Which Political Future after a Criminal Past?
Last week saw a furore on Queensland, not over yet and probably still has some way to go before dying down, if ever.
I'm referring to the case of the Member for Parliament for Cook in Queensland, Billy Gordon, who was elected on behalf of the Labour Party for the first time at the state election of a few weeks back. It was revealed that Mr Gordon, who is aboriginal, has a criminal past, which includes allegations of domestic violence, missed maintenance payments and driving without a license, amongst others.
These are all serious matters, appearing not to be known by the Labour Party before the election, or at least that's what's being said by the Queensland Premier, Anastacia Palaszczuk.
The Premier expelled Mr Gordon from the Labour Party, and seems to be unhappy with the preselection process for candidates at the election. However Premier Palaszczuk went further.
She has publicly asked Mr Gordon to also resign from Parliament.
The Premier is autonomously expecting from Mr Gordon a higher standard of conduct than is requested by law. What gives her this right?
I'll tell you how it can be interpreted: if you do something wrong, whatever you do, whether you've paid the price, carried out some form of restitution, changed your life - you will never be forgiven. Nothing will be forgotten, and nothing forgiven. You can kiss goodbye to reparation, concrete acts of contrition, victim-offender conferences, correctional centres, a positive history after the negative act etc. These are all irrelevant.
It should be clear that we're not discussing a person who currently has criminal procedures currently under way. That's another matter, and there a person may be considered compromised, although he/she should be considered innocent until proven guilty. However when the act is in the past, and has been atoned or closed, why should this be considered current?
Are we saying that those with a criminal past, don't have anything to offer politics? In cases like these, Manwel Dimech straight away springs to my mind. This Maltese person was born in poverty and died in exile, living between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The had a substantial criminal history, including murder, and entered prison ten times. He was clearly no angel.
However after this ugly phase of his life, he changed his life around completely, and apart from becoming a languages educator, he also had a part in the social and political story of the country, by fighting for justice, for workers, for women's rights and against abuses by the powerful in society. He had nothing at all to offer politics - indeed!
Perhaps in parliament, only completely unblemished angels should be able to represent us!
Observers of Queensland's political scene are saying that this activity has its roots also in politics. In fact, Queensland's Liberal opposition may be seeing this incident as an opportunity to get out of the extraordinary disaster they suffered in the past election. Not only are they agreeing with the position of the Premier that Mr Gordon should leave parliament, but are doing everything to throw some mud at her too.
The Premier declared she doesn't want to accept a vote in Parliament from Mr Gordon, who though is no longer with the Labour Party, is expected to keep his leftist convictions in parliament. One can only imagine the Opposition crying foul, if this happens, that someone whose done a number of mistakes in the past should vote against them, and I understand this is the reason the Premier doesn't want him in Parliament come what may.
I don't care about partisan politics, and the shady manoeuvring to obtain power, however I do care about politics and the principles on which it is based. The actions of the major parties there shows that in their craving for power, they don't care less about causing much despair to those who have made ugly mistakes in their lives and wish to change, who already find it difficult to get out of cycles of violence, theft, alcohol, abuse etc that many times would have grown up surrounded by.
The message to them is: it's futile trying. We will never forgive you. The message to society is: these people should not be trusted, no matter how long ago the event occurred, even if today they're changed persons.
It's remarkable who we're electing to represent us in parliament. And I'm not referring to Mr Gordon.
X'Futur Politiku wara Passat Kriminali?
Il-ġimgħa li għaddiet, qam furur f'Queensland, li għadu ma battiex, u naħseb li baqagħlu sew biex ibatti, jekk qatt.
Qed nirreferi għall-każ tal-Membru Parlamentari ta' Queensland għal Cook, Billy Gordon, li tela' għall-ewwel darba f'isem il-Partit Laburista fl-elezzjoni statali ta' ftit ġimgħat ilu. Ġie żvelat li s-Sur Gordon, li huwa aboriġenu, għandu passat kriminali, li jinkludi allegazzjonijiet ta' vjolenza domestika, nuqqas ta' ħlas ta' manteniment u sewqan mingħajr liċenzja, fost l-oħrajn.
Dawn huma kollha ħwejjeġ koroh u serji, u jidher li dawn ma kinux magħrufa mill-Partit Laburista qabel l-elezzjoni, jew talinqas hekk qed tgħid il-Premier ta' Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Il-Premier keċċiet lis-Sur Gordon mill-Partit Laburista, u tidher li li mhix kuntenta bil-proċess tal-għażla tal-kandidati għall-elezzjoni. Però il-Premier Palaszczuk marret iktar lil hinn minn hekk.
Talbet pubblikament lis-Sur Gordon biex jirriżenja wkoll mill-Parlament.
Il-Premier qegħda awtonomament titlob livell ta' imġieba għola mis-Sur Gordon milli titlob il-liġi. B'liema dritt tagħmel dan?
Ħa ngħidilkom kif jista' jiġi nterpretat: li jekk tagħmel xi ħaġa ħażina, tagħmel x'tagħmel, kemm jekk ħallastx għaliha, kemm jekk tagħmel xi forma ta' restituzzjoni, kemm jekk tibdel ħajtek - ma tinħafer qatt. Ma jintnesa xejn, u ma jinħafer xejn. Addio riparazzjoni, azzjonijiet konkreti bħala ndiema, konferenzi ta' aggressuri mal-vittmi tagħhom, centri ta' korrezzjoni, storja stabbilita ta' ħajja pożittiva wara l-fatt negattiv eċċ. Ma jgħodd xejn!
Hawnhekk mhux qed nitkellmu fuq persuna li jkollha proċeduri kriminali għaddejjin preżentement. Dik hija ħaġa oħra, u hemmhekk il-persuna tkun meqjusa kompromessa, għalkemm trid tiġi kkunsidrata innoċenti sakemm misjuba ħatja. Imma meta l-aġir ikun sar fil-passat, u jkun ħallas għaliha jew tkun ingħalqet, għalfejn titqies li għadha kurrenti?
Qed ngħidu li min għandu passat kriminali, m'għandux x'joffri lill-politika? F'każijiet bħal dawn, mallewwel jiġini f'rasi lil Manwel Dimech, Malti li twieled fil-faqar u miet fl-eżilju, li għex bejn is-sekli dsatax u għoxrin. Dan kellu passat kriminali sostanzjali, inkluż ta' qtil, u daħal il-ħabs għaxar darbiet. Żgur ma kienx jitqies anġlu.
Iżda wara din il-fażi kerha ħafna, dawwar ħajtu kompletament, u apparti li sar edukatur tal-lingwi kellu sehem fil-ħajja soċjali u politika ta' Malta, fejn iġġieled għall-ġustizzja, għall-ħaddiema, għad-drittijiet tan-nisa, u kontra l-abbużi ta' min hu qawwi fis-soċjeta. Dażgur li ma kellux x'joffri lill-politika!
Forsi fil-parlament, anġli biss għandhom jirrappreżentawna, kulħadd b'sebgħu dritt riga!
Osservaturi tax-xena politika ta' Queensland qed jgħidu li dan l-aġir għandu għerq politiku. Fil-fatt, l-Oppożizzjoni Liberali ta' Queensland, jidher li qegħda tara f'dan l-inċident opportunità li toħroġ mid-disfatta straordinarja li kellha fl-elezzjoni li għadda. Mhux biss qed taqbel mal-pożizzjoni tal-Premier li s-Sur Gordon jitlaq mill-parlament, imma qed tagħmel minn kollox biex tħammeġ lilha wkoll kemm jista' jkun.
Il-Premier stqarret li ma tridx taċċetta vot fil-Parlament mingħand is-Sur Gordon, li għalkemm m'għadux fil-Partit Laburista, ikun mistenni li jżomm ix-xejriet xellugin tiegħu fil-parlament. Wieħed jista' jimmaġina lill-Oppożizzjoni tgħajjat x'skandlu dan, jekk iseħħ, li persuna li għamel numru ta' żbalji fil-passat f'ħajtu jivvota kontrihom, u nihem li din hi r-raġuni għaliex il-Premier ma tridux fil-Parlament akkost ta' kollox.
Jien ma jimpurtanix mill-politika partiġġjana, u l-manuvri biex jiġi akkwistat il-poter, iżda jimpurtani ħafna mill-politika u l-prinċipji li fuqhom huwa bbażat. L-aġir tal-partiti l-kbar hemmhekk juri li fil-kilba tagħhom għall-poter, ma jimpurtahom xejn li jaqtgħu qalb dawk in-nies li għamlu żbalji koroh f'ħajjithom u jixtiequ jinbidlu, li diġà jsibuha diffiċli biex jinqatgħu minn ċikli ta' vjolenza, serq, xorb, abbuż eċċ, li ħafna drabi jkunu trawmu fih minn ċkunithom.
Il-messaġġ lilhom hu: inutli tippruvaw. Aħna mhu se naħfrulkom qatt. U l-messaġġ lill-poplu hu: dawn in-nies mhumiex ta' min jafdahom, ilhom kemm ilhom li għamlu li għamlu, u anke jekk illum huma nies mibdula.
Ara 'l min qed intellgħu fil-parlament biex jitkellmu f'isimna. U m'inix nirreferi għas-Sur Gordon.
1http://theconversation.com/billy-gordons-past-shouldnt-end-the-queensland-government-39487, retrieved 7/4/2015
2http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-labor-government-in-crisis-as-mp-admits-to-criminal-past/story-fnihsrf2-1227283072295, retrieved 7/4/2015
3http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/apr/03/billy-gordon-allegations-the-latest-twist-in-long-queensland-political-rivalry, retrieved 7/4/2015
1http://theconversation.com/billy-gordons-past-shouldnt-end-the-queensland-government-39487, retrieved 7/4/2015
2http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-labor-government-in-crisis-as-mp-admits-to-criminal-past/story-fnihsrf2-1227283072295, retrieved 7/4/2015
3http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/apr/03/billy-gordon-allegations-the-latest-twist-in-long-queensland-political-rivalry, retrieved 7/4/2015
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