After a bad start, stirring displeasure no end over its lopsided version of meritocracy when the Government was seen to be more interested in rewarding people for services rendered to the party than in putting the right people in the right places, Joseph Muscat has now headed straight into another hitch.
This time, though, it has more far-reaching implications than the first for it involves not only the country’s image in the eyes of the world but, also, human rights principles that ought to be respected in both words and deeds.
In contemplating the possibility of pushing back migrants, Dr Muscat and his government have knowingly fanned the flames of xenophobia.
The sad thing about it is that they are finding fertile ground, a matter that ought really to be of deep concern to a Christian country that is supposedly firmly anchored on principles of solidarity and hospitality.
The degree of hypocrisy the story has exposed is quite incredible. So, it is all very well to raise money on Xarabank to help out the poverty-stricken people of Tanzania. We congratulate ourselves for the great hospitality we show to these and other people. The refrain ‘how can one not help the underprivileged’ is meant to touch the heartstrings of every individual. And it usually does.
But our hospitality has one major condition: yes, we are prepared to help out but, please, stay in your own country even if you are starving, being beaten or dying.
The ugly face of Malta in this scenario is reflected in the flow of responses to stories about irregular migration appearing in this newspaper’s website.
In the main, they give a sad, very sad account of how attitudes against migrants have hardened over time. At first, we had a lone man spreading the seeds of xenophobia. He was mocked and not taken seriously initially but as boatloads of migrants began to reach the island on a regular basis it appears that many individuals started being increasingly influenced by his racist diatribe. The country is today reaping the whirlwind of the wind sowed during that time.
Political machismo may work for a time but, in the hands of the inexperienced, it may well bear a high cost. The surge of irregular migration troubling a number of countries in Europe every summer has many complex implications, particularly for those that, like Malta, are unable to take the extent of the flow.
In Malta’s case, the problem is even more acute because of the smallness of the country. The European Union is being far too slow in reacting to the problem as the indifference the Pope spoke about has taken firm root in the countries that are either far too rich to bother much about the situation or can well take the immigrants that manage to reach their borders.
Malta’s deep frustration at seeing its claims for burden sharing sidelined is real enough and has angered, not unreasonably, those that expected the EU to show meaningful solidarity with the island. This is most disappointing but is it reason enough for Malta to turn its back on those running away from persecution?
Dr Muscat and his government would have been wiser if, instead of panicking, they first sought the active support of countries similarly hit by the influx of migrants before dishing out warnings.
Yes, it is time for the EU to translate talk of solidarity into deeds, but it is unacceptable to risk people’s lives in attempts to make others see reason.