Over the past days I was asked about my overall opinion on Maltese politics and its history, and the reasons for my opinion. This was my reply:
I believe that over the past decades a lot of energy and effort has been directed towards sowing division between us rather than doing everything possible to unite as a nation. When united this country can achieve, indeed has achieved, remarkable progress. Since independence we have made many strides forward.
Unfortunately the adversarial mentality seems well ingrained in our culture where we seem to thrive upon controversy and antagonism – be it politics, the village feast or soccer.
I am confident that my generation is not interested in continuing to foster what divides us, but in working together to achieve the best possible results for our country as a whole – irrespective of which party is in power.
In his brief stint as Prime Minister, my uncle Alfred Sant tried very hard to instil this approach – a mentality where what matters is not one’s political allegiance, family background or contacts but whether one is capable and willing to work in the best interest of the country irrespective of the party in government. Maybe that mentality was too avant-garde back then. Today I feel that the time is ripe to put meritocracy, accountability, transparency and competence on top of the national agenda once again.
I am convinced that many people who enter politics do so because they genuinely believe that they can be of service and that they can positively contribute towards improving the quality of life of their community and of society in general.
This is especially true of people who enter politics on a local level via Local Councils. In this respect, my personal opinion – and personal experience – is that it is a pity that political parties are present even at a local level. I say so because having to date spent one term as a local councillor, I believe that there should be no partisan interests where the good of the locality is at stake. I am sure that many genuine people who can give a positive contribution refrain from doing so because they do not wish to enter the political arena in its present ‘format’.
Marc
