A Maltese flag for the small boy whose entire family drowned because of Malta’s failure to act
Cabinet minister Marie Louise Coleiro went to the airport to see off the small Syrian boy whose entire family – both his parents and all his siblings – drowned when Malta failed to act on reports of a vessel in severe distress.
Coleiro did not take the decision herself, but she forms part of the government which did and so she should have stayed well away instead of trying to get some publicity out of it.
And what did she do when she was at the airport? She unfurled a Maltese flag. That was her present to the child, something to take with him to Egypt where he has now gone with his uncle: a little something to remember Malta, as though he is ever going to forget, if he lives to be a hundred and ten, the place where his parents and siblings died and where he was washed up alone and terrified to stay among complete strangers.
The Maltese governments plays a game of brinkmanship with Italy, letting his entire family die as a consequence along with 250 other people, and Marie Louise Coleiro trots up with her ruddy stupid idea of a suitable gift for a traumatised child. What is he supposed to do with that flag – put it on his bedroom wall to as a daily reminder of what happened to him and to his parents and siblings?
Well, at least she didn’t give him a photograph of Mintoff to go with it, though she would doubtless have loved to.
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The least she could do is give the little child a Maltese passport, seriously.
He and his family can never be compensated for the loss suffered in Maltese waters, and to this day, we still don’t know the extent of the government’s involvement in that loss.
That boy can’t pay Marie Louise Coleiro for a passport, so she gave him a flag instead.
This little boy deserved a Maltese passport more than any of those who will apply for one under the new government scheme. He even had a period of residence here.
Dawk jiswew il-belli liri Ciccio issa, ma tarax.
Dal-bicca tifel xi tridu jinvesti?
Please sign https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Find_the_missing_persons_in_Lampedusa_Shipwreck_11_October_2013/?pv=12
The crassness of this bunch is stupifying.
On the same morning this boy was sent to Egypt, some 26 or so African asylum-seekers were sent to America to start a new life.
There, they will be accepted and treated like human beings and helped to integrate into society. They will be given accomodation and a helping hand to find a decent job where then, they will be able to fend for themselves.
It’s comparable to Hitler giving a little boy a Nazi flag after gassing his whole family.
The hypocrisy is immense. I was furious when I saw that news (propaganda) item yesterday.
After seeing how they abuse of the mentally challenged, I’m hardly surprised they can be so insensitive any more.
No. The absolute least she/this government should have done is to have offered this poor kid a life, i.e.: a safe home, citizenship and a scholarship.
When one is directly responsible for stripping you of the life you had, no remedy is valid unless it is an attempt at replacing that which has been lost.
Honestly, the cheek some people have. Forming part of a government which advocates push-backs and then using this sad story and tragedy of this innocent child as a PR exercise.
As the Maltese saying goes: “Wicchom u so*mhom l-istess”. Really, they have no shame at all. What a bunch.
Minister Marie Louise Coleirio should have given the boy a photo of Joseph Muscat, to remind him who was responsible for the tragedy of his family.
Maybe a picture of Nasser, with Mintoff in the middle and Gaddafi to the right, would have been most appropriate: those three great pan-Arab fascist leaders to remind this survivor of Malta’s generosity on that fateful day that his world was destroyed by a government of hypocrites and money-grabbing amoral loonies.
Mrs Coleiro Preca appears to have taken a genuine interest in the well being of the survivors of the 11th October shipwreck and is the only member of cabinet to have bothered to meet them personally, rather than solely on duty.
Yet, yes, she is a member of the government that can be blamed for all those unnecessary deaths. At least we, and that poor boy, were spared the gross obscenity of a personal send off by Manwel Mallia.
U minn defsa u injoranta dik il-kwalita x’tistenna?
Unbelievable decisions by government ministers who think with their asses and egos rather than their heads
Tal-misthija.
Xtaqt kont naf nisthi, imma qalbi ma taghatnix u minflok spiccajt nibki it-tragedja li ghadda minnha dak it-tfajjel u aktar u aktar meta rajt lill Ministru b`dak il-wicc vili rajtha taghtih dik il-bandiera.
Ma setghetx toffendih aktar u twegghu aktar milli offendietu taghtih dik il-bandiera li minn hawn u ftit xhur ohra mhix ser tkun aghar mill-bandiera tal-furbani bit-tghaffig ta’ ligi li qed jghaffgu fiha.
Dan aktar jaghmel sens min jaf kemm ikkritikaw il-ministru karm mifsud bonnici ghax kien imur l-ajruport jara mijiet ta’ immigranti sejrin minn malta ghal pajjizi ohra.
Kemm ghajruh, u kemm abbuza mid-drittijiet tal-bniedem u x’naf jien.
Kollha siktu. Il-wicc b’iehor tista’ ssejjahlu Malti.
The Maltese government is clueless and heartless.
Run this chilling story through Google translate:
http://gatti.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2014/01/24/italia-e-malta-litigano-sul-naufragio/
What it boils down to is that, until Xuereb called, Muscat’s default orders were to leave survivors in the sea. Malta had known for hours that the boat was unstable and about to sink.
According to law, Xuereb was obliged to effect rescue, even before the boat capsized. The only plausible explanation for why he first needed clearance from Muscat is that he had standing orders to the contrary.
Did Muscat not factor in that a tragedy would be enormous?
Did he refrain from issuing clearance regardless?
Is there nothing or no one that he is accountable to?
There’s another more sickening hypothesis;
Muscat first played cat and mouse and moved in when the situation was critical, sending the one boat 280kms when it was too late. But still prohibiting Xuereb any coordination with the center in Rome.
‘A piece of bravado to gain favour with the EU’.
Could explain Xuereb’s abrupt resignation before he even got to Brussels.
I wouldn’t be surprised, if he’s called in front of the investigative commission demanded by the Cinque Stelle. Guess who’ll be called to provide their testimony as well.
One has to keep in mind Italy’s infamous Bossi-Fini act, fishing vessels confiscated after having picked immigrants at sea, their crew accused of human trafficking.
Clearance to all civilian vessels in the area, which would have meant taking these to Lampedusa, the nearest port, rests with Muscat.
A little known fact is that Malta’s patrol boat wasn’t 280km away. It was much closer and could have arrived much sooner, having been on exercises in the area.
That makes it even worse.