The bias shown by Matthew Vella in his interview with Mgr Philip Calleja (19 October) is unbelievable.
The title, “Where is the crisis?”, is meant to influence the reader against the views of Mgr Calleja. The statement issued by the Emigrants Commission headed by the monsignor is gratuitously called a “topsy-turvy message”, while the figures of live births contrasted with those of illegal immigrants are dismissed as a “fallacy” because they cover only nine months.
Are we to consider the quarterly statistics on tourist arrivals, trade balances, etc as fallacies since they do not cover a year?
Is it really debatable whether a forced influx of illegal migrants that approximates the natural growth of the local population, constitutes a crisis? Can Matthew Vella quote one country where this is happening, and in that case whether this is taken as lightly as he is taking the situation in Malta? Does the falling birth-rate in Malta render the growing number of illegal immigrants as irrelevant to the possibility of a crisis?
Are we expected to suppress facts and figures if they may lead to abuse by right-wing firebrands? This is what he expected Mgr Calleja to do.
Why is it that Matthew Vella seeks to demolish the valuable work done over decades by the Church’s Emigrants Commission towards persons of all creeds and colours by implying that the inspiration was not Christian charity, but a “veneer of Maltese nativism – the belief that being white, Maltese and Catholic should be a perennial aspiration for Malta”? Should one be scandalised if the Church also showed concern that foreign influences could have a negative effect on the faith of its followers?
There is much more that can be said, but I prefer to keep my comments short.

Evarist Saliba
Tal-Ibragg

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