I fully concur with the views of correspondent Jones-Dillon on the positive aspects of coalition governments. Such views, however, will probably not be shared by the majority of the Maltese electorate.
The local two-party scene, which brings about a high degree of polarisation, is well ingrained in the Maltese psyche. During the last 50 years, it was only in 1962 that more than two parties were elected to Parliament. After that legislature, the 1966 election result killed off the three smaller parties. Since then, the two-party system has always held sway.
Now this may be seen as a sign of stability by some, but nobody can deny the fact that it has tended to foster the tribal mentality. It has always been “us” against “them”. This manifests itself most during the election campaign, when both parties mobilise thousands of people to attend mass meetings. The us against them mentality is also subtle in nature, like when both parties use their spies (whom both call “street leaders”) to gauge their strength during elections,
To make matters worse, since the inception of local councils, annual elections have of necessity rendered Malta into perpetual election mode. One rarely votes for the best candidates: votes go according to the diktat of both parties. And matters were further exacerbated when both parties exempted themselves from the rigours of the Data Protection Act.
This tribal mentality extends everywhere and to everything. Very often, in our Parliament we get memebers discussing “what we did” as compared to “what you did”. Be it kilometres of roads, cost of living, social benefits or anything else under the sun, be sure it will be subject to the us versus them measure. The electorate is hardly ever taught what is good and right; only what suits the party or not. The population has been so besotted with fighting the other side, that it has never paused to fight for its rights, especially consumer ones.
This mentality, unfortunately, has also been nurtured by both parties. You have two tribes which, in their own respective spheres, speak and think alike. Veritable clones! No deviationist ideology is allowed, and anyone who tends not to toe the line is shunned, sometimes even vilified. The country somehow goes on, sometimes changing one set of clones for another set of clones. No wonder the country does not experience natural cataclysms: the two parties together are quite capable of tearing up the country between them as effectively as if an earthquake had struck.
And while all this has been happening for decades, the local intelligentsia has gone into hibernation. Very few tend to express themselves on a multitude of things, or set in motion a civilised debate, for fear of earning the rebuke of one or both parties. This extends also to newspapers, where nearly all fly a banner for one party or the other.
Like in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, both parties “bestride the world like a Colossus”, and we petty men can only catch an occasional glimpse by peeping through their legs.
It seems impossible to break this mould. Perhaps this time around, the electorate will refrain from giving any party an absolute majority of votes, in the hope that in future we will also take away seats from them.

Dominic Chircop
Gzira

I heard the news today, oh boy! No tax will be paid by Maltese citizens if the Nationalists are returned to power, and by the time the election campaigns ends, (if the tempo continues with its present acceleration) GonziPN will be offering a hefty sum to anyone voting PN!
And to add a little colour, all those projects which took years and years to complete, and millions and millions of wasted taxpayers liri, hey presto! They will be completed in time and on the planned budget, over the next five years.
In the meantime, forget what the PN did during the last years. Those were nightmares; the dreams are yet to come!

Paul Muscat,
Mellieha.

With regard to the letter ‘A Christian cannot vote for AN’ from Philip Micallef of Sliema I would like to say the following. He argues over how we should refer to these “unfortunate people” as he calls them, stating that we should not refer to them as “illegal immigrants”.
The definition of an illegal immigrant is a person who has moved to another country without getting permission from the government of that country. Unless I’m mistaken none of these people applied for Visas before setting out on their travels.
I also agree that the problem must be solved at source, but how many countless billions have been poured into these countries trying to do just that? The problem is that the situation cannot be solved at source because most of the leaders of these countries are corrupt. That corruption spreads from the top down with the effect that all the billions which have been sent to these places, end up in Swiss bank accounts. A typical example very much in the headlines at the moment is Zimbabwe where the people are starving with inflation reported at 26,470.8%! This doesn’t stop Robert Mugabe’s and his government living in mansions and driving a Mercedes.
Mr Micallef tries to compare Malta to the US stating that the United States has a much bigger problem than Malta with thousands crossing the border from Mexico to enter the US illegally. He’s right there, but then North America has a total area of 24,490,000 square kilometres, whereas Malta is only 457 square kilometres. Malta simply doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate a non-stop influx of migrants, illegal or otherwise.
Mr Micallef seems to play the xenophobe and racist card quite a bit. Personally I’m not a supporter of Azzjoni Nazzjonali, or any other political party as I’m no great lover of politics, but I don’t think it’s a fair or indeed Christian attitude to call anyone such names simply because they have an opinion.
I do not believe that the Maltese people have the moral and Christian duty to provide food and shelter for these migrants. If Mr Miscallef believes this then perhaps he can say when this duty should stop. How many of these unfortunate people should be allowed into the country, 10,000, 100,000, and 1,000,000?
We all have our problems Mr Micallef, I know I have and I’m sure there is not a person in Malta who can say their life is without problems. Whilst it is a commendable attitude to want to help others, you cannot expect the ordinary people of Malta to be held accountable for the world’s problems.
If it’s any consolation I totally agree with your attitude on hunting.

James A. Tyrrell,
Northern Ireland

During these last years the Malta Labour Party, with its Plan for a New Beginning, is showing to all Maltese citizens that we really mean business. After 20 years of apathy under a Nationalist government, Malta needs to get a grip on the economy, and also on prices which from day to day are going sky high.
Labour Party is giving a clear, sound and simple message,:Malta needs a new government, a government which is far from incompetent and arrogant, a government which is nearer to the Maltese families despite their political beliefs. Zero tolerance for corruption is the fulcrum for our administration in the upcoming years.
Labour is ready to take over government and with two strong hands give relief to all those families which, in the past years, have struggled to cope with their means and needs, which under the present administration have been highly disproportionate. Good governance is of fundamental importance to safeguard our democracy and this could be only achieved under Dr Sant as Prime Minister: who, with his courage and determination and with all our Labour candidates, is ready to take government into his two strong hands.

Alex Saliba
Tarxien

Sandro Pace, assistant secretary general of Azzjoni Nazzjonali, takes issue with every line of my letter printed in MaltaToday on Sunday 27 January, and accuses me of “adulterating, deforming and inventing” Azzjoni Nazzjonali’s political platform.
I am just a private individual writing a letter in the press to put forward my personal opinion. Pace is a member of a so called political party (AN) which I think is twisting and warping Christian and family values. I believe AN has a much greater responsibility not to mislead the public as they are in the public eye and in a position to influence many more people than me.
Mentioning the words of Cardinal Biffi and Mgr Maggiolini does not make their words the official stand of the Catholic church. God’s representative on earth is His Holiness Pope Benedict and I’m sure everyone will agree that the Pope’s words carry more weight than some obscure cardinal or archbishop whom nobody has ever heard about.
To quote the Pope’s words as recently reported in A Christian Outlook - The Sunday Times ‘ “Looking at the phenomenon of irregular migration from a Christian perspective”, one cannot but see this vast movement of all races, colour and creed not so much as a problem but as an opportunity to put into practice one of the main tenets of the Christian faith: “Love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Pace also said that I am suggesting loving our neighbours more than ourselves. This is not so, I am only quoting what the Pope has said. Maybe Pace and his masters AN are suggesting that the Pope is wrong to say this! Maybe their founding document proclaiming their Roman Catholic inspiration is a fallacy? If AN is really a Catholic party as they are claiming then I suggest they follow the teachings of the church they so strongly believe in. Pace mentions the sure ground his party have chosen, maybe it is the convenient ground they are choosing, quoting two Italian priests who are so clearly deviating from the church’s official stand. It is so convenient to mention half truths and to distort the church’s teachings. Our own Archbishop, Mgr Cremona recently stated in an interview with a local paper that, and I quote “you can’t turn against irregular migrants. The church is telling the Maltese people to accept them”. So please don’t try to mislead us all that AN is a Catholic party.
Regarding the “ludicrous” assertions I made regarding Malta’s income from Flight Information Region (FIR) if it is true as Pace is suggesting that Malta nets only Lm 5 million annually, then let us take a look at these figures over a period of, say 20 years. Then the total sum earned by Malta for this period amounts to a minimum of Lm 100 million. So, Pace do you think Lm 100 million covers the long list of dubious costs you mentioned in your letter? I am no economist although I did study economics; but I think a five-year-old could work out the benefits of your Cost Benefit Analysis and come to the conclusion that Malta is far better off. I think that most economists would agree with people of my ilk, as Pace so eloquently put it. You see how easy it is for AN to manipulate figures and statistics. Why don’t you be honest about all the facts, not just the ones that are convenient for you to mention? It’s easier to be economical about the truth than truthful about the economy.
Since you also mentioned the poor Maltese army and police force who have to deal with all these bad migrants injuring them, I don’t think the AArmy need defending. They can do that by themselves as they have done recently when a soldier beat up a handcuffed migrant with a dustbin lid, as a healthcare worker recently stated under oath. The police and the army are being paid through our taxes to do their job. In other countries such as Britain, the army are actually expected to be involved in combat. In Malta all they are expected to do is patrol our shores and rescue migrants in distress, or baby-sit them at Hal-Far. What does Pace expect our army to do – sit around a campfire and sing Cum-By-Ya, or do what they are paid to do and what they signed up to do?
Pace also suggests that vessels at sea should not be responsible for people outside our search and rescue (SAR) area. Theoretically, he is right, but the laws of the sea and human decency demand that we rescue first and ask questions after. Or did he conveniently forget the scandal in the English press when Maltese fishermen put the value of their tuna catch before the lives of migrants and didn’t let them board their vessel? This was a front page story on The Independent (UK) newspaper which did much harm to Brand Malta.
Finally, Mr Pace takes me to task for calling hunters barbarians. Mentioning the virtues of St Julian and St Hubert the hunters, who lived God knows how long ago. Probably when the Dodo was still in existence, or maybe the dinosaurs? Times change and sustainable hunting in Malta just isn’t sustainable. Anyway, spring hunting is dead and buried now so the issue is immaterial.
Common sense has prevailed with both political parties agreeing, for once, on the issue. In a civilised country the wishes of a few can’t be imposed on the majority. The hunters have “dropped the stone on their own foot” – to use a Maltese idiom – by failing to self-regulate when they had the chance. Now that chance is gone and will never return.
By the way it is not my Christianity that is utopian and liberal but your Christianity which is ultra-conservative and belongs to a bygone era never to come back, thank God.

Philip Mercieca
Sliema

“They will not remain ministers” was the reply which Dr Alfred Sant gave to Reno Bugeja’s question regarding a similar position like Minister Jesmond Mugliett (MaltaToday 3 February).
This is fine on paper and seems to be a good proposal, but when Dr Sant came to the nitty gritty of how this zero tolerance to corruption will work, we started to see some flaws in his anti-corruption stance. There will be exceptions for medical doctors (they are vote catchers) and self-employed professionals need to “dispose of their interests in shares”. So after all Sant’s zero tolerance is not absolute .
Is notary Mangion (who was asked to resign from minister in Sant’s cabinet) going to be minister, in the next AD/MLP government? Wasn’t there a blatant conflict of interest when notary Mangion went to Dubai, with some of his partners in business, to the Smart City investors? Or when architect Charles Buhagiar criticises some crack on a new road done by his firm’s competitors, what would that be called? Karmenu Vella’s behaviour in the tourist industry was highly exemplary, so much so that the Government asked for his expertise which he had to decline for political reasons.
Corruption of high profile politicians can also be done while in Opposition.

John Schembri
Zurrieq

The result of the imminent general election is a most crucial one for democracy in Malta. Were the PN to win, our country would become very similar to a ‘one-party state’. The arrogance and corruption scandals which have come to light – and more are in the offing – can only continue to increase, since the majority of the people would have said, by voting PN, that they do not care two hoots if taxpayers’ money is squandered in corrupt ways.
Voters would also have sent the message that they do not want meritocracy to be the yardstick by which people are appointed on the boards of various authorities responsible for the management of vital institutions in our company.
When you see a government which is more interested in spending hundreds of thousands of liri purely on propaganda billboards, TV, radio and newspaper adverts, as well as literature and letters sent to all households, etc., thus using public funds to finance its own party’s propaganda campaign, instead of spending it wisely on the needs of citizens, this is a sure sign that such a government will have no scruples in doing everything in its power so that the party it represents will continue to hold on to power at all costs. When this happens, democracy will no longer exist in reality. It would become just a word used by that government to cover up its dictatorial ways.
This is what is at stake on voting day on March 8. If you do not want Malta to effectively become a ‘one-party state’, vote Labour. If, for any reason, you do not wish to vote Labour, there are two other parties you can vote for. But remember; only Labour can oust the present arrogant party in government from office. And to do that, Labour needs your vote!

Eddy Privitera
Mosta

Recently, I stumbled upon an article by Raphael Vassallo entitled ‘New Spring for Malta’s birds’ (3 February). I just wanted to challenge some comments published within this article:
“...Birdlife Park Ranger who was shot in the face by a hunter.”
I am a hunter myself and don’t consider humans as game, thus whoever hit Ray Vella is a criminal, not a hunter. I am informed that nobody was arraigned so it is unethical for Vassallo jump to conclusions.
“…They shoot black storks, honey buzzards, lesser spotted eagles…” (Anna Giordano, WWF, quoted from La Repubblica)
The issue of law enforcement and illegal hunting should not intertwine with the taking of legal quarry in spring. I can safely predict that notwithstanding the stopping of spring hunting (if it is the case), illegal hunting will continue for as long as law enforcement is weak. One should keep in mind that the peak of raptor migration over our islands happens in Autumn.
“…Malta’s most notorious national pastime: shooting migratory birds during the breeding season.”
The responsible taking of game does not involve the shooting of all migratory birds and in Malta: only two species are allowed to be shot at during the breeding season. Since we lack local game we have to rely on migratory birds for the practice of our pastime. Thus, I tend to find Vassallo’s sweeping statement as inexact and unfair. I do, however, tend to agree with him that hunting can indeed be considered as a national pastime, and am really curious to know what, if hunting ever becomes extinct in our islands, the new national pastime would be.
It’s a pity that illegal practices of any activity are being allowed to tarnish the whole activity.

Martin Polidano
Via email

Last Saturday at the grocer’s I picked up a packet of bacon packed by NCS, of Birwina street, Mellieha, priced at EU2.42 (Lm1) for 242 grammes. This works out at LM4.14 per kg.
I went back to the shop and complained at the very high price of bacon. They checked and told me they had not made a mistake. But it transpired that bacon at the cheese counter is sold at Lm2.10 at the same store. Unfortunately I did not have my reading glasses when I picked this packet.
On Monday I phoned 154 and complained to them about the high price. But they were not interested since all they wanted to know what was the price of the same packet of bacon before the introduction of the Euro.
According to the Prime Minister this unit was retained as a “price watch”, but I guess it is all propaganda.
I trust you will publish this letter because packed food these days is being sold at horrible prices because they think that this packed food is bought by tourists only.

George Zammit
Mosta

Mater Dei was advertised to be a state of the art hospital before patients and staff walked in. No one will deny that Mater Dei is aesthetically marvellous; but the situation is deteriorating from day to day.
Nurses are being burned out and patients are considered as beds. Most nights it is a problem to find space for admitting patients. Eventually the staff is being stressed with a problem that was predicted before the migration. Probably in the near future we will face the same problems we had at St Luke’s: patients in the ward corridors, and with the nursing shortage, the problem will be much bigger. While in the past it was said that there are enough nurses, in reality it was a case of bad planning and now we have to face this situation for a long time since the university operates a numerus clausus on the nursing courses. Probably, while Mater Dei was being built, no one thought about how it is going to be manned. To compensate for this bad management, nurses have suffered a change in roster and were imposed to work extra day every month.
The Health Department is undervaluing nurses, and the minister is aware that nurses are knowledgeable enough to be more empowered, so as to improve the quality of care for the patient. But unfortunately this is not the government’s agenda.
Let us hope that in the near future someone will open a real discussion on this issue; otherwise we will not see a positive future for the healthcare system.

Rowland Bezzina
Via email

A correspondent in a local English language daily complained that some restaurants in our sister island do not sport menu prices near their front door.
But what would he say if a four-star, back and front marble façaded hotel in St Paul’s Bay which, if my memory does not fail me, never advertised inexpensive overnight stays, still sports menu prices only in Maltese lira?
And to my mind, ordinary citizens who have had to tighten their belts would be more interested in spotting prices at cheese counters at several retailers and not have to keep asking the cheese counter assistants for the price of the same type as against the other of different brand and provenance (something the more customer-friendly establishments are not, in this, at fault).

J. Bonett Balzan
Balluta

On the second day of the official electoral campaign, on the occasion of the appointment of 27 new inspectors, the Commissioner of Police, Mr John Rizzo, regaled us with two statements concerning the performance of the Police Force.
Mr Rizzo stated that for the third consecutive year the crime rate has decreased and that the concept of crime prevention has been introduced. I do not know what type of audience Mr Rizzo had in mind when he made these statements, but since they were made to the public broadcaster, I believe that they were meant for all Maltese citizens.
Well, when playing to the gallery, one has to be careful lest there would be some accomplished musicians amongst the audience who would undoubtedly find fault with the music that is being performed.
About this time last year, I took Mr Rizzo to task through the columns of your paper, with regard to the fact that crime statistics are far from reliable when talking about the crime situation of a country. In their book ‘A Sociology of Crime’, Stephen Hester and Peter Eglin quote Josiah Stamp whom they describe as being “not a symbolic interactionist, nor a sociologist”, who in 1929 wrote “The Government are (sic) very keen on amassing statistics – they collect them, add them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root and prepare wonderful diagrams. But what you must never forget is that every one of those figures comes in the first instance from the… (village watchman), who just puts down what he pleases.” (Stamp 1929: 258).
Authors Hester and Eglin continue by giving the following reasons for what criminologists and sociologists call the ‘dark figures of crime”:
Victims of crime may not be aware that they have been victimised: an employer, or for that matter an employee, may be defrauded by the other and may never discover it;
Victims may never report alleged offences to the police for understandable reasons: sexual offences, domestic violence and financial offences fall under this category;
When reports are made, the police may never record them as crimes;
Police Officers may ignore (i) perceived offences that occur during the time that they are not on duty; or (ii) offences that do not concern them such as thefts encountered while doing narcotics works;
The selection of the category under which to record some reported or detected offences vary with the administrative recording procedures;
Charging practices are also responsive to policy guidelines; thus there may be an increase in the number of charges of assault if a policy is introduced to treat wife beating as assault (Hester S. and Eglin P.: A Sociology of Crime, 1992).

For all these reasons, both criminologists and sociologists treat crime statistics with the proverbial pinch of salt.
Now I turn my attention to crime prevention. Mr Rizzo gave the impression that crime prevention is something that was introduced in the Police Force recently. Well, crime prevention has been one of the cardinal duties of the Police since the promulgation of our Criminal Code in 1854. However from what he stated he showed that he knows next to nothing as to what a Police Crime Prevention Service entails, if that is what he meant. For Mr Rizzo, crime prevention means having area police inspectors meet local council officials on a regular basis to discuss complaints received by the latter officials concerning crime.
A Police Crime Prevention Service goes much further than that. It involves having a number of police officers trained in crime prevention and stationed at the various police stations to give advice on request concerning security of property, be it industrial, commercial or private. A crime prevention officer would be in a position to advise citizens on what locks to put on their doors, where and how to install grilles; what sensors are to be incorporated within their burglar alarm systems to avoid the occurrence of false alarms; where to install CCTV cameras without infringing the Data Protection Act and other such matters. But above all Crime Prevention Officers are to enhance one of the principles upon which Sir Robert Peel founded the Metropolitan Police in 1829: i.e., “To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives the reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties that are incumbent on every citizen, in the interests of community welfare and existence.” (Lee: 1901). To this end, crime prevention officers ought to establish community panels made up of citizens, drawn from the various sectors of the community who are prepared to give their time and effort to enhance the quality of life of their fellow citizens.
To conclude I have a few questions to ask Mr Rizzo which, as usual, I do not expect he will reply:
What action is being taken by the police to ensure that the security equipment that is being installed is in conformity with EU standards?
What action is being taken by the police to upgrade the substandard security equipment that was installed over the years? Does the police have a policy with regard to alarm systems connection; in plain words, can a citizen put the telephone number of the control room at Police General Headquarters as the first number on the auto dialler of his/her alarm system? Is there a policy with regard to police response to the activation of alarm systems? Well, these matters are all matters that involve crime prevention which Mr Rizzo claimed to have been introduced.

John A. Zammit
San Gwann