The police and the Attorney General have not managed to reassure people that the serious investigations in the public eye are being handled properly. Concern is rising that crime and corruption can go unpunished, at all levels. Many are feeling less safe.
The atmosphere is worryingly tense. Jonathan Ferris, former Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit officer, has ominously stated that he has made contingency plans to release his information in the event of his death. Maria Efimova, whistleblower of Pilatus Bank, has said that she fears for her life if she returns to Malta. Daphne Caruana Galizia has been murdered.
Everyone has grown hyper-sensitive to inflammatory comments posted on social media. Members of Parliament Marlene Farrugia and Godfrey Farrugia were threatened and have taken an individual to court to demonstrate that this behaviour is absolutely not tolerable. Normally they would brush off such threats. In the current climate, the seriousness of such hate speech and intimidation must be registered.
Godfrey Farrugia explained in court that he had reached a stage when he felt afraid every time a car stopped outside their house. The lawyer of the accused glibly retorted that “if you can’t stand the heat, don’t become a cook”. Unbelievable. Do such people have no sense of the harm caused by the extent of such aggressive speech, with political mobs ganging up to vilify people on Facebook and in the comments pages of online media? It is a sickness spreading through society.
When Marlene Farrugia was at the receiving end of abusive language in Parliament last year, some MPs had waved it off, suggesting she had provoked it. In other words, she asked for it. This mentality is part of the picture. Censor yourself before you speak, stay in line, or you will pay.
The other day, Michael Briguglio was shocked when confronted and insulted in the street. Most distressing was that this person felt he could do so in public, with impunity. Cyber trolls and political opponents immediately gathered online to scorn and insult Briguglio further, for writing about his concerns. As if on cue, MP Glenn Bedingfield promptly targeted him and his entire family in his blog.
Do such people have no sense of the harm caused by the extent of such aggressive speech?
MEP Roberta Metsola has been seriously threatened for expressing her concerns about the government at the European Parliament, with one individual being arrested. This is the highly tense climate we are experiencing.
How did we get here, with people assuming that this is acceptable behaviour?
Freedom of expression is sacrosanct. But the language used by government, and by those in public roles, must set an example. They should make it clear that these are not the standards they set, that this is not the tone which is endorsed or encouraged. Tit-for-tat is no defence, from any side. The government should retain the high moral ground and not stoke the fire. If public officers step over the line, they should be told off.
By way of example, this is why the blog run by Bedingfield, clearly accepted by inner government circles as it originated at the Auberge de Castille, is completely out of line. Written and edited by a holder of high public office, a Member of Parliament and close aide of the Prime Minister, it lowers the acceptable norms of debate by public officials and MPs to new, uncharted depths. This is also why former GWU chief Tony Zarb openly calling #OccupyJustice protesters “prostitutes” was so offensive and wrong. These may seem minor incidents, but they form part of a decline of standards which is both reprehensible and worrying.
This afternoon, the former Italian anti-corruption magistrate Antonio Di Pietro will address a rally in Valletta. I cannot remember a time in recent years when so many protests were staged in such quick succession, over a period of weeks. Yes, many people would prefer to just get on with their lives and forget about all this. But evidently there are many others who are distraught and troubled at the direction in which things are going.
In 2009, Di Pietro had appealed to the foreign press, asking them “not to allow the spotlight to move away from Italy, and to continue to perform the same vitally important task that they have always performed in the past, namely the task of informing the public, a role that most of our media have abdicated from”.
Over the past few weeks numerous teams of foreign journalists came to Malta to report on the situation here. They did not just take things at face value. They probed, listened to different voices, and formed their conclusions. Malta is not unique. Certain patterns and attitudes are familiar worldwide, and international journalists and politicians swiftly recognise them.
We live in a climate where the European Parliament has voted for the rule of law to prevail in Malta. And where the EPP chairman in that parliament asked its president to ensure that the MEP delegation visiting Malta is protected, noting that MEPs should carry out their duty free from fear. And no, it is not realistic to state that they, or the foreign press, have all been duped.
petracdingli@gmail.com