I refer to the letter by Mr R. Debono on Sunday 13 April, “Pacifying the Hunters”. Mr Debono suggested that 96% of the countryside should be free and accessible to the public, while the remaining 4% should be left for hunting purposes. This reasoning is based on the number of the hunters with respect to the rest of the population.
I could not believe what I was reading. What right does Mr. Debono have to suggest the government taking over private land? The countryside is property of whoever owns it, be it a farmer, an investor, a hunter, or a family who simply purchased it for leisure purposes. Does Mr Debono really believe that one can just trespass and claim part of the countryside?
As an example, a particular individual has an enormous tract of land which is quite a huge chuck of the Bahrija countryside. The size of this private property is more than the 4% Debono suggest the hunters should be using.
Coming to think of it, I don’t personally know any hunter who does not own his own land. Some have a tumolo and some have hundreds, even in Gozo. Ironically even many protected areas are private, such as parts of Comino, Ta’ Cenc, Buskett, Il-Ballut, and even Dwejra.
What Mr Debono suggested is not only illegal, but impossible and selfish. Does he expect that the government can just ask him to open his back yard for some people to picnic in?
I can simply suggest to those who want to enjoy the countryside in peace and without having to share it with others, to simply purchase part of it like others did and are still doing. Nowadays estate agents even have a special section for this growing custom as part of their databases.
In the mean time, I invite Mr Debono and all those others who do not own land in the countryside to stick to parks, public gardens, pathways and the very few public land available. When encountered with a “private property” sign or anything to indicate exclusivity, one should simply stay out.
Nyal Xuereb,
Gharghur
I find it unbelievable that after all the wonderful election promises and the fact that the Prime Minister himself will become the “big boss” of MEPA, that there is still talk of developing the Ta’ Cenc area, Ulysses Lodge at Ramla and the marina at Hondoq!
And this is in addition to what has recently happened at Dwejra…
I do realise that there is a problem of illiteracy on the islands, and I realise as well that one of the elected ministers has a problem interpreting certain things, but surely the PM, most developers and architects, lawyers and MEPA officials do not fall into this category?
So I would like to ask the following questions.
Why is it still so difficult for these folk to understand the phrase “outside development zone”? These three words are really not hard to understand and I assume that there is a Maltese expression for them as well. Given that the learned gentlemen and women involved should, and I am sure do, understand these words, why then is permission given to develop such areas?
Why is it necessary for NGOs such as FAA to waste their precious resources and time in tracking down and trying to halt permits which never should have been issued in the first place? Why is the law being blatantly ignored and in a lot of cases outrageously flaunted (e.g. the Lidl premises in Safi) and nothing is done to punish the perpetrators? Why are illegal buildings in ODZ areas sanctioned? In fact, why are ODZs established in the first place, if they are continuously ignored or overruled?
In Gozo, one only has to look up on arrival at the ferry terminal to see the ghost town of Fort Chambray. A project which was going to supply hundreds of jobs to the people of Gozo. Ten years down the line, the majority of the units are empty and there is no sign of the hundreds of employees bustling around: just a few construction workers moving destroyed lumps of garigue and crushed wild flowers from one dump to another. The fort as such, has of course, been irrevocably destroyed. The few remaining original buildings and bridges are in such a sorry state of repair that I am sure the developers are just waiting for them to fall down on their own so that, new high-rise units can be built.
One moves on to the Kempinski Hotel in San Lawrence – a giant building now resembling an inverted quarry – in the middle of once pristine agricultural land. Another project promising hundreds of jobs in the tourist industry to the Gozitans.
Most of the staff I encountered on my last visit appeared to be unskilled foreign labourers, this included a Bulgarian barman and a Ukrainian waitress. The amount of quarry stone alone that must have been used to build this monstrosity is a tragic waste of raw material, and the quarry needed to supply such stone is now a scar on the landscape.
One should also not forget what has happened to the Mgarr and the Andar Hotels, the former must give a wonderful first impression to incoming visitors! What an absolute, unforgivable waste of natural resources, land and manpower.
The damage to the environment on this little island is already severe. Just look at all the thousands of derelict buildings and unfinished shells that have been left rotting for years. It hardly bears thinking about what will happen to it, if the marina is built in Hondoq, the villas in Ramla and Ta’ Cenc and the numerous other so-called “sustainable developments” that are on the books.
A final few questions: Can Gozo be saved? Will it in fact be worth saving if all this additional construction takes place?
Should we fight for it or should we just let it sink into oblivion? The choice is yours dear readers…
Lesley Kreupl,
Gharb
The European Court of Justice has once again decided that social dumping in the form of low wages, in direct rejection of member states’ collective agreements, is permissible in the EU.
Indeed, the Ruffert case in Germany follows the Laval-Vaxholm case in Sweden and the Viking Line case in Finland. This time around, a Polish subcontractor of a German company is being given permission to pay workers less than 50% of the minimum wage provided for by the applicable collective agreement in Germany. The European Court of Justice is quoting Article 49 of the EU Treaty in force, which prohibits any restriction to freedom to provide services.
The Ruffert case shows that through its new Treaty, the EU is moving away from a social-model. Employers can shift workers from one country to another and pay them wages lower then those established by law in the countries they are shifted to. Workers end up with low wages in the name of neo-liberalism.
Zminijietna – Voice of the Left reaffirms that, save for Ireland, where a referendum shall take place, the EU Treaty is being imposed on the peoples of Europe in an anti-democratic way. Malta is a case in point. Zminijietna joins the Leftist and Progressive forces of the EU such as the United Left / Nordic Green Left bloc and the Confederation of European Trade Unions in their call against a low-cost Europe and in favour of a social Europe. Another Europe is possible.
Michael Briguglio
PRO, Zminijietna - Voice of the Left
Your article of 23 March 2008 entitled “Trading in influence charges possible…” refers. The Kamra tal-Periti would like to point out that neither Charles Calleja nor Carmel Portelli, formerly of DCC Board ‘A’, are “retired architects” and neither has ever held a warrant from the President of Malta allowing them to practice the profession of a “perit” as required by Law (vide chapter 390 of the Laws of Malta).
Without wanting to suggest any questionable conduct on the part of these two gentlemen, your article of 23 March came in the wake of the recent DCC controversy and referring to them as retired architects seems to hint at a barely veiled intent to place the collective blame for any shortcomings of MEPA, its procedures and its boards on the architectural profession. It should be noted that not all DCC board members are “periti” and since November 2007, the number was further reduced to only three on each board.
The spate of highly speculative allegations in recent months, levelled against “periti” in some quarters, as well as by certain individuals, is unfairly portraying the entire profession in a bad light. If your paper or any individual has evidence of misconduct by a “perit” they should refer such to the Kamra tal-Periti which is the entity legally empowered to investigate such cases and recommend appropriate disciplinary action to the minister responsible.
Damian Vella Lenicker
Chairperson – Professional Practice
Kamra Tal-Periti
This letter is in response to the MTA official quoted in an article which appeared on the MaltaToday on 16 April: “How Malta’s summers will soon turn people away”.
It is quite unbelievable to read how unconcerned Mr Drake is about Malta’s future in the tourism industry. If the conclusions were “logical”, I think one should act fast and not say “let’s see what happens”. It seems that there should be more of a long-term vision, and this kind of attitude does not surely help in resolving Malta’s future potential tourism problems. Do we have to lose all our tourism before we realise the importance of attracting more cultural tourists (who are less seasonal than sun and sea tourists)?
Stephan Cassar
Mosta
It is very much evident that there is a very well-orchestrated spin in most of the local media. The target is the Malta Labour Party. The objective is obvious. Confuse the party delegates and the members at a time when they are trying to come to grips with the recent slim but painful general election loss. The spin is also on to try and divide the Malta Labour Party faithful as they are getting ready to elect a new leader and two deputy leaders.
Meanwhile the same section of the media is doing its best to turn its back and almost ignore completely the goings on, albeit discreetly, in the Nationalist Party in government. To mention but a few examples such as the Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and the Mistra scandal, the Mepa debacles and the almost secretive decision to rejoin the Partnership for Peace without any consultation with the Opposition.
The Malta Labour Party and all its members should not let themselves be manipulated or bullied by anyone. The Nationalist government has only the backing of a relative majority to govern and a just a one-seat majority in parliament. Thus this government should not be let to run roughshod over half the population that voted for the Malta Labour Party in opposition.
Facing this never ending spin the Malta Labour Party should get its bearings in order, focus and get ready for a very well-organised general meeting to elect a new leader and two deputy leaders. This is of utmost importance. This responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the party administration and the electoral commission. They have to make sure that these important and crucial elections will be fair and administered smoothly. The Malta Labour Party’s future depends on these elections.
All the contenders should be given equal time and fair opportunity to put forward their case to the delegates, and indeed all the party members, and even to the general public before the elections in June. This should be done through a very well-organized set up both on One Television and on Super One Radio and the party’s newspaper KullHadd and the electronic newspaper Malta Star.com.
The candidates vying for the leadership of the Labour Party should try and convince the delegates and members alike, and also the general public, that they are the best to lead the party and move it forward to win the next general election. All the contenders should come out and proclaim very clearly that they are ready to work with everyone within the party. Each and every one of the leadership candidates must be very clear in putting forward their vision for the party.
The Malta Labour Party is a very big party. Its members demand the very best from its leadership. The party members want substance and above all unity and not divisions. They want an inclusive party that will be capable to attract a wider base of support than it has had for the past years. The last election results were a big blow to one and all in the party.
The Malta Labour party is bigger than any individual or groups of individuals (“klikek”). Thus all the leadership candidates have the responsibility to get the party well organised and ready to move forward. People who for some reason or other were out of the picture should be welcomed back to help the party get forward under the new leadership come June.
All the leadership contenders must proclaim themselves to be ready to accept whoever is elected to lead the party and stand foursquare behind them. Whoever is not ready to do so should back out of the race right now. The Malta Labour Party is a great party. It must learn from its mistakes. It deserves to govern these islands. To achieve this goal everyone within the party must work in unity and harmony and ignore all the media spin and get the job in hand done and elect the right team to lead the party.
That is the only way forward.
Victor Grech
Via email
Everyone knows that sins can be committed either by commission or omission. Sins of commission writings that harm the MLPsuch as those that appear regularly in the Times and Sunday Times of Malta or other papers by some former Labour stalwarts. Someone even appears to have a grudge and could not get it out of his system as he refers to it periodically. Such articles did contribute somehow to the defeat of the MLP through the loss of some votes, even if few. And then they try to find fault with the election campaign instead of thumping their chest.
Sins can also be committed by omission. Silence is not always golden. Keeping silent often does not help; other times it harms. Certain known personality or personalities could have at least tried to help the MLP either by intervening when used as a whip against the Party or by encouraging others openly to vote Labour. A couple of votes more in favour of the MLP in each electoral booth would have turned defeat into a victory even if it were with a flimsy majority like that of GonziPN. But no, help was declined, no help has been forthcoming.
There seems to be a reason that has now emerged. A win for the MLP, Dr Alfred Sant would have been confirmed as Leader. With a loss we are witnessing the consequences. Some of those who harmed the party by commission and some of those who harmed it by omission have emerged out of their limbo.
Hence it appears that some of these were more concerned about Dr A. Sant’s fortunes or misfortunes than that of the MLP winning the elections, to the chagrin of its thousands of adherents. Over 100,000 have not only to suffer in silence, but are being faced with the possibility of being led by someone who could have avoided such suffering.
F. Farrugia
Ta’ Xbiex
Being one of those Labour supporters who for the last 10 years or so felt we did not fit in our party for far too many reasons, I feel now the time has come to stand up and be counted and instead break the silence we fell into for the so-called “good of the party”. So here I am shouting loud and clear that the Labour party has one man to choose for its next leader… George Abela.
We need a man who can push Labour to the centre of Malta’s political spectrum and close the chapter of old fashioned, unelectable and socialist politics. All social democratic leaders across Europe who wanted their party in government did that, so why shouldn’t we do the same? Aren’t we done with one humiliation after another? Aren’t we fed up of being called “miskin” because we vote Labour? Did we need to sink so low in order to wake up to the harsh reality that Labour was unelectable?
Labour needs change: not a cosmetic musical chairs exercise, but a change in mentality, style and last but not least, in its leadership. We need a strong leader who can do whatever is necessary to rebuild the trust Labour lost with the middle classes, floating voters and youths. We need a leader who can do all the reforms Labour badly needs without looking at whose corns he’s going to tread on. George Abela is that man. He will get rid of the extremists who seem to be trapped in a time warp, because he has no ‘klikek’ so he won’t beat an eyelid if some head needs to roll, because no gain comes without pain.
George is a man of vision and charisma who can match and even surpass Lawrence Gonzi. He will rid us of the siege mentality that has infected us for ages. He is no traitor, but a leader with the guts to say Labour was wrong in going for the 1998 election, even though he risked his political career in doing so. Others, who felt the same, thought otherwise and preferred to remain silent, or worse, clapped their hands in the extraordinary general conference that sealed Labour’s fate for at least two generations. Some of these men now are expecting the delegates vote for the upcoming leadership election, but Labour needs a leader, not a follower or a lackey.
One last word for the Labour party’s delegates. You have a very important decision to make. A decision that can restore Labour back to its former splendour; or to run the risk, like Miriam Spiteri Debono put it last Sunday, of making the Labour party the Malta Opposition Party. You have only one question to ask before casting your vote for the next leader; who can lead us to victory in the next election? Don’t be afraid of change, choose George Abela.
Eric Saliba
Hamrun
I can see that the heading of this letter is going to get a lot of people’s backs up at an early stage, so let me explain it. Do I mean by the heading that global warming is not taking place? Of course not, as we have evidence to prove otherwise. What I do dispute is the concerted efforts of organisations and governments to convince the people of the world that they can do something about it, at a price! That is where it becomes a scam.
If you want to know what causes global warming then I suggest you take a look skywards. You will observe a large yellow object called the sun, which has been involved in global warming for over 4.5 billion years. But what about carbon dioxide (CO2), I hear you say? Doesn’t that cause global warming? In a word, no. There is absolutely no proof to connect a slight increase in CO2 levels with a rise in global temperatures.
Lets look at a few facts about CO2. Has there actually been a measurable increase in the levels of CO2 within the earth’s atmosphere? This is something which can be determined quite easily by taking ice core and sedimentary rock core samples, and the answer is yes. In the past 150 years the level of CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere has increased by 1 part in 10,000. I’m using the past 150 years as an example because it corresponds with the highest outputs of CO2 in earth’s history due to the industrial development over that period.
So how much of the earth’s atmosphere is actually composed of CO2? Not very much, actually. Atmospheric gas is primarily composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% argon. Carbon dioxide manages to sneak in there somewhere at 0.038%. So according to the doom and gloom merchants, every ill which befalls the earth is caused by global warming, which in turn is caused by CO2, which is approximately 1/3 of one percent of the entire atmosphere, and which has remained almost unchanged since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Total nonsense!
Carbon dioxide is important to the survival of the earth and should not be treated as some sort of doomsday pollutant. The indisputable fact, as borne out by core samples taken from sedimentary rock and glaciers, show that Co2 levels in our atmosphere were much higher in ancient times than they are today. Times we must remember when there were no cars, planes, ships or any other fuel burning machines to blame it on. So why is CO2 so important to our survival?
Studies have shown that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere governs the rate of plant growth on earth. As CO2 levels increase plant growth also increases. Plants “breathe in” CO2, extract the carbon element to use as food, and “breathe out” oxygen. Therefore CO2 is the base of the food chain for all animal life on earth, including humans. CO2 levels today are actually extremely low by historical standards and by reducing them further we could well have an adverse effect on plant growth. This could lead to a devastating fall in world food supplies, at a time when they are already being affected by the increase in the growth of grain for bio-fuel production.
So why then are we being told that “global warming” is down to us pumping Co2 into the atmosphere? In a word, control. If Governments told us the truth that global warming was caused by solar activity they would have to concede that we have no control over it. However, by linking global warming to CO2 they can make us all responsible which means they can tax us to hell and back.
My late father used to say, “if the government could tax the air we breathe they would”. Well, guess what dad? They just found a way!
James A. Tyrrell,
Northern Ireland
I refer to a letter signed by Mr Mario Mifsud in his capacity as Public Relations Officer of the Malta Motorsport Federation (No support for dragsters, MaltaToday, 20 April 2008).
The Council of the Malta Motorsport Federation expresses its disapproval of the content of the aforementioned letter and affirms that in line with the provisions of the Federation’s statute, it is the direct and complete prerogative of member clubs to decide upon their respective participation at events whether these be charitable or otherwise. Whilst supportive of this and indeed similar initiatives, this unequivocal statutory position was upheld by the Council following due consideration of Mr Mifsud’s grievance received a few days following the event in question.
Mr Mifsud’s association with this event was undertaken entirely on a personal level so his categorical references to the Malta Motorsport Federation and particularly to one of its member clubs are rendered even more incomprehensible. The Council of the Malta Motorsport Federation deplores this action and disassociates itself from any implications which may arise from the letter’s potentially damaging content. The Council therefore has no option but to reserve its right to protect and safeguard the interests, credibility and reputation of the Federation and its members.
In the meantime, Mr Mifsud was invited by the Council to explain the rationale behind his decision to articulate and publish such a letter.
Brian St John
President - Malta Motorsport Federation
