dependent candidate, vying for a single seat. How would your own election to Parliament 'strengthen the opposition'? It's very simple, really. If you look at what is happening in the country right now: for example, that [developer] Jo- seph Portelli comes out in an interview, candidly saying that 'he gives money to both parties'; because he needs the help of both, so whoever is elected, he ends up getting whatever he wants… Did you see anybody speak up, from the Nationalist or Labour Party? It was the same with the 'DB' issue [the controver- sial re-development of ITS in Pembroke]. First there was a lot of hullaballoo… then we found out that [Opposition MP] Mario de Marco was the lawyer negotiat- ing that contract… So basically, there are certain things on which the Nationalist Opposition is permanently tongue-tied. Hunting is an- other example. We now have Opposition leader Bernard Grech telling us that 'il- kaċċa hija mħabba tan-natura' ['hunting is a love of nature']. What does that tell us, about the Nationalist Opposition's stand on hunting: if not that it is exactly the same as the Labour government's? Then, we have the sale of passports. What is Bernard Grech saying about that? That a Nationalist government would remove [the 'Golden Passport' scheme]? No! They will just leave it there. They might tweak it a little… but they still want to continue selling Mal- tese citizenship. Now: I want to be a voice – hopefully, with other honest, third-party candidates – trying to break this mould: where, for 56 years, we've only ever had two voices in Parliament; and where the 'winner- takes-all' mentality, is the only thing that prevails. That is what I want to change. Instead of 'winner-takes-all', what I want to see is 'give-and-take': a compro- mise mentality, where we discuss things; where we don't just bulldoze over peo- ple… and where we have at least one vo- ciferous part of the Opposition, that is actually speaking out. So what I'm telling people is that: whether we like it or not, the Nationalist Party is going to be in Opposition [after the next election]: and it will be a much weaker Opposition than it is today. Today, [former PN leader] Adrian De- lia has 'zero votes' – in the sense that he did not win his Parliamentary seat in an election – and yet, just look at the power he wields within the PN… and the fric- tions that exist in that party, between his people, and the other faction. So despite having zero votes, 'Team Delia' is very strong within the Opposi- tion: resulting in all these divisions, and in-fighting. Just imagine, then, what the situation will be like, after Adrian Delia gets elected on two districts, with 6,000 votes. We will end up with an Oppo- sition that is much more divided, and much weaker, than it already is; and this will only give more strength to Robert Abela, to keep simply bulldozing over a divided Opposition. What I'm asking, then, is: do people want this situation to continue? Or do people want an Opposition that – apart from the PN, which we know will be there anyway – also includes one, two, three, or more other voices… people who are not afraid to speak out against the likes of Portelli; who are not afraid to speak out against hunting; who are not afraid to say, 'No, we don't want passport sales!' Why should people be afraid to speak out against these things? I am a voice for the people who are afraid, in Malta… You certainly do 'speak out' – and fre- quently, too – but to what extent are these sentiments actually shared by the wider public? When you say 'you are a voice for those who are afraid'… do you feel you are genuinely representing the fears of a 'silent majority'? Let me put it this way: 90% of my social media posts, and the things that I reveal, are given to me by other people…. peo- ple who are afraid of speaking out them- selves. Yesterday, for instance, I post- ed about [Nationalist MP] Chris Said's brother, who has been dumping con- struction waste into a Nadur valley for two years. The video footage I uploaded – which shows the dumping taking place – was given to me by someone, in secret. Why should that person be so afraid to speak out? And just this morning, I posted some- thing else: in the square where [Gozo Minister] Clint Camilleri lives, there are 50 designated parking spaces. So what has Clint Camilleri just done? A reserved, yellow parking space, right outside his front door. Who gives out permits for re- served parking spaces? Transport Malta. Who is director of Transport Malta in Gozo? Clint Camilleri's wife… Now: do we need people in Parliament to speak out about these things? And if the Opposition that we have, can- not speak out because it is 'doing other stuff' itself – or because it is sponsored by the same contractors, and financially dependent on the same interests – then what choice do people have, but to come to someone like me? Having said all this: there are other rea- This is former AD chairman – now, independent candidate – ARNOLD CASSOLA's eighth attempt at contesting national elections. But can a self-styled 'old man' really resonate with a younger generation, that is growing ever-more sceptical of Malta's two-party divide?