Voluntary commitment enigma

The immigration pact has raised a lot of dust, heat and emotion - and this is not bound to calm down soon without the appearance of concrete, tangible solutions.

Opinion regarding this pact has been widely expressed everywhere and not least in the columns of The Times - which is not a political party paper though the majority of its readers seem to be usually right of centre. I say "usually" because of the fact that the floating voter phenomenon seems to have increased in Malta.

But, considering that this phenomenon is not moved by high percentages, it is surprising that The Times survey among its readers produced a very high percentage of 78 per cent hostility to this pact while, excluding those who do not care, only a handful of readers have welcomed this pact as positive.

The latter suspect the 78 per cent of lack of human sentiment while the 78 per cent accuse them of lack of patriotism and Europeanism.

This accusation of lack of Europeanism is in itself enigmatic as it embraces Europeanity while suspecting European continentals of egoism as far as burden-sharing arrangements (or promises thereof) are concerned.

Most Maltese are apparently angry at the word "voluntary" in the burden sharing pact. This anger may be related to a number of factors: Frontex admission of failure, UNHCR unconvincing argumentation and insufficient conviction of the validity of this pact.

Tolerance is a virtue and even pacts require tolerance to be better understood. If they are not understood or downrightly rejected, they may not have been sufficiently explained or logically promoted. This first step of tolerance excludes a total negativity of a marketed pact.

A first superficial impression obtained from the contents of this pact is that logic precludes the coexistence of volition as choice and commitment as obligation. The reasoning by most people is that if I commit myself to do something, it means I have to do it whereas, if I agree to do something on a voluntary basis, I am not obliged to do it. At least in the contracts and agreements many people put their signatures to, they understand things as above, maybe not from a legal point of view (as most people are non legal) but from a linguistically logical point of view.

Let us for a moment posit that pacts are made for only legal persons to understand while we the legally ignorant must accept and adore. If legal language admits the possibility of a coexistence of volition and commitment, then I would assume that no legal person in Malta would see a contradiction in the promotion of a pact wherein volition and commitment coexist. But all legal persons in Malta have not welcomed the wholesomeness of this pact. Which means either that it is possible to be legal and biased from a political emotion point of view or else that legality refutes contradiction in the same way that it is refuted by linguistic logic.

I have followed patiently the marketing of this pact and, frankly, while giving the benefit of the doubt to the possibility of legally permissible cocktailing of will and obligation, I still require better explanation from the drafters of apparently - though not necessarily - unmixable notions.

The importance of the two Rs

We have all heard about the 3 Rs in relation to basic education. Few, however, have come across the application of the 2 Rs strategy in relation to candidate selection by boards. The 2 Rs are reason and rationality or, better still, rational reasoning.

I sometimes speak to people who have attended interviews and their stories provide amusing description of adventure.

In one case a candidate treaded into an interview room around which sat sundry portly ladies, covering the total perimeter of the table. The latter was carpeted with nibbles - especially pastizzi. The dialogue was pleasant especially since the portly ladies used their Rs very well.

Another person told me that he was politely grilled by another Rs team who strove to tickle his talents out of his innermost artistic subconscious and logical ego. A portly presence of the Rs was here conspicuous too. The candidate was told that on his first day of work he must know his job perfectly well - which beats the requirements of lecturers, ministers and all the other professions.

Choral progress

Voices have included a Maltese song in their repertoire. This gives cultural pride to the choir members and the public. More next time!

Verdala Castle

Its beauty must be seen to be believed. At first I wasn't so sure about going, as an internet site I visited declares twice that this castle has a "dinning hall".

Dr Licari teaches psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and geolinguistics at the Department of French of the University of Malta.