DISPARATE and DESPERATE – the poverty of opposition groups whose SOLE mission is to damage Malta thr

I can understand unflinching hate being addressed against an entity that has deprived you from power, financial gain and privilege – in this case, those who suffered these losses with the election of the Labour Party Government in 2013.

What I cannot understand and reconcile is ALSO hating your very own colleagues with the same hate and venom and therefore rather than forming a common front against a “common” enemy, you also form a front to fight against those you are supposed to be fraternising and collaborating with.

I have always stated I am NOT a psychiatrist and neither a psychologist, but deep down among all this there is a surly mental malice, a sickness that urgently needs treatment.

What further surprises me is how no professional in the sphere of mental malice has bothered to study and analyse this highly dangerous trait and therefore no possible cure has been submitted.

Before going further, let me qualify what is today classed as being in “opposition”. In Constitutional terms there is an official Opposition Party; in grammatical terms there is also an “opposition” with a small “o” that constitutes of vowing to be against anything and everything that a ruling entity does – for the sake of damaging that entity.

Nevertheless, the greatest malice yet is that of using every possible dirty trick and manipulation that enables one to turn a positive report into a totally negative one.

Let me give an example. If an EU report says that (a) the country has shown vast economic improvements; (b) a country has currently the best economy of all EU Member States; (c) the poverty line percentage has been greatly reduced over the last six years; (d) that however, there is still a minority percentage suffering poverty problems - the “opposition” media blazes the story that some people are living in poverty without bothering to mention all the other relevant factors.

That is called media manipulation, the intent of which is pure malice and the scope of this being sheer negativity.

What is however even worse, is inventing and fabricating stories to try and create non-existent situations. From some quarters there have been consistent efforts to put about the impression of great divisions within the Labour Party, a continual struggle for the battle of the PL Leadership in the eventuality that Joseph Muscat steps down.

The latest to be embroiled in these attempted manipulations is Minister for Tourism Konrad Mizzi who was reported to have put forward his succession aspirations.

Konrad Mizzi’s response was “a bunch of baloney”; could one be more emphatic than that?

Another recent slur was a doubly-mounted attack on author and journalist Charles Flores, intended also to further throw a bad light on the national broadcasting entity PBS.

Now I have known Charles for many, many years, a truly professional man, and a first degree gentleman of the greatest integrity. What was the attempt made to slur him?

Charles – quite correctly – was featured in a 50-seconds video clip in which he commended his friend and former Union Press journalist colleague Josef Caruana as being a suitable MEP candidate because he is professional, knowledgeable and capable. No politics were mentioned and no political party was mentioned. It was merely a friend and a colleague recommending a friend and a colleague.

This was twisted on the basis that Charles Flores is a member of the PBS Editorial Board and that this is supposed to be impartial, blah, blah, blah, the obvious intention being to harm Charles directly, harm PBS and in turn insinuate “Government manipulation”.

One need not mince words. Attempts like this are evil, malicious and a total manipulation of trying to inverse something that is positive into something that suggests evil intentions.

The French phrase “HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE” – “One is Evil Who Thinks Evil”, is a totally fitting description of the current attempts of a disparate and desperate “opposition” who not only hate the Labour Party and the Labour Government but who are equally venomous in their hate for each other.

This is mentally disconcerting and a matter of great concern that is a dangerous threat to the process of democracy.

ALBERT JEROME FENECH