Pamela Hansen

The Malta Labour Party needs to do more than distance itself from one of its MPs' racist comments. It should sack him. His place is with Josie's motley grouping.

It is not good enough for the Labour Party general secretary Jason Micallef to insist that the comments were "personal opinion and not the MLP's stand". Mr Sammut was making his comments in Parliament as an MLP member.

The member in question, Joe M. Sammut, is obviously trying to get noticed and get some (questionable) mileage with the next election in mind. He proposed, in Parliament on Tuesday, that a segregated bus service for immigrants was one option which would ease his constituents' commuter problems.

This comes in the wake of various reports of certain bus drivers applying arbitrary decisions on who should board their bus.

According to The Times report, Dr Sammut, in his adjournment speech, complained that migrants were turning parts of Marsa into no-go areas, adding that Birzebbuga residents were having to wait long hours for a bus because it was always "full up with migrants" going to the Hal Far camp.

He proposed that the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) either increase the number of buses on the route or introduce a different service for migrants.

The "no-go areas" in Marsa comment indicates that Mr Sammut has a wider agenda than just looking after local commuters' interests. And, if his speech was reported correctly, one wonders at the calibre of people we have representing us in Parliament.

"Dr Sammut said that, while he was not a racist, he was concerned that even a senior police officer had admitted he was afraid to go to certain parts of Marsa after certain hours. The immigrants were rendering parts of Malta as no-go areas."

If he were not a racist, he would have stopped at the first option on the commuter problem, which was to increase the service on very busy routes.

As to the "no-go" areas in certain parts of Marsa, as was pointed out to him, that particular area has been notorious for various nefarious activities from prostitution to crime before the open centre was located there.

But Dr Sammut (and this is why I wonder about certain abilities of some of our local parliamentarians) indicated that, as long as "local people" are involved, he is not interested in the "no-go area" argument.

That apparently is only relevant when immigrants are present.

Why the decision to have a centre for immigrants in such an area also raises questions. Is it because prostitutes and criminals, also shunned by society, tend to be less prejudiced? That perhaps could also explain why immigrants, ironically, feel safer in such environments.

And is the senior police officer, who is "scared" to go to Marsa "after certain hours", also scared when "local people" are involved?

I think Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg needs to know of the scaredy cats present in the senior police ranks. This statement opens up a can of very wriggly worms.

This is how Dr Sammut 'eloquently' described the area to Ariadne Massa, as reported on Thursday: "Try going there at night... It's as if you're entering a gangland. Security should be stepped up. While we are trying to upgrade Malta to five-star status, Marsa remains a shantytown. The EU has to do something."

That the EU should get involved with the fact that one of our red light districts is out of control is laughable. Unfortunately, as a rather vulgar Maltese saying goes, Dr Sammut is "mixing up lettuce with flatulence".

The Maltese words for lettuce and flatulence rhyme better because they both end in "ass".

Besides, a shanty town is a poor, depressed area, but not necessarily an area where crime and prostitution are prevalent. So here again, Dr Sammut needs to decide what exactly he is trying to put across other than a racist rant.

New project at Hal Farrug

The bigwigs were out in force, as was the wind at Hal Farrug on Thursday. The occasion was the laying of the foundation stone of a new Lufthansa Technik hangar.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, the CEO and chairman of the executive board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Archbishop Paul Cremona, Minister for Investments, Industry and Information Technology Austin Gatt, Dr Thomas Stuger, CE Product and Services of Lufthansa Technik AG, past and present Air Malta chairmen, bankers, other CEOs, union executives, the media and more were welcomed to the ceremony by Lufthansa Technik Malta, CEO, Louis Giordimaina.

As I arrived, the wind had already caused havoc with the potted palms outside the mobile tent erected for the occasion and, as we sat through the inevitable speeches, the creaking frame holding up the structure unnerved me.

I was, however, distracted and amused by the Polidano trucks strategically placed to form part of the tableau. I also later caught a glimpse of Ic-Caqnu, who will be building the hangar, in the crowd at the reception.

I could not help think that, should the worst happen, most of Malta's and Lufthansa's top brass would have been felled in one swoop.

Fortunately, the structure was not as frail as it sounded.

On a serious note, the expansion project involves an investment of over €55 million by the government and Lufthansa Technik AG. Lufthansa has increased its shares to 92 per cent and Air Malta has retained an eight per cent share.

The new project will generate over 500 new jobs over the next four to five years, Mr Giordimaina told his guests.

He also recognised the contribution and support not only of the minister but all the employees to the success of the company and, as to the latter, and the Union Haddiema Maghqudin and the Association of the Airline Engineers, following the conclusion of two important collective agreements earlier this year.

The new complex of a hangar, workshops and offices will be financed by Malta Industrial Parks Ltd and leased to Lufthansa Technik Malta.

The hangar will accommodate two wide-body aircraft and two narrow-body aircraft simultaneously. Operations are due to start in the last quarter of next year.

This was Mr Mayrhuber's first visit to Malta and it was great to hear that he was very impressed by Valetta's architecture. He visited St John's Co-Cathedral, was introduced to the President and given a tour of the Palace.

He told me he had seen pictures of Valletta and they were impressive, but the real thing was even better. He intends to come back on holiday with his family. Maybe the MTA could use Mr Mayrhuber as one of their VIP ambassadors for Malta in Germany.