New President urges country to move away from partisan mentality

Dr Francis Saliba

Apr 11th 2009, 21:29

@FrancoFarrugia.

I do not know where you got the wrong idea that I read L-Orizzont or any other newspaper - not even when whole paragraphs from L-Orizzont are "copied and pasted" to the online timesofmalta.

I respect your desire ( which at the same time you denythat it is a pious hope) that Art 2 of the Constitution would be updated to meet your expectations. You know what you should do about it - it will be interesting to see how far your effort will get you.

Franco Farrugia

Apr 11th 2009, 12:45

@ Francis Saliba: Probably, you read L-Orizzont more than I do because I would not touch that newspaper, along with some other one, with a yardstick. Obviously, you think otherwise.

I hardly have any 'pious hopes' with regard to the Constitution; but since you bring up the subject, yes, there are certain things in it which need updating, such as Article 2.

Dr Francis Saliba

Apr 10th 2009, 17:50

@Franco Farrugia "Cut and paste" is the favourite of those who submit whole selected paragraphs from L-Orizzont, Wikepedia etc. I do not do that. I do quote our Constitution for the benefit of those who criticise the correct deportment of our Church and State leaders and for no better reason than their disagreement with the clear provisions of our Constitution and their pious hopes that someday in the future it would be amended to conform with their wishes.

Franco Farrugia

Apr 9th 2009, 10:23

@ Mr Joe Grima: And as the saying goes, Mr Grima: The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Time will tell.

Franco Farrugia

Apr 8th 2009, 19:41

@ Mr Francis Saliba: You seem to love cut-and-paste expressions ... you appear to use them ad nauseam.
The President of the Republic and other Ministers have every right to uphold their religious beliefs as long as they do not try to push them down the throats of the citizens in this country. The should be a clear separation between Church and State.
I, for one, would never accept a situation where the Church does not or cannot express the teachings that it believes in. Likewise I cannot accept that this country becomes a Catholic taliban. as things are showing.
As a citizen of Malta, I have the right to know the issues that were discussed by one of my country's Ministers with a foreign state.
Otherwise, this will start looking like what Mintoff and his ministers used to do when they went abroad to countries behind the Iron Curtain!
Nothing more, nothing less.
Please, bear in mind that not everyone shares your sentiments and feelings and beliefs, or in the same measure.
Please, bear in mind that there is such a thing as re-thinking that has to be done between one generation and the next.

Joe Grima

Apr 8th 2009, 08:50

There goes the Church, raising its head again on a matter of constiutinal purport, riding the faith bandwagon to strengthen its position with an open, public push The Archbishop would like Geooge Abela to be a carbon copy of EFA, subservient to the Church , hiding behind values to maintain the status quo. Mgr Cremona has a couple of surprises coming. In the famous words of Senator Bentsen to Dan Quayle:(Senator I knew Jack Kennedy...) Archbishop, I know GA, GA is my friend, Archbishop, GA is no EFA

Dr Francis Saliba

Apr 8th 2009, 04:13

Here we go again. The usual unrepresentative, noisy minority abusively applying the principle of separation of Church and State, irrelevantly and outrageously. in an attempt to suppress the constitutional right and duty of the Catholic hierarchy to teach what is right and what is wrong and now also the right of freedom of association by the President of the Republic and Ministers of state in the exercise of their religious beliefs and their official duties. Next they will be demanding to be told what advice they may have sought or been given and what sins they have confessed! The sky is the limit as far as their audacious demands are concerned.

Franco Farrugia

Apr 7th 2009, 17:46

@ Mr Barbieri: My sincere apologies for having misunderstood you. Intolerance at other people's opinions has once again become the order of the day, here in Malta. As regards the media's 'big fuss' ... oh well, it will soon blow over and everything will fall into its old place. Or perhaps, time will prove both of us wrong. Let's hope so.

Gianluca Barbieri

Apr 7th 2009, 17:39

@Franco Farrugia - I wasn't referring to you mate. I was talking about the media coverage the new president is getting. It's as if the new messiah of Malta has come. When at the end of the day he doesn't have any say in the administration of the country. He's just there only to act as a figure head. All i wish is that our President isn't a photocopy of the Queen Elizabeth and becomes a little bit more executive like President Sarkozy. In fact i also agree with you that this country must separate the church from the state but i doubt this will ever happen in this blessed island cause the church is still a strong entity that affects politicians in decision making. That's why we're always going to be a conservative country and not a liberal one.

Franco Farrugia

Apr 7th 2009, 16:16

@ Mr Barbieri: No 'big fuss 'at all. Merely voicing my opinion as a citizen, or isn't it in the constitution to make one's opinion heard, nowadays?

Gianluca Barbieri

Apr 7th 2009, 14:02

What's the big fuss? The President doesn't have any executive powers... just a figure head.. Just read paragraph 72 of the constitution...

Quote: "72. (1) The power of Parliament to make laws shall be
exercised by bills passed by the House of Representatives and
assented to by the President.
(2) When a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall
without delay signify that he assents."

My Idea would be that instead of that sentence, if the President doesn't assent, he can send it back to Parliament for a second reading. It would give him some authority at least.

Franco Farrugia

Apr 7th 2009, 11:24

I respect the Church a lot.
However, I also believe in the seperation between Church and State.
In this context, the new President has not shown much zeal. He has even allowed himself to be 'lectured' by Bishop Mario Grech through a prepared speech.
I sincerely hope that the new President will preside over a lay state.

A. Farrugia

Apr 7th 2009, 10:32

"Mgr Cremona, in his homily during the ceremonial Mass held on Saturday when the President took his oath of office, had said he believed God entrusted the country in Dr Abela's hands to uphold Catholic values..."

I take issue with this approach... The choice of Dr. Abela for president was taken by the people, specifically, the elected representatives of the Maltese people, not by God. Moreover, the country does not expect Dr. Abela to uphold (specifically) CATHOLIC values, it expects Dr. Abela to fulfill the role of president in the best interests for Malta and ALL its people. By speaking as if Dr. Abela is some God-appointed statesmen that will defend catholic values one would be making a grave mistake, as once again we'd be mixing religion and politics, and that spectre should never raise its head again.

Allow me to conclude with an example - would Dr. Abela, in the name of catholic values, be 'obliged' to refuse co-operating with Parliament should divorce legislation discussions be ongoing? The Head of State should not be mixed with the Head of the Catholic Church - is this desirable to some quarters, may I ask?