Editorial

Foreign students who come to Malta to learn English are a precious commodity. They service a thriving industry, fill accommodation that might be otherwise quiet and project a youthful image which encourages other young people to visit the island.

The significance of the latter point is obvious: young people are the older, higher spending tourists of the future. If they enjoy their stay here, the likelihood is they will return at some point later in life. Therefore, it is the kind of custom people here should not attempt to rubbish.

Of course, students should abide by the country’s laws and adhere to certain standards. And it is the duty of their respective language schools to ensure they are aware of this. If they fail to do so, students should be dealt with in the appropriate manner.

That said, however, it is difficult not to feel a measure of sympathy for the students who were caught skinny dipping in St George’s Bay earlier this month, for two reasons.

One, because of the punishment they received. Two young Spaniards, and the following day, four Italians, were each handed suspended jail sentences for the crime – a foolish act, granted, but one that did not merit such severity, not least because it was carried out in the small hours of the morning on a beach that is right next to an entertainment area, Paceville, where we encourage students to spend their money on alcohol.

To add a little perspective, this is the same type of sentence that was handed down by our courts just a month earlier to a man who pleaded guilty to human trafficking for the purposes of prostitution and running brothels.

How the courts manage to apply the ridiculously overused suspended sentence – which the Chief Justice has himself questioned the use of – to such different levels of offence is difficult for any reasonable person to fathom.

Secondly, who can blame students for being a little confused as to which laws are enforced in Malta and which are not?

Earlier this year, The Sunday Times visited 14 bars in St Julian’s and Paceville – where students congregate – over two evenings, and found that the ban on smoking in public spaces, introduced by Parliament six years ago, was being ignored with impunity.

Not only were the police not doing anything about the situation, but one of them was contributing to it by lighting up a cigarette himself even though he was in uniform.

While nudity in public may offend public morals, even under the cover of darkness, smoking and passive smoking cause cancer, which leads to a slow and painful death. Yet the authorities choose to enforce the law relating to the former and not the latter.

Other examples of non-enforcement in the country abound.

Only this month did this newspaper highlight that a law which requires higher levels of energy efficiency and the installation of reservoirs in new buildings was still being ignored without penalty several years after its introduction. Not to mention ongoing cases of illegal hunting.

The situation we find ourselves in is, therefore, inconsistent at best and downright unjust at worst.

It is wrong to hang out students to dry – criminal records that make mention of custodial sentences can ruin their future job prospects – while at the same time failing to take action in other areas.

The law is there for everybody, not just for easy targets.