Editorial | Sunday, 15 February 2009

PRINT THIS ARTICLE

Scrapping the nonsense

The Prime Minister’s decision to finally scrap the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation’s ludicrous plans to dig an underground museum in Valletta shows how much the government feared losing a motion moved by the Opposition on the project.
More than just a victory of public opinion stirred by the persistence of the tiny but vociferous NGO Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar, this is a victory of sensibility over an ill-thought idea to spend millions in EU funds for this project.
Politically, the victor is Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, whose opposition to the project stemmed primarily from his antagonistic relationship with Richard Cachia Caruana, who sits on the Foundation’s board.
Noticing the division that existed in a government with a one-seat majority, Labour lost no time in exploiting this situation and take advantage of it by proposing its motion, and voicing its dissent.
All the pretexts and justifications behind the plans, blessed under the archaic figure of Mgr Philip Calleja, were total nonsense. The argument that the museum needs to house its hidden treasures under the Cathedral at all costs was a non-starter. Just because the Perellos tapestries were donated to the Cathedral, it does not follow that one is justified in compromising the very foundations of this unique building left to us by the Knights of St John. Using the same argument, the Museum of Fine Arts, also situated in the capital, should be digging underground to exhibit the thousands of paintings that are stored away from the public because of lack of exhibition space. But nobody should dig one inch in Valletta, which is rich of underground networks that are also a neglected part of our heritage.
The foundation managing the Co-Cathedral is itself an outdated creature born out of a funny compromise between the government and the Church over the unsolved dispute of who owns this majestic building. In our eyes, there is no question about it: the Knights were the effective government of the country when they built it, hence it is the government which should manage it, primarily as a museum of global heritage importance more than anything else.
And yet, it was thanks to the Church – through the Cathedral Chapter, and finally the Archbishop’s refusal to give in to the plans promoted by government – that the plan fell through.
Richard Cachia Caruana said he was “sad” that the decision to abandon this folly was not taken by professionals. Besides the fact that he must be the only person in Malta, nay, in faraway Brussels, to be saddened by this sensible decision, since when, we ask, have “professionals” become decision makers?
Some may applaud Gonzi for putting his foot down. But we are frankly tired of having to laud Gonzi for realising that he is just wrong after wasting months on this project, as he did with the golf course and is bound to do with the new parliament building proposal.
Which brings us to another important question – that whether building a parliament on the ruins of the Royal Opera House at a time of global economic crisis is needed when other pressing concerns demand attention. The fact that it has not been budgeted, leaves the project open to serious doubts on whether this will constitute a justifiable capital expense that will be borne by the taxpayer.
Again, it is clear the people do not want a parliament, and we anticipate another U-turn in the coming months. No problem with that, Dr Gonzi, just stop wasting our time.

Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below.
Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.