In the first of a two-part feature Anthony Manduca lists some of the comments and controversial statements made during interviews with The Sunday Times of Malta in 2015.
"If religious satire is likely to cause disorder this might justify democratic measures of restraint. But it can never remotely justify washing the perceived offence in a bloodbath"
- Judge Giovanni Bonello speaking in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo killings, January 11.
"Through their behaviour, the children expose what society likes to keep hidden"
- Philip Pace, prefect of discipline, responsible for the 14 State schools that make up the San Ġorġ Preca College, January 18.
"If war ends in Syria and people have a project for the future, IS will finish. Their ways do not represent the thousandsof- years-old multi-cultured Syrian society. IS does not belong in Syria"
- Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa, February 15.
"The root cause is the failure to stop the violence in Syria"
- Turkish migration expert Metin Corabitir, on why thousands of Syrian refugees wait in Mersin to board a ship to Europe, February 22.
"Mama and papa were very pleased; we cried together. Those are the intimate moments you will never forget"
- Mgr Charles Scicluna on hearing the news that he was to be appointed Malta’s next Archbishop, March 1.
"We can make Air Malta and Ryanair happily live together"
- Malta International Airport CEO Alan Borg, March 1.
"If migrants are crossing for terrorism purposes, it’s really a lousy way of doing it"
- Conflict expert Robert Young Pelton, who offers his services to the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, on the possibility of terrorists hiding among migrants crossing the Mediterranean, March 8.
"I tell my nuns that we gave up everything to acquire everything. If the youths out there knew just how happy we are, we’d have no space in the monastery to house them all"
- Mother Agnese Zammit of the cloistered Jerosolimitan nuns in St Ursula Street, Valletta, April 12.
"Tell me who will remove all the wrongdoing done over the past 30 years?"
- Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Michael Falzon, on the need to regularise planning infringements, March 15.
"If they want to do something good on this issue, they have to talk to us"
- Tripoli Foreign Minister Mumammed El-Ghirani on the need for the EU to talk to his government if it wants to tackle the migration crisis, April 26.
"By nature I’m not arrogant. On the contrary, I go down to any level. I enjoy meeting people and I don’t think I’m anything special"
- Former home affairs minister Manwel Mallia in his first interview since he was sacked from the Cabinet by the Prime Minister, April 26.
"They have nothing, they lost everything, they’re running out of food, yet they’re still offering me food and water"
- Maltese photographer Jan Zammit in Nepal after the country’s devastating earthquake, May 3.
"Are we now saying educational and healthcare projects can’t be built in ODZ?"
- Prime Minister Joseph Muscat defending the government’s choice of Żonqor Point for the proposed American University of Malta, May 17.
"I don’t mind people making money but this stinks"
- Tonio Mercieca, who sold the second quarter of a property in Old Mint Street, Valletta, to Mark Gaffarena, who then had it requisitioned by the government after the latter’s first quarter was also requisitioned. Gaffarena was then paid €1.65 million by the government for half the property, prompting a national outcry, June 7.
"The status quo is nice but it will not make the company [Air Malta] viable"
- Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis on the restructuring of the national airline, June 14.
"Malta is one of the main focal points for stability in Libya"
- Abdullah al-Thinni, Prime Minister of the internationally recognised Libyan government, during a brief visit to Malta, July 5.
"Let us not change our country to the point of no return"
- Din l-Art Ħelwa president Maria Grazia Cassar warning about over-development in Malta, July 12.
"I will not comment on my wage as I will burst into tears!"
- Economy Minister Chris Cardona replying to a question on how a CEO of a public entity can have a salary twice as high as his, July 19.