The damage being done to Malta and its financial sector by the persistent propagation of pernicious comment has now reached such a critical level that opposing it should be the duty of every Maltese person, irrespective of his or her political beliefs or party allegiance. This anti-Malta campaign has gone far beyond the prudent limits of democracy – it has now taken the form of a berserk crusade.
According to a recent paper published by the MFSA (‘The Contribution of the Financial Services Sector to the Economy’, by Ian P. Cassar, October 2017), in 2016, the financial sector is estimated to have contributed in the region of €850 million in gross value added, or around 10 per cent of Malta’s Gross Domestic Product.
The financial sector has been built, stone by stone, over the past 30 years, and over an even longer period if one considers that what was started in the late 1980s was only possible because there were then a core of professionals with qualifications and training in banking, accountancy and the law. It was made possible by the entrepreneurial efforts of the various leaders in the sector, both politicians and operators in the private sector, who managed to create an industry out of nothing and which today feeds thousands, turning water into wine.
For many years, you might not have agreed with everything the government of the day did, but everyone agreed that one had to speak and write with a good dose of circumspection so as not to poison the wine and turn it into vinegar, or worse.
This prudent approach was nothing new. For centuries it has been practised by the most civilised and successful countries whose citizens understand that the national interest comes before their own selfish interests. Sadly, a few among us still suffer from the feudal mentality which makes them go running to Big Daddy abroad to report those whom they consider erring brothers.
Nearly everyone is benefitting from our strong economy powered by the financial sector, tourism and other sectors; PN and PL supporters, floating voters, as well as the apolitical. The anti-Malta campaign is being conducted by an influential few who are seeking to feather their own platforms at the cost of the many honest and upright Maltese, of all political beliefs, putting in danger the investment made by many operators in finance and other sectors, over many years.
From what one can surmise, this anti-Malta crusade is no longer even a matter of party politics but is secessionist in nature.
The anti-Malta campaign can perhaps be said to have started with political disagreement about the Individual Investor Programme but has now degenerated into an outright attack on all Maltese institutions, which have taken decades to build.
We have now come to the pitiful stage as a nation where banners and graffiti put up by Maltese are calling their own country a Mafia State. This is insulting to whoever is a true Maltese and proud of our country’s name and history.
Surely they are doing Malta no favours by depicting it as a corrupt State
And especially irksome for those of us who reside abroad and have to explain to total strangers the background to these intemperate attacks.
Corruption is condemnable, and I, for one, greatly appreciate, admire, and read very carefully the work of honest journalists who, often at great personal sacrifices, seek out facts and publish them. They are the guards of democracy.
But it is one thing seeking and publishing facts, and perhaps joining plausible dots, and quite another to blow up every issue, paint skeletons in every cupboard, self-servingly accept innuendo, and then go forth and incessantly present these mental constructs as facts beyond a reasonable doubt to all the world, leveraging the distribution powers of modern global media to the detriment of your country’s reputation.
Importantly, it is one thing to talk and write for a Maltese audience, where shades of meaning and significance are understood and people are known, and quite another to talk and write in international fora where nuances are lost, the real backgrounds of people are unknown, situations are not put in context and therefore not fully comprehended.
Some of the anti-Malta campaigners know this very well, and use it to their own advantage. Others are impassioned idealists, carried along by the waves. But surely, they are doing Malta no favours by depicting it as a corrupt State.
There are various cases on several hot issues before the courts, and this in itself is not a bad thing. But courts of law, as well as the police, in civilised countries, take time because they have to follow procedure, elicit valid evidence, and calmly apply judgment. Institutions have to be accorded time and space to function properly. I prefer a court of law that takes the appropriate time to decide to one which goes for summary judgments.
The anti-Malta campaign is not only deleterious, but insidious as well.
First of all, there is the direct political and economic impact of the negative message being propagated. Neutral observers form the wrong opinion of our country, simply based on what they hear, and on reports that they may not have the time and resources to analyse and put in context. This mistaken opinion will engender an adverse attitude towards the whole of Malta and the Maltese, not just the targets of the anti-Malta campaigners.
Secondly, adverse reports are used by other countries to denigrate our country for their own advantage. Countries vying with us in various economic sectors are being represented by politicians eager to jump on the bandwagon created by our fellow Maltese to besmirch our gaming sector, tax regime, corporate services, our new initiative to properly regulate digital assets (before it even began!), and other economic initiatives, even though Malta’s laws and regulations are not only fully compliant with EU law but are sometimes even more stringent.
Certain foreign politicians magnify the specks in our eyes while hiding the planks in theirs, sometimes hailing from countries riddled with tax loopholes, corruption, criminal organisations, fiscal irresponsibility and price tags hanging from official documents fluttering in the ill-wind they bring.
Thirdly, the campaigners’ clarion bad publicity itself serves to attract the wrong sort of investors to Malta, hard criminal elements, making it even more difficult for our financial institutions, the police and the FIAU to detect and deal with undesirable operators. This will further endanger Malta as a financial centre of repute – our well-known mantra when building the financial sector.
The anti-Malta campaigners believe that all will be well once – or, rather, if – they manage to engineer a change of government. But, actually, what they are doing is a deal with the devil because once the reputation of Malta is tarnished in the international mind, it will take decades to put right.
Even Ana Gomes, the MEP from Portugal, has recently warned her friends that “An election does not clean the record of corruption, anywhere in the world.” (The Times of Malta, June 1, 2018.) I took this to mean that she and others will still be on our case, whatever political party the Maltese electorate chooses to put in government. The scorched earth strategy adopted by the anti-Malta campaigners is doing nobody any good, perhaps least of all themselves, and may well come back to haunt them.
The anti-Malta campaign is risking contagion to our various economic sectors which, unless kept in check, may lead to external economic shocks, unemployment, lower wages, lower tax revenues and lower social services. Is this what we want?
Paul V. Azzopardi is a corporate director and has worked as a financial and investment adviser and manager for many years. He is the author of Behavioural Technical Analysis and other books. The views expressed here are entirely his own and not necessarily those of companies he is associated with.