Someone on the government side has finally talked some sense about those poor refugees and asylum seekers stranded on our island. And it was Civil Rights Minister Helena Dalli who, not so long ago to please the gay lobby, was not making much sense at all as her government defined and redefined marriage to the point that I began to think that my dog could marry a cat.
But this time round we should hand it to her. She stood up for what is right and comported herself like – what’s the politically correct term here? – yes, like a man.
At an event to mark World Refugee Day, Dalli spoke with decency, respect and compassion towards these victims of tragedy.
“We have to listen more to what you have to say,” she told our unhappy guests, “because it is through your narratives that antagonism, contempt and fear are defeated.”
Refugees, she went on, come from war zones, conflict- and poverty-stricken parts of the world. They are victims of ethnic strife or severe discrimination. They had no other option but to move. And that is how they ended in Malta.
In other words, unlike what those xenophobic racists like to think, they’re not here to drive us into the sea. They’d rather be back home, if only it was safe to return to.
How genuine is the plight of these people was proven by statistics just released. Last year, 84 per cent of applications filed with the Office of the Refugee Commissioner were granted immediate protection. The asylum seekers mainly came from war-torn countries like Somalia, Eritrea and Syria. They’re desperate.
Looking back, Dalli’s principled position on immigrants should not come as a surprise. When last summer the pseudo-liberal government to which she belongs was toying with the idea of illegally repatriating immigrants to Libya, she told The Malta Independent that her job was to ensure that human rights were not breached.
“I have been working on the issue vigorously but silently,” she said.
Thankfully, she’s speaking more openly now, and most importantly, not just about the problems posed by an excessive number of immigrants on a small island, but on the problem of racism. President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca was more succinct when asked on the suggestion made by NGO Aditus, that refugees should have the right to vote in, and stand for, local elections.
The idea, she said, would stir more controversy than it would do good. “Many people have not yet accepted multi-culturalism.”
In the midst of all this, Dalli was last week sitting alongside Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at a meeting of MEUSAC, the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee Core Group, where he said Malta would support the nomination of Jean Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission.
Only a few weeks ago, Muscat was supporting fellow socialist Martin Schulz for the post, saying he offered a clear vision on migration, which mainly consisted of opening legal channels of migration in countries of origin.
An interesting concept that would certainly avoid some more tragedies out at sea, and an idea that Dalli and many others would surely support. But Muscat threw Schulz under the bus, joined the winning side and embraced the EPP candidate instead because, incredibly, he claims he is “against backroom deals”.
That’s a bit gross coming from someone who’s made a career out of backroom deals.
Hoteliers, land developers, monti hawkers, hunters, white taxi drivers, Henley & Partners, China and now possibly illegal boat house owners would all agree that Muscat always plays with cards on the table. There’s really no stopping this man. He treats his audiences like they were idiots and still rakes in the votes by the bucketful.
Muscat saved his more savoury morsels of what’s in store for this country when he spoke at the opening of the London School of Commerce’s college in Floriana. He said he intended to turn Malta into a “buzzing centre of academic excellence in Europe” that attracted talent from all over the world. Somewhere in that room was Education Minister Evarist Bartolo who has just floated the idea of extending the school age from 16 to 18.
The vision of our leader for this country is a people staring up in awe at a high-rise building, as black men collect their garbage behind them
Bartolo’s main concern does not appear to be “Malta’s reputation as an educational hub”, as his Prime Minister put it, but the fact that Maltese students are among those who spend least time in the education system in Europe. And this without going into the problem of truancy during the years when they should be in school.
Uncontested and apparently oblivious to it all, Muscat just ploughs on, claiming the incredible, and still raking in the votes.
Then came the bombshell. Muscat vowed to turn Malta into “the next Singapore or Dubai”.
Let’s ignore the fact that one is a country and the other a city, Muscat doesn’t bother with details anyway. Malta has nothing in common with Dubai and Singapore, other than being small.
The two ‘city states’ are immensely cosmopolitan, while Malta is still trying to come to terms with seeing a black man crossing the street. The two have huge financial resources, while Muscat’s only finance plan is to sell European passports.
So what is this, another Switzerland in the Mediterranean hoax?
Muscat can’t be planning to emulate Singapore that has over 50 major parks and nature reserves, or intending to introduce Singapore’s strict enforcement system and high fines against littering.
No, inversely, he placates hunters, plans to widen the building schemes through a ‘revision’ of Mepa’s local plans and as for enforcement, our warden service will soon be nationalised to take on a more ‘educational role’. Fines could cost Muscat votes in this undisciplined country, so no hope for improvement there either.
Nor is Muscat planning to turn Malta into a constitutional monarchy like in the United Arab Emirates, though it is slowly beginning to feel like it, given Michelle Muscat’s public appearances. It also can’t be the oil because we haven’t found any yet. Muscat’s plans for Malta must be much more superficial than that.
He’s looking at the glittering skyscrapers in Dubai and Singapore, one of the few things the two city-states actually have in common.
Mepa has just published its policy on high-rise buildings. It says it wants to see iconic buildings, much like Dubai really, though it doesn’t really say that. No studies were necessary for this radical policy change.
Labour doesn’t get on well with paperwork and anyway, Muscat never keeps his cards to his chest. There are no backroom deals here; all is as transparent as the Telecom glass tower in Bonn.
Then of course, we have the 21 land reclamation proposals the government keeps under wraps. An exhibition of the proposals, meant to include floating villages and boutique hotels (no, not in Dubai but in Malta), was promised for last January but apparently the government forgot to organise it.
Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon assures us that land reclamation projects are still on the books. Now who would have guessed? But there were no details forthcoming from Falzon. He just excluded nothing, even when asked about an artificial island along the Coast Road.
We all just have to wait then, like we have to wait to finally see what agreement government has with Henley & Partners, like we’ll have to wait to see what’s in the power station contract, and yes, like we have to wait to know what Transport Minister Joe Mizzi was doing in Spain.
It may be a minor detail, but we really need to know from Mizzi who shall be driving our buses.
Would they be stopping for Dalli’s stranded immigrants or will our poor, reluctant guests still have to ask a local to hail a bus for them?
It is not iconic buildings or artificial islands that make Singapore and Dubai what they are today. It is the people and their leaders.
The vision of our leader for this country is a people staring up in awe at a high-rise building, as black men collect their garbage behind them.