A friend told me of a foreigner who has just come to Malta after visiting Cuba. He told my friend: I was in a taxi in Havana on the way to the airport. The taxi driver asked me where I was travelling to. I replied that I was going to Malta. To that the driver quickly retorted: Malta? That’s the country were they kill journalists.”

That assessment of Malta by a taxi driver in Cuba is shocking.

It reminds me of what a friend from Brazil told me four or five years ago. He went to the dentist and when he said that he was Maltese, the dentist immediately quipped: That’s where they sell passports isn’t it?

Branding Malta as the land where we kill journalists and sell passports is not a fair assessment of our country. Malta is much more than that, but unfortunately in a globalised world dominated by instant communication, such horrendous crimes and obnoxious policies make the headlines and form people’s perceptions more than anything else.

One can keep on blaming the media, or the Opposition, or whoever one wants till one is red in the face. The adverse publicity that our country has been getting for several years is not the result of some global conspiracy spinning fake news. It is not the result of an Opposition so powerful that it can control the international media. The adverse publicity is due to ignoble events and policies that really happened and that could and should have been avoided.

The selling of passports is in reality the mother of all corruption that plagues our country. After the government’s top brass opened secret companies in Panama, the government gave the public signal that everything, even our own identity, was for sale. The signal was welcomed by lawyers, accountants, auditors, estate agents and a plethora of persons of all shades and colours but who believe in the official policy that money is the measure of all things. The mantra is, if something pays than it is good and to hell with ethical considerations.

The assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the context which led up to it is the classic example of a State that miserably fails its duty. Former minister of the interior Carm Mifsud Bonnici told me that he had ordered the Police Commissioner to provide Daphne with police protection even though she did not want it. He felt obliged to protect Daphne also because any harm that befell her would harm the State. We all know the damage done to Malta by the decision not to protect her.

The harm to Malta is not being done by those who report the evil that takes place but by those who cause that evil

All this happened within the context of the constant attacks trying to dehumanise and delegitimise Daphne. We are now witnessing an army of trolls carefully directed and coordinated by people in positions of power doing their utmost to dehumanise and delegitimise anyone who dares to criticise the government.

And then these same people are surprised that the world’s press is telling them that it is as mad as hell and that it won’t take it anymore. Perhaps these trolls and those who control them will someday realise that the harm to Malta is not being done by those who report the evil that takes place but by those who cause that evil.

Some Malaysian lessons

The Malaysian elections held on May 9 should provide ample useful lessons to politicians and business men.

Najib Razak, a prime minister corrupt to the core, was set to win another election. Those opposing Razak fortunately realised that if they wanted to defeat Razak they had to swallow their pride and unite to get rid of his corrupt regime.

Unity was not easy to achieve. The 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, who had retired from the post of Prime Minister in 2003 after 22 years at its helm, joined the Opposition’s fight against his own party. This was no mean feat. The Opposition was led by Anwar Ibrahim who was effectively sent to prison by Mahatir.

BBC asked Mahatir how he could work with someone whom he had accused, among other things, of corruption. Mahatir answered that Ibrahim had paid for his mistakes, one could punish someone for ever and that there was a common enemy: Razak.

Mahatir and Ibrahim realised that politics is the art of the possible. Without uniting Malaysia would still be lumped with the corrupt Razak.

After Razak, last Sunday it was the turn of the powerful businessman and AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes to eat humble pie. Like other corrupt big-moneyed bullies he had jumped on Razak’s bandwagon making hay while the sun shone. After Razak’s defeat he released a video in which he apologised for his support.

“I buckled. It wasn’t right, I will forever regret it,” Fernandes said.

One hopes that Fernandez’s grovelling will also be that of other big-moneyed bullies who put short term corrupt gains before principles.

Al buon intenditor…

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