CHILDISH FINGERS
I'm not going to comment on the charges that have been or might be laid against either of the Mr Engerers who were in the news recently, except to remark that if in this day and age the cops have nothing better to do with their time than feel the collar of an aging hippy who uses alternative ciggies, then they need some occupational therapy.
Equally, if all that the younger Engerer did was indulge in what many people indulge in the privacy of their own home, then again, the police need to find better things to do with the time for which we're paying.
In any event, the Commissioner is scheduled to give a press conference at four on Tuesday, after I've sent this in, so hopefully the cops will make things clear then.
However, the alacrity with which all the usual suspects jumped to the usual two conclusions is really rather amusing.
With their usual eagerness to spot a conspiracy at the drop of a beret, everyone and his felllow travellers have assumed a) that the Engerers are innocent (which I hope they are, frankly) and b) that their travails with the law are a direct consequence of the younger Engerer's defection to the Labour Party.
Oh please, ladies and gentlemen, take a reality check, do.
Is it really a credible theory that a decision-maker within a political party in the early 21st century, when any little foible can be tweeted, face-booked and otherwise broadcast to the four winds within micro-seconds, would be stupid enough to dare to tell the cops to do their political bididng? I mean, really?
I'm not saying that said decision-makers, in the privacy of their own fantasies, wouldn't like to have a squad of the nation's finest doing their nefarious bidding, merely that no-one in their right mind would be stupid enough to try.
On the other hand, if by some chance, someone has been stupid enough to pull this stunt, and the cops were brown-nosers enough to co-operate, then heads should roll, sharpish. Equally, if some ranker has been trying to ingratiate himself by pulling a stunt he thought would please his bosses, then his head should be sent bumping down the garden path.
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Charlie Borg
Jul 28th 2011, 16:44
I really cannot fathom how we cannot see through a person who, knowing what was to happen to him or her within the next few days, decides to behave in such a manner that the attention would be deflected from the real item at hand, to the fact that he is falsely perceived to be a victim.
Mr Martin Saliba
Jul 26th 2011, 22:13
if you knew that the commisioner was going to talk to the press at 16.00 , why send your comment in just to have it posted by TOM at 15.02 ?? Seems very strange to me this comming from someone who is suposedly not stupid.
Mr Victor Laiviera
Jul 27th 2011, 08:58
It's called a "pre-emptive strike" in military circles. :)
stephen balzan
Jul 26th 2011, 21:50
I am a staunch Nationalist supporter and have till today always believed that the worst Nationalist PM is always better that the best PM Labour Party can offer. Nothing will make me believe that this is a pure coincidence and I am sure this was trigerred in my opinion by Cyrus's shift to PL. Although I have serious doubts about Cyrus's principles, I respect his decision. While hoping that Messrs. Engerer will get what they deserve if they deserve it, I cannot but comment at how strong the Police Force are with the weak and how weak they are with the strong. While I appreciate the personal sacrifices most of the members of the Police Force do I cannot for example not mention at how Snoop Dog was allowed to enter Malta International Airport topless. If I was the Police Commissioner I would have made sure he is kicked back to where he came from if he does not obey our rules. Lack of resources is always the excuse. But then the Police Commisioner had enough resources on Maundy Thursday to send three uniformed policemen to my home to inform me that they are going to arrest me because I did not pay a fine of Eur58.23, a fine which i was never informed of before!! A polite letter informing me of the fine shoud have been more than enough and i would have paid it the day after. I have no time to waste. Mr. Commissioner please utilise your resources well!
Mr Mario Farrugia
Jul 27th 2011, 08:45
The worst Nationalist PM ...... did the PN ever had a good PM? Who?
Ms Maria Vella
Jul 27th 2011, 14:44
Mario Farrugia
did PL ever have a good PM? Dom Mintoff instigated violence and KMB was a non-entity. Alfred Sant managed to throw his party out of government within a period of two years - need we say more?
Ivan Grech Mintoff
Jul 26th 2011, 20:37
"Opposition leader Joseph Muscat this evening demanded the resignation of Edgar Galea Curmi, the head of the prime minister's private secretariat, after the Commissioner of Police revealed he had received a phone call from him about the arrest of Chris Engerer, Cyrus's father."
And there you have it.... straight from the Commissioner of Police.
"On the other hand, if by some chance, someone has been stupid enough to pull this stunt, and the cops were brown-nosers enough to co-operate, then heads should roll, sharpish. "
Any other country, yes. But Malta under the present administration.....?
As il-bocca tells us: "Oh please, ladies and gentlemen, take a reality check, do."
Mr Antoine Vella
Jul 27th 2011, 13:43
Ivan, when Dr Borg Cardona appealed to "ladies and gentlemen", he wasn't referring to you so you've really no cause to be so indignant.
Ivan Grech Mintoff
Jul 26th 2011, 17:32
>With their usual eagerness to spot a conspiracy at the drop of a beret, everyone and his felllow travellers have assumed a) that the Engerers are innocent (which I hope they are, frankly) and b) that their travails with the law are a direct consequence of the younger Engerer's defection to the Labour Party.
Well let me see:
1) Engerer JNR reported to Police on January 15, 2010 ( one year seven months ago!!!). Nothing in the news about the matter since then.
2) Engerer JNR swaps sides last week.
3) Suddenly and since last week, Engerer SNR allegedly found in possesion of drugs
4) Suddenly (again),s ince last week Engerer JNR's "bit of dirty" of a year and a half ago comes out in the papers (but not before!).
And il-bocca will have us believe that this is all purely coincidental and nothing of all this is in anyway related....
As always il-bocca's historionics needs a tad bit of stretching (way beyond breaking point in fact) to make sense.
Either that or he really does enjoy making us laugh at the apologetics...
Oh dear! For some reason, my mind's eye just formed a horrible picture of il-bocca in a leotard attempting magnificent gymnatical stunts.. all for the sake of defending the indefensibly obvious...
To everyone else that is!
Mr Angus Black
Jul 26th 2011, 21:26
Maybe Cyrus urged the police to get this over with asap so that he could join the LP before appearing in court and possibly convicted?
If he is convicted of any of the charges, would he be allowed to contest an election under the LP banner?
Maybe he did not want to take a chance with the NP since these kind of shenanigans are shied away from?
Seems to me that the LP is reinforcing itself with a bunch of renegades...and a few more to come. How predictable!
Keep digging LP - you are finding new depths and continuing to descend. Pretty soon you will dig yourselves to China.
Mr Victor Laiviera
Jul 26th 2011, 17:14
Dear Dr Borg Cardona, in the light of what you said in this blog, would you care to revisit the famous PP Busuttil "frame-up"?
M Sciberras
Jul 26th 2011, 16:42
The allegations were made TWO YEARS ago and only now were charges filed. What do you expect many people to believe, in the absence of anyone ready to ferret out the true issues here? Not everyone shares your blind faith in the incorruptibility of our institutions - two judges in jail are enough testimony to the rot in the self-serving trade where you earn your living. Actually I think - or rather hope - that in fact no one at the PN ordered the police to file charges because as you say, if not in so many words, they wouldn't dare. Is the true issue here the loathing Cyrus Engerer engendered in the police force over the last several months, as controversy after another engulfed the Sliema Local Council? Could some uniformed officer not swallow the sight of the creation of a new - and let me say loud and clear, most UNDESERVING - political hero? The sheer incompetence and ineptitude of Gonzi is pushing to the forefront politicians like Engerer who are themselves inept and useless, with only an ability to capture a headline opposing the prime minister to their credit. For an island that only thanks to the sheer flexibility and indistriousness of its workforce and businesses managed to escape the worse of the financial crisis, this does not bode well for the future. The Maltese economy desperately needs some tough reforms - in labour and education legislation to increase the employment rate (mainly of mothers who are forced to abandon careers because schools close by 2 or 3 pm); pensions, and the courts (where the delayys, especially in commercial cases, are a prime unpublicised factor why the island has failed to attract barely any regional corporate HQ's). Self-promoting political clowns will not deliver these reforms - sober, intelligent men and women will. They are in short supply in maltese politics. They certainly do not include former MZPN activists who know nothing of economics, the law or anything they can usefully contribute to political office.
Mr Mario P. Sciberras
Jul 27th 2011, 08:43
I am not M. Sciberras and he is not me and we are not each other.
He writes well.
Mr carmel tonna
Jul 26th 2011, 16:25
'heads should roll'....don't be absurd!!!!!! it is more appropriate to say that time is ripe for bodies to be thrown to the dogs!!!!
Mr N Zahra
Jul 26th 2011, 16:09
The plot is so stupid that I'm starting to think that someone (within the Police force perhaps) pulled this stunt to put the PN in a bad light. I mean one has to be completely stupid to resort to shooting himself in the foot just like that... But there again - there's no shortage of idiots in politics...
Michael Seychell
Jul 26th 2011, 15:53
Well said Andrew
Michael Seychell
Tal-Pieta
Mr Victor Laiviera
Jul 26th 2011, 15:48
Nice spin - but not credible.
Remember this?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080305/local/wrap-up-arrest-warrant-issued-against-ad-leader-police-commissioner-investigates.199150
Andrew Borg-Cardona
Jul 26th 2011, 16:19
Of course I remember it - unlike yours, my memory works. And do you think that the story does anything but prove my point? The harm that the story did to the PN during the electoral campaign was incalculable.
Lawrence Zammit
Jul 26th 2011, 15:35
Had this article been written in a previous era, it would have been on a much different tone....alas, some people have short memories...where it matters for them!
Andrew Borg-Cardona
Jul 26th 2011, 16:20
If you had understood my blog, rather than taken it superficially, you would have got the message. Back in the Seventies and Eighties, these things did happen and any one who lived then knows it. The country learned its lesson, which is why I'm saying that if someone tried to pull this stunt, he is an idiot and should be fired.
Mr Antoine Vella
Jul 27th 2011, 09:21
The seventies and eighties were the period when Malta came closest to being a police state - it was much worse than the worst colonial times.
That is as far as history goes; unfortunately there are those (Victor Laiviera comes to mind, somehow) who would be very happy to bring back those years.
Please choose the reason of your report below: