Labour MP Owen Bonnici yesterday questioned the removal of a paragraph from earlier versions of the Draft National Cultural Policy saying that present laws allowing censorship infringe artists' freedom of expression.
The paragraph also recommended the replacement of the Classification Board with a system whereby artists would classify themselves according to publicly-known criteria.
Dr Bonnici was speaking at a campus debate regarding censorship organised by student organisation Pulse.
He pointed to page 96 of the older draft of the policy, which read: "In terms of freedom of expression, the MEDC (Ministry of Education) shall initiate the process of updating Maltese legislation in this regard to make it reflect 21st century reality. This will commence by placing responsibility of the classification board within the MEDC.
"A screening of existing legalisation infringing basic freedom of expression by artists shall be undertaken, while a self-classification system based on publicly-known criteria shall replace the current centralised Classification Board for theatrical performances."
The final version of the policy, however, omits the last paragraph altogether, leading Dr Bonnici to question the motives behind such deletion given that this would see censorship abolished.
When asked what such motives might have been, Davinia Galea, chair of the working group responsible for the drafting of the document, said there was "no interference by anyone during the drawing up of several drafts of the policy" and the working drafts, such as that Dr Bonnici was given, reflected their thinking "which, obviously, needed refining till the final published draft".
Ms Galea said the statement was removed because it was a categorical one and "it was felt that this should not appear in a consultation document but could, possibly, appear in a final strategy one".
"The draft policy is a government document not an MCCA (Malta Council for Culture and Arts) one and the draft went up to Cabinet as happens with all draft policies that are commissioned by the government. Ultimately, amendments to the law are to be carried out by the legislating body and not by MCCA" Ms Galea said.