After Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb last October, many people immediately understood it as a ‘political murder’. Of course, this does not implicate any politician as the hidden hand, but it indicates that people instantly sensed that the crime has a political context.
One response to this perception was to deride it as a politically driven, hysterical reaction, aimed to damage the government, and particularly the Labour Party. Well, that response can now be laid to rest. The move to place a picture of former prime minister Dom Mintoff next to Daphne’s image, candles and flowers at the Great Siege monument shows (albeit unintentionally) that even Labour supporters sense that her assassination has a strong political context. Likewise, including pictures of victims Raymond Caruana and Karin Grech at the monument also highlights a political background to the murder.
Until it is proven otherwise, this is how the crime will continue to be perceived. The choice of these three pictures by her opponents and critics has only reinforced it. The arraignment of three known criminals has not changed it. Until the mastermind behind the crime is revealed, this perception will not budge.
Holding power to account
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a battle for political survival. Two investigations led the police to recommend that he faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu claims he has done nothing wrong, and that the police report is flawed.
Even Labour supporters sense that her assassination has a strong political context
Israel’s justice system has already jailed a former prime minister and a former president over the last decade. As The Economist noted incisively last week, while some might take this as proof that Israeli politicians are dishonest, “yet it is also something for Israel to be proud of, for it shows that its justice system and free press hold even the most powerful to account”. If court proceedings begin, this could bring down the government, and should Netanyahu not resign beforehand “Israel will pay the price, in damage to its justice systems and institutions”.
Comparisons are always imperfect, but it is a fact that the politicians, justice system and institutions of Malta are also under the international spotlight. But do our justice system and free press hold even the most powerful to account, as they appear to do in Israel?
As another columnist in this newspaper has written, the current crisis on this island has exposed major legal and reputational challenges, and the government must immediately take action and address them for the country to pull through. Our Prime Minister has again proposed amending the Constitution, but this is far too complex and intangible to provide a timely solution. And the length of time it is taking for the legal system to conclude the ongoing inquiries is discouraging.
Home sweet home
In the past, many elderly people were cared for by their extended family. With people living longer and their children moving away from their home towns and villages, pressured by busy careers, few can handle looking after their elderly relatives at home.
The State institutions cannot cope with the burgeoning numbers of dependent elderly people, and private care and residential homes are mushrooming. Planning applications for elderly homes are becoming more common – although this is environmentally problematic when it means developing large tracts of land outside the development zones. This winter, as in other years, an influenza epidemic put strains on our health system – including family doctors and polyclinics as well as Mater Dei. It led to a rush of hospital admissions. When the epidemic was at its peak, hospital beds were understandably scarce and resources were stretched to the limit, as I myself experienced first-hand.
Unfortunately, the State hospital, even going back to the days of St Luke’s, always has beds occupied by so-called ‘social cases’. This is not a pleasant term and generally involves elderly people who are not capable of taking care of themselves at home. If there is no available place for them at a State-run home, and they do not have the means to pay for private care, or relatives able and willing to look after them, they can spend long periods occupying beds at the main hospital.
On the other hand, many elderly people now opt to remain at home with live-in carers. This is the optimal solution for many families because like this, older people can stay at home in familiar and pleasant surroundings. Increasingly large numbers of such carers, often from foreign countries, are providing a very valuable service to the elderly here in Malta.
The government is already providing some financial assistance to families who employ carers, and this is to be encouraged. It is certainly less costly for the government than providing full-time permanent accommodation at nursing homes, let alone beds in hospital. Most importantly, it is often also a preferred and happier solution for the elderly than being institutionalised.
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