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I refer to last Sunday’s interview with Dolores Cristina and feel I have to put pen to paper about some of her comments. First of all, we have just heard the latest ‘spin’ on the government’s refusal to legalise divorce. According to Ms Cristina divorce is not in ‘favour of common good.’ It is disrespectful to make such a false claim when the government’s actions are causing so much suffering to a growing number of people.
What is the ‘common good’ when co-habitation is rampant and children are being brought up outside a family structure?
What is the common good when it is generally the injured party that ends up stuck in a defunct marriage for the rest of their life because the government denies them a second chance?
What is the common good when the government strips persons who married in Church from the right to have their civil annulment cases heard at the same time?
In essence, all this ‘common good’ only causes a great deal of ‘dolores,’ (if you excuse the pun) to the persons concerned and their families.
Ms Cristina was correct when she stated that ‘many people disagree’ with her. What does she expect? This is an issue that affects many people’s lives every single day, like unemployment would affect a person who is unemployed. In this case it is only the government that is to blame for this shameful state of events. It is the government that is socially ignoring and excluding them (by not legalising divorce) and who will ultimately pay the price for this. It is understandable that Ms Cristina states that “the issue of divorce should not be politicised.” This is because the divorce lobby is growing and the divorce issue is starting to effect voter trends. Obviously the PN is being negatively affected due to its pig headedness on the issue and has only itself to blame.
What strikes me as strange is that while Ms Cristina takes great care to portray herself as a champion of women’s rights, she is fact more of a church minister than a government minister when it comes to the divorce issue. I find this to be a strange inconsistency especially when one considers that the right to divorce in other EU countries such as Italy is championed by women’s rights groups.
Ms Cristina has also stated that in her opinion “Maltese society will show us the direction in this regard.” My feeling is that society has been showing its direction for some time now. Unfortunately up until today certain politicians refuse to see the reality. Whether the government will see the signs now or in a post-electoral defeat remains to be seen.
Finally, well done on your newspaper. It makes refreshing, unbiased, reading when compared to other Sunday newspapers. Keep it up.
Joe Farrugia
Mosta
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