Things often look better on paper. Like hotel brochures for in­stance, which are frequently economical with the truth and consequently deceptive. The Constitution of a republic shouldn’t be. It protects rights and guarantees freedoms in a binding, formal document. One can’t always count on manifestos and promises of central government and local councils. A carefully framed Constitution is the most valuable defence we have against destructive and discriminatory behaviour, flawed judgement and human error. And we’ve seen quite a bit of that these last few weeks.

I refer, first of all, to the St Paul’s local council and its objection to the Malta Muslim Council’s planning application to convert an already existing basement shop into a prayer room.

Interestingly, the council has since disassociated itself from the ultra-right Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin and that group’s vehement opposition to the prayer room. The council insists that its opposition is not in any way connected with religion but rather with the rights of local residents, parking problems and noise, and the overall unsuitability of the venue.

And yet I can’t escape the feeling that the council is hypocritically finding excuses for an subconsciously racist position, possibly forced upon it by its constituency of xenophobic resid­ents. The Planning Authority, we were conveniently reminded, has recently turned down similar applications from Christian and Muslim prayer groups, again citing parking and other difficulties. I find all this rather lame and specious.

In a country where parking problems and noise pollution are rife, one can’t help wonder how come these issues are never deemed problematic enough to stop the construction of new buildings and the licensing of noisy nightclubs, booming bars and restaurants. How can a daytime place of worship be suddenly perceived as the root of all traffic evil and noise in a country where streets are routinely closed to traffic (often ironically on account of religious feasts)?

Noise pollution – the soul-destroying anti-social sort which I and others like me struggle with on a daily basis – is certainly not going to be an issue here. First of all, we’re talking about existing underground premises, out of sight and presumably out of earshot.

And even if the muffled subterranean noise of daytime prayer does intrude, the local council or Planning Authority should address sound-proofing as a separate issue.

The same goes for parking. If there are legiti­mate concerns that residents will be ‘out-parked’, what is stopping the council creating residents’ parking or timed-parking? If only local councils were always this zealous about the interests of the residents they represent, Malta would be a very different place.

I applaud St Albert the Great College for its open-mindedness and charity when it offered its facilities to Muslim worshippers

The real issue, perhaps, is that Malta always looks and sounds so much better on paper. I’m not talking holiday brochures and travel websites extolling its crystal waters, clean beaches and quaint streets. I’m talking about our Constitution – the supreme statement of the way our country should be governed.

This may come as a surprise to many, but here it is: Malta is a democratic republic founded on respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual. And that includes full freedom of conscience, peaceful assembly and association, and the free exercise of religious worship, whatever form that may take. And just in case it still isn’t clear, these fundamental rights and freedoms are not the exclusive privilege of the Maltese or of Roman Catholics. They belong to every person in and on Malta, irrespective of race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, creed, gender or sexual orientation.

Malta needs to wake up to the reality that not everyone on the island is a card-carrying Roman Catholic, or that every Maltese citizen is automatically white. And yet such people are still welcome to live here and enjoy the same freedoms we do.

Neither is this Saudi Arabia, nor Iran. I’m tired of reading despicable online bigotry where Maltese people show they have a profound lack of basic understanding of our Constitution and spout ridiculous inanities, urging Muslims to leave the country and go back to theirs, just because they want a place to pray.

One comment I read, punctuated with the trite ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans’ mantra, exercised my curiosity: so I googled Rome and mosques and discovered that, despite Islam being the only unrecognised major religion in Italy, there are at least a dozen mosques and 800 registered cultural centres and places for Muslim worship. In the UK there are an estimated 1,750 mosques and about 2,500 in France.

While I’m not suggesting that mosques start to mushroom here, because we clearly don’t have the space, all we are talking about are decent Muslims (as most are) simply wanting a roof over their head, to be able to practise their religion in private.

Why should that be an issue? Why should someone living in Mellieħa have to trek to Paola to be able to pray? The reasonable answer to that simple question should never be “if you don’t like it, pack your bags and leave”. The answer worthy of a parliamentary democracy which supposedly upholds every person’s fundamental rights and freedoms is to approve a place of worship for that person and his co-religionists; and this should have the support and blessing of all local councils within the community.

If Muslims are not welcome to pray underground, then it’s no wonder that they take to praying outdoors. I applaud St Albert the Great College for its open-mindedness and charity when it offered its facilities to Muslim worshippers and insisted that Muslims should be guaranteed the same right to pray as any other religious group.

That couldn’t have been an easy decision and it’s one that will probably earn the school a huge amount of flak, which makes it all the more admirable, given its position: a Church school in a sometimes oppressively racist island and backwater.

michelaspiteri@gmail.com

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