Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/248536
17 Opinion maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 JANUARY 2014 Jonathan Shaw The return of the 36,000 P icture yourself today one year ago. The election campaign was in full swing. MaltaToday had just uncovered the Enemalta corruption scandal. Labour had already said how and when it would reduce electricity bills by 25%. The 36,000 kept an open mind. Seemingly endless press conferences and TV shows disrupted every hour of every day. Remember Bondi+ and TVHemm? Politics dominated every night out and every family meal. Fishmongers appeared out of nowhere to shout into aquariums. (Remember Franco Debono?) The 36,000 were patient. They kept listening with an open mind. To their dismay, the campaign began to deteriorate. Soon people were more interested in waving the yellow flags of Zaren tal-Ajkla and singing songs about il-blokka l-bajda than listening to the words of their leaders. The 36,000 wanted to listen but campus debates were drowned out by cult-like chants of Malta Taghna Lkoll. Though frustrated and alienated, the 36,000 valiantly kept an open mind until the very last day. The choice was tough. The young Joseph Muscat was cocky, verging on arrogant, but he was in control of his party and had mounted an impressively organised Whatever happened to the moderate, pro-EU, wellconnected Joseph Muscat? Has he become so complacent that he can't even bother to properly defend his own scheme? 'When polling booths open again in May, what will the verdict of the 36,000 be and who will they choose to represent them in Europe?' campaign. He was also extremely careful with his words, making sweet-sounding promises to very different target groups, building a rainbow of support around him from people of all walks of life. Lawrence Gonzi was a good man with a great fighting spirit. But his eyes betrayed his exhaustion. Swinging from one crisis to another – Libya, recession, backbenchers, honoraria – even his strongest critics found it difficult not to empathise with him. In the end, though, he represented 25 years of Nationalist legislatures. And the 36,000 voted for change, for the promise of something better, as was their sacrosanct right. A lot has changed in one year. Just ask leader of the European Socialists group Hannes Swoboda: last year endorsing Joseph Muscat at a mass meeting, this year voting wholeheartedly against his cash-for-citizenship scheme at the European Parliament. Malta has changed too. History's most fraught one-seat parliamentary majority has now been replaced by a seemingly invincible nine-seat majority. A small Cabinet was replaced by one double its size and Anglu Farrugia went from being politically assassinated to being appointed Speaker. Sadly, a lot has stayed the same. Buses still catch fire. The Malta Environment and Planning Authority still gives the green light to atrocious buildings. All too often, nationwide power cuts grind the country to a halt. Patients are still lined up in hospital corridors. And our Cabinet is still one of the least feminist in the world. Meanwhile, some things got worse: illegal hunting, hostility The 36,000 do not like it when Malta is projected to the world as a cashstrapped island ready to breach international law towards migrants and the EU, Malta's international reputation. So what do the 36,000 make of all of this? Do they regret changing government? Do they crave the Nationalists to be back in power? Probably not. But they are feeling increasingly cheated by Joseph Muscat. They do not like it when Malta is projected to the world as a cashstrapped island ready to breach international law. They do not like it when meritocracy starts to look and sound more like mediocrity, or when wrongdoing is disregarded because it also happened under a previous administration. They especially don't like it when a barely 10-month old government displays the same signs of arrogance they voted against in the first place. The citizenship scheme is a perfect example. Poorly conceived, badly communicated and terribly contentious... it looks nothing like Labour before the election, when every idea was carefully crafted, well explained and usually popular. Labour's energy is also waning. Could you imagine pre-election Labour displaying such disregard to a vote in the European Parliament and steam-rolling over its critics? Whatever happened to the moderate, pro-EU, well-connected Joseph Muscat? Has he become so complacent that he can't even bother to properly defend his own scheme? Could you imagine electionmode Joseph Muscat allowing a vote to take place like the one we saw this month? Wouldn't he have dedicated all his energy to convincing the MEPs before it came to vote? Wouldn't the whole scheme have been better communicated in the first place? These are some of the questions the 36,000 are asking themselves today as they question whether Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is really the person they voted into power. Many have yet to be won back by the Nationalist Party but are now having serious second thoughts about Labour. Others are increasingly losing faith in the entire political class after having pinned so much hope onto and already disappointing Joseph Muscat. It is true that change was inevitable at last year's election and the magnitude of the victory ensured there was no room for interpretation. But the wellintentioned 36,000 who believed in change and voted for it are slowly realising they have been shortchanged. Never the type to kick up a fuss or take rash decisions, the 36,000 will keep listening intently until they are asked to vote again. The question is: When polling booths open again in May, what will their verdict be and who will they choose to represent them in Europe? Jonathan Shaw is a PN Candidate for the European Parliamentary elections. www.jonshaw.com