I would like to thank Joseph Borg for bringing to attention the fact that our national poet’s monument in Sciortino Street, Żebbuġ has lost its ‘R’ ( August 15). Here’s my reaction: finally, somebody has noticed and pointed it out.

I say this because the letter has been missing for more than two years and I have, purposely, not done anything about it. You may find this strange but this is the way it is.

The following short chronology of events will explain why.

Three years ago, the Żebbuġ local council commemorated the 50th anniversary of Dun Karm’s passing away. The highlight of these activities were: a national conference on the poet in the school that used to bear his name; the sponsoring of a CD with some of Dun Karm’s works set to music by Dominic Galea, with a copy of the CD being given free to every pupil at the locality’s primary school; the annual Jum Ħaż-Żebbuġ event being dedicated to the national poet and the laying of flowers on the monument by George Abela, then President of Malta, when he paid an official visit to Città Rohan.

In view of the last event, the council had the monument, erected by the former civic council in 1971, thoroughly cleaned up and maintained.

Unfortunately, some months after the event, some moron or morons felt that they needed to remove the ‘R’. This was done deliberately and purposely.

The person or persons needed the missing letter for their family tombstone as they also needed one of the bronze nuts on the plaque at the foot of the Dun Karm bust, which marks the visit by the President.

Since then, I have been informed by one civic-minded person, a rarity nowadays, especially in ancient villages where omertà is the order of the day, that he had overheard some youths planning to vandalise another commemorative plaque erected in the vicinity by council. This civic-minded gentleman told these delinquents off and warned them that he would inform the police and the council if the vandal act took place.

So my point really is: why did it take so long for someone to speak up about Dun Karm’s missing ‘R’? Why did it have to be someone from Naxxar not Żebbuġ to point this out? Why are there people out there who are so uncouth as to take pride in vandalising a monument for their own selfish ends?

This is why I left the missing letter ‘R’ to fester. It is not a condemnation of the council that I lead but of the uncouth, uneducated and uncultured coward(s) who stole it in the first place. It is also an indictment on those who took two years to notice and speak up.

Civic-minded citizens must take proactive positive action

This brings me to my final point.

Yes, we will now replace the missing ‘R’ and I have already given instructions in this regard now that it has been finally noticed. However, this begs the question of whether councils should be doing this in the first place. Should we, as local councils, be spending our very limited financial resources on fixing public property targeted by vandalistic uncouth morons?

Yes, town centres look shabby and tatty when they sport the unseemly signs of vandalism or, as in the case of Żebbuġ, the daily trash left behind by the hawkers of the open market.

However, should local councils pick up the bill to rectify the wrongs of such anti-social behaviour of a few delinquent idiots or invest in CCTV cameras all over the place in the hope of deterring such anti-social and uncivic excesses?

Rather than pointing fingers at local councils, the Joe Borgs of this world should wake up and stand up to be counted by reporting such loutish behaviour whenever they encounter it.

It is more than past the time for proactive positive action by civic-minded citizens.

Writing to the papers helps... but it is nowhere near enough.

Alfred Grixti is mayor of Żebbuġ.

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