TMIS Editorial: The ‘congratulations minister’ brigade
Social media gives a very clear picture of the current state of Maltese society. This is particularly so when it comes to the way people think about politics, and politicians too. Some may consider this a laughing matter, but it is quite tragic that, in this day and age, there are people who are so quick in their thinking that they end up defending what is wrong simply because that “wrong” was done by someone who belongs. to the party they support.
The latest example came in the form of a photo showing Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo wearing a Manchester United jacket, posing between the captains of the England women’s team and her Birkirkara FC counterpart before a match of friendship that took place at the Tony Bezzina Stadium in Paola.
What Bartolo did must be condemned and condemned. There can be no justification for it. No doubt about it.
Bartolo was attending the event as a minister of a country, not as any other supporter. And having a government minister wearing official clothing of a foreign team taking the Maltese side is simply not.
That the minister, then, preferred to wear a jacket with the emblem of Manchester United when the team was playing against another that represents a locality, Birkirkara, which forms part of an electoral district disputed by the minister made his action worse. Every Birkirkara resident worth his or her salt should never vote for Bartolo again.
No wonder he was despised for his action. People were telling him sarcastically to go knocking on doors in Manchester for votes and, frankly, they are correct to take such a position. We also hope that Prime Minister Robert Abela also told Bartolo about the issue, and he will keep it in mind when he is planning a reshuffle in the Cabinet.
The minister defended himself and said that the Maltese, including the residents of Birkirkara, know how much he worked for them and for the country. He did, eventually, say he was sorry, but the apology seemed rather forced.
The minister’s work for the country was not the subject of controversy, even though we have reservations about this too, such as his reluctance to say how much the Film Awards that took place last year cost and, in regarding Manchester United, both the sponsorship. a contract that Malta signed with the club is costing the tax payer.
The point was that, as a minister, he should never have been seen wearing Manchester United gear at such an event.
While there were many who found fault in the minister’s behavior, there were many others who justified what he did. the “congratulations minister brigade” he was out in force to say he did nothing wrong. They were all coming out to defend what he did, criticize him and ridicule those who expressed their dissent about the minister’s action.
Go figure.
This is the type of crowd that is always ready to defend the indefensible, simply because the “wrong” that was done came from someone from the political side they support. (But then, if they defended the action of past ministers who did much worse than Bartolo, and re-elected them despite the scandals they were involved in, we really do not wonder that Bartolo found them as a shield.)
Let’s put it another way. If the minister who wore Manchester United’s clothing was a Nationalist, the people who defended Bartolo at first would have been in the front to attack that Nationalist minister who did what Bartolo did.
It is because they do not think about the “what”, but they reason (if this can be called reasoning) on the “who”. The “that”, for them, is not important. For them, everything that Labor does is good, and everything that the Nationalist Party does is bad. That’s what they think.
In the same way, there will be Nationalist voters, who are now criticizing Bartolo, who would defend a Nationalist minister if he was the one who wore a Manchester United jacket for a similar activity.
This is the kind of political disease that grips the country.
There are many people – too many of them – who cannot form an unbiased opinion. They expect the party they support to express themselves on any given subject, and they follow suit.
If Labor says they should walk up and down Republic Street 10 times a day, they will do it happily, and say how good it is for their health to do some exercise. But if it is the Nationalist Party that tells them to do so, they will oppose.
That is the type of Malta we live in.