A New Beginning

23^rd March 2008

The Malta Independent on Sunday

 

Let me first admit that I got it wrong, but very marginally so. In my last contribution to this column I had opined, “My best judgement is that the balance remains inclined towards voting out the PN, which is not quite the same as voting Labour in, though this finesse may be lost on many.” As it happened, a statistically non-discernable handful of voters decided that it was better to stick with the devil they knew.

It is my considered opinion that Labour worked a miracle in losing an election that was easier to win than to lose. But if one wants to understand how this was done all one needed to do was to view the performance of General Secretary Jason Micallef on Xarabank to see the impossible becomes possible.

PN General Secretary Joe Saliba could have been excused for putting up a euphoric performance but instead he was a model of humility, acknowledging that although ending on the winning side there is much more for the PN to read in the people’s verdict. In contrast, Micallef was vintage arrogance when he should have been apologetic for guiding the most uninspiring election campaign I can remember. A campaign without proper segmentation of messages and simply based on a crude message that it was time to change so it must be Labour’s turn.

In the last week of the campaign, I received two personalised letter from the Prime Minister explaining why it was in my own interest to vote PN. One addressed me as an operator in the financial services sector and the other as an employer/entrepreneur. Do you know how many personalised letters I received from Labour? Zilch! Do you know how many contacts I had from Labour to ensure that I stick to my professed loyalty to Labour? Zilch! Do you know how many attempts were made to ask me help the party to protect as many as possible the 3,000 first count votes I got from two districts in the 2003 election? Zilch!

Now I voted Labour and I encouraged as many as I could contact to do the same through loyalty to the organisation if not the person. But it was not because there was any undue effort from whoever was running the show at Labour HQ. Presumably their over-confidence assumed that they could do without perceived rebels. While the PN worked with capillarity to extract every single vote, Labour counted their chicks well before Easter!

Now it’s time to move forward! For Labour it is truly time for a new beginning! Voters did not want a government promising a new beginning. They wanted continuity but with a promise of no sleaze, less arrogance and better execution. This message does not seem to have been lost on the Prime Minister when he came to form his new Cabinet. A new beginning is what all genuine Labourites and people who truly believe in the alternation of power now really want.

The first test for Labour is the process it adopts to choose the new leader. The hostile attitude exhibited by Jason Micallef towards George Abela, who had just declared his conditional interest in contesting for the post of leader, and this in front of some one hundred and fifty thousand televiewers, should exclude him completely from any meaningful participation in the leadership contest. This includes the choice of date for holding the contest and any consideration that could be given to widen the voters’ base for making such a momentous decision.

After all, Labour hardly lost the election on 8 March 2008! They actually lost it by the events that happened between 1 May and 15 May 2003. I tried hard to point this out in my writings at the time but I was censored by those who were willing to risk losing the 2008 election rather than face reality.

The decision that Labour takes now for the election of a new leader will have a great bearing on the result of the 2013 election.

It is for this reason that Labour has to tread carefully. Labour needs to be reborn. Its challenge is to find a leader who can keep its core social democratic values while bringing the party into the 21st century where globalisation is the rule of the game. A leader who can understand the need for private initiative, lower taxation and business oriented policies in order to create wealth and then adopt sustainable social policies to ensure that those who cannot, by reason of age or health, participate in the wealth creation process, are supported by the State to keep social harmony and cohesiveness,

A leader who can understand that the biggest social service that needs to be offered to the traditional corps of Labour voters is not just a well-paid productive job but also a whole menu of such jobs to choose from.

A leader who can understand that the best way to amass a majority of voters behind it is not to oppose blindly but to show how execution could be bettered and how freshness will eliminate accumulated sleaze and arrogance. A leader who can show that he can rise to statesman level by co-operating with government wherever there are national issues that are addressed better through bi-partisan approach, especially if such consensus can be traded for other measures to ensure that government treats Labourites with respect and considers them as an integral part of society. The Opposition should force the government to move away from tribal practices in public appointments where Labourites are considered as children of a lesser god.

Easter is life after death. Labour is far from dead but desperately needs a new injection of life. A life that can only come through the choice of a leader who has broad support that goes well beyond the inner ranks that will choose him. If Labour continues to defy public opinion, especially the opinions of the majority who truly want Labour in government next time round, then they can just as well accept that it will continue to be in government at local level and in permanent Opposition at national level.

Let this be the Easter of Labour’s re-birth!