Fable with a moral for modern Malta

The story (as attributed to Aesop who lived more than 2,500 years ago) narrates that a heavily pregnant porcupine, lost in the forest, was looking for a good home for the winter. At last she found a little sheltered cave where lived a family of snakes.

She asked them to let her share the cave with them, and the snakes, taking pity, kindly consented. Shortly the porcupine gave birth, thus increasing their number. The snakes soon wished they had not given her permission to stay. Her sharp quills pricked them at every turn, and at last they politely asked her to leave.

"I am very well satisfied, thank you," said the porcupine. "I intend to stay right here." And with that, she politely escorted the numerous snakes out of doors. And to save their skins, the snakes had to look for another home.

Does this provide a lesson and a premonition regarding the never-ending stream of illegal immigrants? Note: Aesop had written this story in relation to an actual event on one of the Greek islands. In fact, similar incidents have happened throughout the history of mankind and are still occurring even in the present times.

All this has nothing to do with xenophobia but with facing the hard facts of life. To mention a few of the recent events, one has only to look at what happened in Lebanon, the Balkans, Georgia, Cyprus, etc. Let us by all means show our Christian love and charity but let us also be very careful and wary. The birth rate of ethnic Maltese is very low compared to Africans. How will this affect the balance in the years to come?

Another future problem will be if any of the humanitarian cases would ever be able to return to their countries. Would these be willing to give up Western civilisation?

Therefore, as an interim measure I suggest and highly recommend that the two parties in Parliament should seek expert advice and unite in a common front. One possible transitory solution would be that absolutely under no circumstances should any of the "forced" immigrants be given any form of Maltese citizenship or voting rights, not even at local elections. And this should apply also to their descendants, independent of where they were born or how long their family had been residing in Malta. This is not a question of integration. These people have a history of aversion against any type of social and cultural integration and assimilation.

As an example, in England there are localities that have been "taken over" by certain ethnic groups that have now become so strong that they object that Easter, Christmas and related decorations be publicly displayed as they feel it will confuse their children. Even school nativity plays have been banned. And this happened within the span of less than 60 years! We must learn from the harsh lessons of others; we owe it to our children. Let him who can see open his eyes, study the future well and consider all the implications.