• In the fiercely confrontational world of Maltese politics, The Sunday Times has always been counted upon to give a fairly independent view. It is therefore very disappointing that an editorial should, for the second time, compromise its independence.
A few months ago, The Times editorial reflected content on the St John's Foundation website and last Sunday's editorial again repeated some of the St John's Foundation's arguments verbatim.
The editorial echoes the chairman of the foundation, Mgr Philip Calleja, in accusing FAA of being "misinformed", and yet when asked to substantiate this claim, Mgr Calleja was not forthcoming. On the other hand, our contention that the project involved excavation under St John's has been proved correct by the project's plans.
Similarly, the FAA challenged the foundation representatives' insistence that the EU funds would be lost to Malta if the project were cancelled, a claim which has now proved incorrect.
The Sunday Times editorial also repeated the hackneyed line used by FAA denigrators since the NGO was set up, namely that the FAA has a "tendency to seemingly object to any project being proposed".
The editor should have known that the FAA has not objected to a great number of major projects. To give just five recent examples: it did not object to the Mellieha Holiday Complex expansion due to the hotel's good track record in environmental care. The FAA did not object to the Metropolis or Savoy Gardens projects due to their strong element of regeneration of depressed areas. Similarly we have not objected to major structural works to scheduled buildings like the Art Nouveau building facing Independence Gardens in Sliema, as these will ensure its rehabilitation after years of abandonment.
These and the Freeport extension are only a few of the projects we have not objected to, which proves that the claim that the FAA objects to any project is just another attempt to inhibit us from objecting on important issues.
As for the FAA giving the debate a personal direction, we wonder what The Sunday Times editor makes of the highly strident campaign against individual members of the FAA committee.
Rather than giving the no doubt mistaken impression that The Sunday Times was acting as an apologist for the foundation, we are sure that the public would have greatly appreciated the editor questioning certain glaring irregularities.
Editorial note:
Independence endows this newspaper with the capacity to form views. The democracy we live in enables it to express them. Mr Cardona is giving the no doubt mistaken impression that the FAA is intolerant to opinions that do not coincide with its own.