Labour Deputy Leader Michael Falzon filed his umpteenth libel case against this newspaper last Tuesday.
This time round, the reason is that one of our journalists asked him a question about a hunting trip to Romania with one of the most active officials of the hunters’ lobby.
Our front page story published on 20 January gave an accurate and factual account of his participation in a December hunting trip organised by Richard Cilia – the hunters’ federation former PRO, and now a council member of the Federation of Hunters’ and Trappers’ Associations (FKNK).
It also reported the fact – verified and confirmed according to the highest journalistic standards – that the wild bird carcasses brought over by the same hunting party were confiscated by the chief veterinary officer to be tested for avian influenza (bird flu). The article clearly specified that none of the confiscated carcasses were taken from Falzon’s luggage.
But in his typical “aggrieved martyr” tone, Falzon said in a press release last Tuesday that, “contrary to what has been alleged in the newspaper, there was absolutely nothing wrong” in his hunting trip, and that his fellow hunters were “private citizens who have to be respected as such”.
Once again, Falzon seems to have come out guns blazing without bothering to actually read the story, which alleged no wrongdoing on his part at all. Either that, or else he needs an assistant to help him read English. Let it be said that no libel suit will ever stop us from investigating and publishing stories about anyone. Others who tried going down that road before Falzon in their bid to muzzle us know this only too well.
Now it is Falzon’s turn to realise this.
His outburst is also symptomatic of someone who wants the power of politics, but not the spotlight of scrutiny. When contacted by our journalist, Falzon said it was “nobody’s business” where he goes on holiday. This is patently absurd. Never mind his own party media chasing Joe Saliba after his private holiday on board Zaren Vassallo’s yacht. Never mind his party’s relentless attacks on ministers’ mingling of private interests with their public life. Michael Falzon evidently believes that he – alone among politicians – is somehow above scrutiny and beyond criticism.
One shudders to think how he will behave if his party is elected to government. Will he also insist that he is above scrutiny if appointed to a sensitive Cabinet post? Is this what the Labour party means, when it insists on transparency and accountability?
Besides, Falzon also needs to reassess his definition of “private citizen”. Richard Cilia is a senior activist and council member of an organisation which has for years relentlessly lobbied the government to openly defy the European Commission by permitting hunting in spring. As a result, the Maltese tax-payer is now faced with the possibility of hefty fines imposed by the European Court of Justice. Which in turn means that, not only is Mr Cilia not the “private citizen” Falzon makes him out to be; but the pressure exerted by the Federation of which he forms part has resulted directly in the threat of fines being imposed on Malta by the European Court of Justice.
By Falzon’s skewed logic, are we to understand that court action against our country, and fines which will ultimately have to be paid by the tax-payer, are likewise “not in the public domain”?
Besides, isn’t this not the same Michael Falzon who reassured hunters, in a meeting held at Ray’s Auto dealer in Zebbug last October, that a Labour government would stop “persecuting” them, in what sounds like a promise to keep giving them a free hand against all our EU commitments?
Either Falzon has no idea of the responsibilities that come with being a public figure and a leading representative of the main Opposition party; or else he genuinely believes that he is somehow entitled to different treatment from that meted out by his own party’s media to other public figures and politicians.
But in his latest panic attack, Falzon has gone beyond libel procedures; he has also demanded the Institute of Journalists’ “unconditional condemnation” of our newspaper, which he claimed was “promoting an agenda of hate and persecution under the pretext of freedom of the press”. This cannot go unanswered. MaltaToday categorically and vehemently denies promoting any form of “agenda of hate and persecution” against any person or groups of persons whatsoever. We invite readers to check our online archives to see what this newspaper has written in the past about both Falzon and the hunting community. Falzon’s comment was unwarranted and grossly untrue. And far from any “unconditional condemnation”, the Institute of Journalists, simply pointed out to Falzon that if he preferred having the institute’s ruling, he should not have resorted to the law courts.
Falzon has now gone too far. His antics have served to embarrass his party, currently riding a wave of renewed support after its highly successful general conference last week. It is a pity that the MLP still contains people whose concept of democracy is at best hazy and ill-defined. Falzon is, essentially, all that Dr Alfred Sant has tried to rid his party of since he took over as leader: petty, superstitious, narrow-minded, unsophisticated and intellectually unrefined. His only way is out. Only then will his flirting with hunting lobbyists become “nobody’s business”.