Recall for a minute the adrenaline racing through their veins in the election campaign. The allegations and counter-allegations, the abuse and the accusations followed by a deluge of libel suits from both sides of the border, and the mounting legal fees. Forget for a moment all the public funds that are needed for the administration of the courts, and the expenses required for the courts to listen to all this crap.
Then last Wednesday, MaltaToday revealed how the Labour party and the Nationalist party had agreed behind everyone’s backs to drop all legal procedures against each other. Not the ones against third parties, including those against this newspaper. But the ones that concern the two parties. Not the ones which, for example, involve former Labour deputy leader Michael Falzon against this newspaper, who unjustly and wrongly blamed Anton Dougall for a vicious letter sent to him.
Not the libel suit instituted by Richard Cachia Caruana, who was offended by the assumption that he has been the brains for so much of the spin and bile against those who oppose the Gonzi administration.
The libel sham between the two parties proves two things: first and foremost, that electoral campaigns are based on a collegial form of theatrical abuse that should not be taken seriously; and secondly, that the press laws are misused and misconstrued.
I will not mince my words. The vexatious libel suits filed against this newspaper and others are only aimed at stopping them operating. It rests on politicians such as Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici to stand up and reform the press laws, and a create a legally-instituted press ethics commission that can secure just remedies for people who feel aggravated by incorrect reporting.
Instead, the State protects bloggers whose mission is to spread lies and harass critics. And by the State, I mean the Prime Minister.
It is ironic that this very week, a judge issues a court order blocking the publication of the name of a parliamentary secretary who served as a lawyer and advised his client not to reveal the name of a well-known businessman who was allegedly involved in drug trafficking. Judge Galea Debono does not take contempt of court with a pinch of salt. That court order is final.
The same applies to a court order to withhold the publication of the names of those priests who are accused of paedophilia. Abroad the names of priests accused of abusing children get splashed all over the press. Over here, the only things that get splashed in the media are the lurid inventions and spin of some swear-blogger.
Consider the use of court bans on the publication of names: the courts find no problem in protecting the good reputation of people in power, even when they are accused or implicated in the most heinous of crimes. No such dispensation exists for common mortals – and why should it? We should let justice take its course openly and transparently.
But while the names of the powerful get special protection by the courts, others have to resort to instituting libel cases, or filing for court injunctions to protect them from the harassment and lurid inventions and lies. There is little or no joy to get from litigation… satisfaction here is as absent as the Prime Minister’s resolve to openly condemn the hatred that is being dished out at the service of the party-in-government.
The policy used here is that, while some public officials take offence if they are described as some clone of Maria Goretti, they are undisturbed by the torrent of violence and lies transmitted by individuals close to the State. It is a policy emulated by the Israelis towards the Palestinians. “‘For every Israeli life we will take 100 Palestinian lives. For every Israeli rooftop pierced with a home-made bomb we will demolish 10 hectares of citrus orchards and ten acres of Palestinian homes with missiles from our F16s.”
Welcome to the Papal route The kerbs are daubed in white, the potholes hurriedly patched with inferior tarmac, and the roundabouts landscaped to a perfection unseen before.
There is something bizarre about the thinking behind all this patchwork. It seems to follow a strange kind of logic. It is only thanks to a Papal visit that some roads and thoroughfares get the attention they deserve. I wonder if anyone will tell God’s Rottweiler that this Papal view is not the real Malta: the real Malta is untidy pavements, flooded roads, rising and falling road surfaces with open trenches, and unsightly rubbish tips.
Maybe God’s representative will see through this farcical facelift, but I guess even God’s rep can get duped. This superficial facelift says much about government’s logic. And that’s the same logic of the Prime Minister… to treat people with such contempt, to think that most Maltese are so dumb and stupid. It is shocking.
To gauge how disrespectful the PM is to people’s intelligence, one need only look at his reaction to their concerns over the Valletta City Gate project. Gonzi must surely be as happy as a clam for having ignored all this criticism and bullied his way through with the Piano project. He overruled all those who objected to his plans, most especially the ones that suggested that his open-air theatre in Valletta was impractical.
Peter Serracino Inglott, the father figure who served as Eddie Fenech Adami’s ideologue, was overruled and ignored. Earlier this year, PSI remarked about the ugly spin launched by the government against all those who questioned the City Gate project. His decision to distance himself from Gonzi takes quite some courage. I have to say that he re-entered my booklet of the list of people who stand up to be counted.
It also takes quite some gall on the part of the PM to ignore PSI. But then, anyone who knows the PM will remember that he is very good at listening, but not at following people’s advice.
The final rubber stamp was of course MEPA’s, the politically appointed board that falls under the Office of the Prime Minister, headed by the PM’s colleague and friend Austin Walker. That board voted for the City Gate project with the exception of one, Labour MP Roderick Galdes, who of course voted against – because this how this country works.
At least they confirmed what we have always known, that MEPA is nothing more than a rubber stamp for government, and a theatrical get-together of people with the specific role of giving the impression that the planning policy in Malta is independent of any government interests. Nothing new about that: the long list of appointees on government boards and agencies is one sure way to see through government policy even if this policy is diametrically opposed to any ‘logical’ decision.
That is of course a very nice way of putting it. In other words, it is one way of ensuring that government’s autocratic style is rammed down everyone’s throats and that all the blue-eyed boys continue to invest in their future together with the sycophants who live off public funds administered by a spendthrift government.
Which is why I think all this talk of Vision 2015 is one sure way of distracting public attention from the fact that all that interests politicians is staying in power, or acquiring it. I am sure that it is now more than obvious that Vision 2015 is another buzzword for an illusory target.
Before I forget – perhaps I should turn my guns to the calculating manner in which the PM appointed his parliamentary renegades to parliamentary assistants; and in one particular case – JPO – as chairman of a government agency. To quell this rebellion he appointed all the renegades to useless third-in-commands, and when JPO refused to sit in as a parliamentary assistant, he was offered a post as chairman.
I am sure JPO will carry out this role to the best of his abilities, even though it is a role that is discordant with his elected position as a government MP. Members of Parliament should never hold posts as chairpersons of public companies, boards, commissions or agencies. They should be busy legislating – not executing government policy.
I wonder what happened to Gonzi’s electoral promise of processing applications for these chairpersons. Maybe it was part of his Vision 2015… a vision I hope will be put to rest in 2013.
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.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
