Wednesday, 16th April 2008
In praise of this beautiful but quaint Island
This week was a very tiring one. The participation in Bondi+
last Monday, over and above the usual
heavy schedule, exerted its toll. Usually I participate in TV programmes where
arguments are debated. That takes time to prepare. Last Monday was a different
kind of programme. It was a programme laden with emotions. Preparing for it
burns times and a lot of energy. At the end of the programme I was tired but
happy.
A friend of mine spoke to me several times before the programme telling me his life story. I never knew that he passed a number of years in a Church home. "They stole away my childhood and adolescence" he told me. I was shocked. Today he is active in church structures but he still feels crushed by the pain. "It will never go away", he told me. His testimony weighed like a ton on bricks on me during the days before the programme.
I was impressed by those who were abused and participated in Bondi+. A number of them not only publicly said that they accepted the Bishop's plea for forgiveness. More than that, they said that they are ready to forgive those who abused them. I was struck by their powerful Christian testimony.
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I had to write something about this programme experience but now I need to write a piece on a different tone. Now please bear with me while I change the tone for the rest of this blog.
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On returning home I made a cup of tea and put on the TV. There was a recording of Gorg Abela, the contender for the post of leader of the MLP, addressing a rally he organised in Cospcua. Was he on One TV? No it was Net TV. Where in the world would you find a TV station owned by one political party transmitting the meeting of an aspirant for the leadership of the other party? Only in beautiful but quaint Malta, is the answer. Have the management of Net TV been suddenly become the missionaries of pluralism in Malta?
The first time I met Gorg Abela was before the election of 1996. We had quite an argument in the office of Archbishop Mercieca. A few years later when both of us were occupying different posts than those we occupied in 1996 I approached him through a mutual friend asking him whether he would like to present, together with me, a radio programme. He accepted. We worked together for a number of months. I immensely enjoyed the experience. We kept contact and occasionally we meet for coffee and a long tete a tete.
A friend of mine who is a Labour Party delegate told me that Gorg is picking up a lot of ground with the Labour grass roots as well as delegates. I wish him well. (I hope this will not be held against him!)
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Where in the world would you find a Socialist firebrand protesting in Church for the restoration of the privileges of the local chapter of canons? You guessed it. Such things happen only in beautiful but quaint Malta.
I was still a seminarian. Don't ask me when. It must have been slightly after the departure of Bonaparte from Malta I guess. The Vatican had decided that pastoral insignia such as the pectoral cross (I hope I got the terms correctly) could not be worn by canons. My friend Fr Censu Demicoli was going to be the first canon to be installed but not given this cross - though he is endowed with plenty of space where to put it. During the celebration I still vividly remember Joe Debono Grech (the founder of the Brigata, Labour MP and Minister) shouting during the celebration: "Where is the cross? Where is the cross?"
Mr Debono Grech is a great lover of Birkirkara and everything Karkariza. He was also (perhaps still is) the president of the ultra-conservative Socjeta Borgia.
There is a lighter side to Mr Debono Grech. He was one of the guests during the programme I co-presented with Georg Sapiano on RTK. He is a practical joker and recounted several such pranks he played on his fellow parliamentarians.
But that can be another subject for some future blog.
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Where would you find a Green MP trying to rape the environment and a pro-life one contesting with a pro-abortion party? In Malta and in Italy but the politician is Maltese.
Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was chosen as the Green Politician of the Year. I don't remember the year but it was not so long ago. His doings re the pristine land in Mistra are too well known to repeat. With defenders like these the environment really has to worry. Now Dr Pullicino Orlando has become a pro-life politician. His foray on the subject in the Council of Europe is current news. I hope that pro-lifers are not holding their breath.
While on the pro-life subject I cannot not mention Dr Arnold Cassola, the Alternattiva politician who became an MP in Italy. He contested the recent Italian election with Sinistra Arcobaleno - a party which wanted to radically liberalise abortion laws in Italy. I do not for a second doubt the pro-life credentials of Dr Cassola but his behaviour deserves to be recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. I'm sure you will not find a similar pro-lifer in the whole wide world who would contest on a ticket of a pro-abortion party.
PS. After Arcobaleno received a bashing in the elections, Cassola, quite rightly, said that his future is with AD.
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Politicians never learn, not even from the mistakes of other politicians.
Following their defeat at the polls in 1996 the Nationalists looked at TV as their saviour. Net TV was their baby then and now a young teenager.
Alternattiva Demokratika - what shall I say - did not meet their target of electing 4 MPs in the last election. Harry Vassallo told The Times that Alternattiva would soon open their own TV station. We all wait in expectation. Overseas networks are not really worried by the threat. I don't know about Maltese stations!
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Give me some time to distance my tongue from my cheek before you comment on this piece or add new similar anecdotes or experiences.
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Comments
Even if JPO signed the contract without knowing that he was going to receive about a Million Euros rent (sic), until when he was to become the full owner of the premises(sic), we must leave the judgment to the courts if JPO was guilty or not!
Where would you find a radio presenter ranting about how we have become slaves to our mobile phones and having a go at people allowing their phones to ring in the wrong enviroment while at the very same time allowing his own phone to ring while broadcasting??
......................you got it!!
I agree wih you totally except for your statement 'MEPA is rotten to the core'. Even the people at Mepa (at least most of them) are just like the rest of us, again the only difference is we think they should be different then the rest. I have some dear friends there in high positions and on DCC boads and I assure you that while many may err, most seek to carry out their duties with utmost professionality and justice.
I have also always stuck up for JPO, as I agree totally wih your comments, and notwithsanding my entry below, "Mepa audit officer behind 1994 Mistra development " I will also stick up for anyone in such a position because to judge you have to know ALL THE FACTS and be assured that we never will. Apart from that we all have a right to do misakes.
For these actions, Jeffery has been portrayed as Malta's 'green politician' and in the absence of any other significant green politician, deservedly so.
However, Jeffery has always declared that he is not an environmentalist, and probably also said so when the award of green politician of the year was bestowed on him. The fact that a green organisation decided to reward him in this way does not mean he views himelf as an an environmentalist. He is not. He is a politician, a professional and presumably also a businessman. And unfortunately businessmen can be developers/opportunists, sometimes at the expense of the environment. This is not to say that I believe Jeffery is an opportunist. I simply don't know and, like a lot of people, I wait anxiously for the facts of the Mistra case to come to the fore.
But even if it were the case that he was found to be an opportunist, how is that any worse than the scores of politicians, professionals (architects), and every Tom, Dick and Harry that are exploiting MEPA's serious shortcomings and jumping on the development gravy train? The only difference is that we thought/hoped that he was/is 'different from the rest'. But since when is being like the rest of us a crime? or a scandal?
If nothing else, this 'scandal' has brought to the fore the dire need to overhaul the whole planning process in Malta. It has revealed what we have always known - that MEPA is rotton to the core. And the matter is now where it should be - at the top of the list of the PM's priorities for this legislature.
Without knowing it, Jeffery has just won Malta the most important environmental battle ever.
"Sunday, 30th March 2008
Mepa audit officer behind 1994 Mistra development
Case related to redevelopment of existing structure - Falzon
Mark Micallef
A Planning Authority board led by Joe Falzon in 1994 had approved the redevelopment of a dilapidated farmhouse in Mistra - less than 100 metres away from the controversial Spin Valley development - against the recommendation of the case officer, The Sunday Times has learnt.
The news comes in the wake of a damning report by Mr Falzon - who is now the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's audit officer - into the process which led one of Mepa's Development Control Commission boards to overturn the recommendation of case officers to refuse the outline permit in the Spin Valley development case.....
The two cases differ on a number of counts, not least because in 1994 the area was already - as Mr Falzon stressed when contacted last night - occupied by a dilapidated structure while the disco project would have been developed on virgin land.
Nonetheless, there are parallels which could make the case embarrassing for the audit officer who has harshly criticised a number of high-profile cases of bad planning....."
AAAHHH !!! quaint, beautiful malta.... we are all in the same water, so why point fingers
I do, however, realise that resisting the temptation to be part of a mob that is baying for blood because it has been instigated to do so is, at times, difficult.
It is moot to recall that Italy's abortion law was passed by the Italian Parliament when the country was run by a Christian Democratic-led government presided by Giulio Andreotti in May 1979, a few days after the assassination of Aldo Moro.
Recently, I heard an interview with Emma Bonino, the respected former EU Commissioner and a stalwart of the Radical Party discussing Legge 194. She stated that this was a compromise which was reached between the various sectors of Italian sociey and effectively, put a stop to the abortion debate in Italy. This law seems to have worked well as the number of abortions practised in Italy is in constant decline (unlike the U.K. experience) and the tragedy of backroom abortions has been, to a large extent, eliminated. Medical practitioners also have the right of conscientious objection and in fact, there are many state hospitals in Italy where abortion is not practised whereas ironically, there are church-owned hospitals where it is.
In fact, even Italian Catholics do not propose the abrogation of Legge 194. I had also listened two years ago to an interview with PierFerdinando Casini, the divorced and recently-remarried leader (all the leaders of the centre-right parties which vie for the Catholic vote have had more than one spouse) of the rump Christian Democratic party, the UDC which is very close to the Catholic Church. He stated categorically that he was not for the abrogation of Legge 194, but wanted its proper implementation in its parts concerning family planning and advice prior to an abortion. Thus, his position is quite similar to that of Sinistra Arcobaleno, though from opposite ideological angles. Obviously, he did not mention the fact that for the previous five years, he formed part of a very solid majority which did not bother to put into practice what he was now advocating.
Indeed, none of the Italian parties in recent elections have proposed the abrogation of Legge 194. The only personality who has campaigned for its repeal, and vociferously so, is Giuliano Ferrara, who conducts Omnibus on La7. His list garnered a puny 0.4% of the vote last week.
This is a delicate subject which should be dealt with maturity and not with an eye of scoring points on the domestic political scene as some seem to be trying to do. What should be preoccupying in our case is that in spite of the prohibition of abortion under the Criminal Code, it is practised in our state hospital in circumstances which are not clear. Moreover, it seems incontrovertible that Maltese ladies resort to abortion in foreign hospitals and backroom abortions seem to have been practised here as well.
It is time to be honest with ourselves instead of resorting to sterile diatribes and daft proposals to change the Constitution. However,as we live in a "quaint" country, it may well be that we are not allowed the liberty of being thus honest with ourselves.
On reflection then, it is the AD which has its tongue firmly embedded in its cheek for how can one be anti-abortion and run on a pro-abortion ticket? Of course this is no laughable matter. Ok, Ok, Dr Vassallo quoted Laws and articles to us mere mortals in defence of this highly irregular position on such a radical issue but it still boggles the mind and does nothing to enhance the AD's... ahem...credibility.
Dr Vassallo is right to point out that there are no Green MPs in Malta. I guess that most Maltese knew that one and there was no need for Dr Vassallo to rub salt in wounds. Let’s be positive about it: there is always the next time, and the next and the next.
I did not for a moment want to slur AD about the abortion issue. There is no doubt that AD are against abortion. Saying the contrary would not be true and I am not in the habit of saying things which are not true. In my comment I expressly said that I do not doubt that Dr Cassola’s is anti-abortion. What I criticised was is inconsistency; at least that which in my opinion can be so described.
Dr Vassallo has every right to think that Dr Cassola was consistent on this issue though I think he could have mounted a better defence.
1) All the PES and socialists in Europe are pro-abortion. Is Fr Borg proposing that MEPs Joseph Muscat, Louis Grech and Dr John Attard Montalto cannot be part of the Party of European socialists?
2) Is Fr Borg proposing that GonziPN's resigns from the PPE because his German counterpart Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic party is in favour of abortion and experimentation on stem cells from embryos? Does this mean that Gonzi is in favour of abortion?
3) A strong majority of the PPE group in the EP voted in favour of morning after pill. Does this mean that David Casa and Simon Busuttil are pro-abortion?
Stop this hypo critic load of crap.
As for Father Joe's reference to JPO as a Green MP, I am sure you realise that what Father Joe meant was that JPO has/d green credentials and not that he contested the election on the AD ticket. We ALL got it.
So what about that resignation ej? Put your money where your mouth is.
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is not a Green MP. There is no Green MP in Malta JPO contested the election in the interest of the PN with enthusiastic support of the higher party echelons until the last minute
The Sinistra Arcobaleno manifesto in English makes intereting reading http://www.sinistraarcobaleno.org/2008/03/22/il-programma-della-sinistra-arcobaleno-in-inglese-english-version-of-our-proposal-for-the-country/ The reference to abortion is for the application as intended of Law 194 of 1978. It involves no contradiction for Arnold Cassola to contest an election in such circumstances. While the vast majority of Maltese are pro/life we still participate in instituions which approve of abortion. Is Malta going to leave the Council of Europe following the recent resolution on abortion? Are you suggesting that the PN leave the EPP grouping in the European Parliament because abortion is legal in the countries of nearly all its members with many of them in government? The abortion slur on AD is old hat and unworthy of you.
I invite Mr Grech Attard to amplify more on his argument. It sounds interesting but i am not too sure that i got the point.
Dr Charles Mangion MLP Acting Leader for Dr Sant has 'Irrevocably resigned' as leader of the MLP only to discover that he will be Leader of the Oppositions when Parliament reconvenes on May the 10. So this begs the question - what is Dr Mangion's position? In Limbo? Ah, but hang on just a sec, isn't it irrevocably abolished? So Dr Mangion's predicament is worse than I thought :-)
Nationalist MP Franco Debono complained to this paper because it reported that he was likely to take Helen D'Amato's seat in the fifth district. The newspaper's "grave" error, according to this newly-minted honourable member, was that it failed to mention that he had also managed to unseat PN great Louis Galea. Oh dear, he wanted a star on his copybook.
Some two days ago I wrote a comment under the article reporting Berlusca's decisive election victory that Europe sure needs some comic relief...
Well, I changed my mind. Our political landscape provides enough merriment for in house entertainment. We ARE amused.
It would be much more credible if ethics and morality, (which form quite a substntial part of Christianity), in Maltese politics become all rounders, and not used only when it suits the politicians. Pax.