Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/829524
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 28 MAY 2017 32 Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Disgruntled, yet hopeful I don't think I am alone when I say that this election doesn't bring the same sense of energy and enthusiasm seen in 2013. Four years ago, I was one of the minions, as a particular blogger used to call us, and above that, I was a "switcher" with a deep- blue Nationalist background, closely related to the 'Duchess of Gozo'. It wasn't an easy decision but I strongly believed that the new movement created by Jo- seph Muscat brought with it the ideas and momentum needed to change the antiquated and stale environment of a party in gov- ernment which had become too comfortable in its mediocrity. I had spent most of my teens and adulthood abroad, and having been blessed with a solid education and governance expe- rience outside my native shores, I felt the need to contribute back to the country that for my first 14 years I had called home. Having gained a historical electoral mandate was only the very start of the huge endeav- our for the new government. I decided to take a chance and leave my comfort zone abroad as well as my private firm, to lend my expertise in rebuilding and executing a manifesto that I strongly believed in. Re-adjusting to Maltese cul- ture was certainly not easy. I believed that some bureaucratic procedures were outdated, and certainly needed to be steam- rolled over. Mistakes were made that shouldn't have been made, and certainly many of them were inexcusable. This experience was not what I had hoped for, and certainly it was not what I had put my life on hold for, yet I persevered and raised these concerns with the powers that be. Unfortu- nately, whether due to other priorities or not, a response to my concerns and objections was never received, a telling way that I needed to move on. After tak- ing a new look at opportunities which I had refused in the past year, I accepted one of them and tendered my resignation for my post with Malta in late 2016. The Opposition continued its attacks with stories which were, for the most part, fabricated. However, I believed that these stories were only possible and believable by some due to the same mistakes that I had hoped would be corrected. Each story that came out was almost a reassurance to me, that I was right and "they" were wrong; until about a month ago – when one of those same fabricated stories hit too close to home. One of the targets was a close friend of mine, close enough to call her family and I knew beyond any shadow of doubt that she had nothing to do with was being said. The story was out there, yet no proof fol- lowed. It was, though, enough to tarnish my friend's name. I wasn't sure I would even care to vote. My personal experience was not as I had hoped for. How- ever, as I reminisced, I remem- bered the day the new admin- istration removed the time-bar prescription allowing ministers, parliamentary officials, mayors and councillors to be prosecuted for any criminal actions, without a statute of limitations. I remem- ber the fight to push forward the IIP programme which, despite the opposition's effort to block it from an EU level, successfully brought to Malta more than €200 million. While I personally cannot find a way to excuse some of the mistakes that happened, I also cannot forget that this govern- ment's delay in opening the new power station by over 19 months is an improvement on the previ- ous government's delay of 19 years to open the new hospital. I also cannot forget that while I always had my rights preserved, it took a new administration to grant those same rights that I take for granted to the LGBT community, and furthermore, safeguarding a woman's right to safe access to the morning-after pill instead of risking their lives with cocktails and who knows what else. I don't want these to become past memories, I want to continue living within these accomplishments and many oth- ers more! The movement led by Muscat brought about changes that were only promised in the past, but never delivered, and yes, today, despite its shortfalls I still believe that the Labour Party re- mains the only option for Malta's better days ahead. Joseph Dalli New York CHANGE A LIFE Call 179 and enquire on our fostering services We Need You Editorially 'right' I am a follower of what is reported by local newspapers publishing in the English language. I may be biased in favour of the MaltaToday on Sunday because I read it invari- ably every Sunday. I have read about comments levelled at the editorial of the MaltaToday on Sunday in the sense that, sometimes, it leans towards the centre-left, which in Maltese jargon can be taken to mean that the newspaper is more inclined towards Labour than it is towards the National- ist party. On the other hand, the bias in favour of the centre-right, being the Nationalist Party and the Democratic Party, by the other English language dailies is so obviously strong and without limits that any neutral person, such as a foreign reader, will notice that these newspa- pers are just one-sided. Observe for example the articles and who writes them. The articles shown in one of them today, 22 May, are writ- ten by: (a) none other than the partner of the leader of the Opposition, (b) an ex-MP on the ticket of the National- ist Party, (c) a defector from