Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/823773
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 MAY 2017 15 Interview Nationalist Party Deputy Leader BEPPE FENECH ADAMI argues that this election is an opportunity to 'do the right thing', and bring back fundamental principles to Maltese politics. question concerned the inac- tion of the police (regardless of whether allegations are true or not). Did the police not proceed because you were, at the time, parliamen- tary assistant for home af- fairs? e report even says that the investigation was stopped because an inquiry made by a foreign police force was with- drawn, saying they were not interested in pursuing matters. To implicate that I influenced some foreign police force to stop investigating me is a long shot. [...] may I recall also that the police officer [Michael Cas- sar] who investigated me, was later appointed as Police Com- missioner by Joseph Muscat following the last election. I can assure you again, at no point was I approached to clarify questions of this matter ever since. e issue however concerns the autonomy of the police force. Let's face it, we have a Police Commissioner who is directly appointed by the Prime Minister. Today's op- position may one day become tomorrow's government. Isn't it simply that the police are afraid of politicians? Isn't it high time we had a truly au- tonomous police force? at is exactly what we are promising to do. We need to change the manner in which such important posts are nominated. Insofar as the Police Commissioner is concerned, we are committed to go through a nomination process. is means we shall have a Police Commissioner who will go through a parliamentary grill- ing, and ideally approved by two-thirds majority... A question about the cam- paign. e message emanat- ing from Labour is clearly em- phasising unity and reconcili- ation. is seems ironic, given that those were rallying cries by Eddie Fenech Adami, your father, around 1987. Has the PN become too divisive? Has the Opposition's militancy and belligerence given Labour the opportunity to play the 'reconciliation' card: once the PN's? Absolutely not... the PN is to- day coming forward as part of a 'Forza Nazzjonali' – that means that people can come together even though they do not agree on everything. I think the won- derful experience I am going through at the moment – that the PN is going through – is that yes, we can work together with so many people. Other parties as well. Why not? We agree on many things, we do not agree on everything, but we can create a Forza Naz- zjonali: a front with people of different ideas, who agree on fundamentals. is is an elec- tion about fundamental prin- ciples. Namely, the rule of law. We have a situation where a bunch of, I would refer to them as crooks, have taken over the Labour Party, occupied Castille, and thrown all those wonderful promises to the dogs. Remember? Meritocracy, 'you can agree with us', 'we will fight a war against corruption'... But three years down the line, three people have hijacked Castille, and have brought about a situ- ation where we have a Forza Nazzjonali: a wide spectrum of people coming from walks of life – including another party, PD – who are united on prin- ciples. It is not right to have a small number of, I would say crooks, who have taken over this country. is Forza Naz- zjonali is a wonderful experi- ence, with many people even coming from the PL to join forces with this umbrella group that is determined to bring back the fundamentals to this country. Yet the rhetoric emanating from the PN – from the cen- tral administration, down to the grassroots – is undeniably divisive. Salvu Mallia, a PN candidate, recently compared Joseph Muscat to Adolf Hitler. ere have been comments that the prime minister's chil- dren should be institution- alised... are you comfortable with this facet of the PN? I ask because I am concerned that we are dangerously close to 1980s levels of political hatred... I do not condone any messag- es of hatred. I dissociate myself from and totally condemn any statements insofar as Joseph Muscat's children are con- cerned. Let's keep children out of this campaign. But I must say I was on the receiving end, too. I had posts saying that 'God sent me cancer because I am the most cruel person around.' Another post, just two days ago, said that I got cancer in my shoulder so I wouldn't be able to clap for Simon Busuttil, or something along those lines. I laugh it off. God does not send cancer: that's my mes- sage to the guy who told me that. So it goes both ways; but I don't think we should go the way of 'they did it, so we can do it'. I'm not justifying it. My appeal to everyone is that we are not here to spread hatred. We are here to try and do the right thing. Honestly... I spoke about my personal ex- perience: the easiest thing for me to do is just walk away. I don't need this. Many people would describe my very ac- tive participation in politics as madness, given the personal circumstances I found myself in. I honestly want to send the message out there that my col- leagues and I are doing this because we believe we are here to do the right thing. We are here to do our duty, and to do the right thing. damental principles