Perfect timing, I don’t think: just when we discover we have slaves in Malta, we talk about gender identity

Published: October 29, 2014 at 11:53pm

civil liberties

Hadn’t we better get our priorities straight? The big news of the last couple of days was the discovery – or rather, the voice given to an open secret – that Chinese workers have been enslaved by Leisure Clothing over many years.

This would be a fine time for our Civil Liberties Minister to speak up, you would think, right?

And she did: on the subject of her Gender Identity Bill. Talk about upside-down priorities. When slavery is discovered in our midst, the first person to speak up should be the Civil Liberties Minister.

She, however, said nothing while her ministry issued a statement saying that the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations has already taken action against Leisure Clothing in two separate cases.

Twenty-first century Malta: Cyrus can marry Randolph but Li Kwa is enslaved by a factory owner, paid just tens of euros a month, fed food with worms in it out of a van, and sleeps either on the factory floor or in slum quarters after working 18 hours a day, while the police are bribed with suits.




31 Comments Comment

  1. ken il malti says:

    I always get Helena Dalli mixed up with Deborah Schembri ta divorce.

    They look alike, plump women with pretty faces.

    Has anyone ever seen them together ?

  2. Mr Meritocracy says:

    Another Minister who I forgot even existed.

  3. P Shaw says:

    Where are Miriam Dalli, Ariadne Massa, Kurt Sansone? Are they still thinking about the arlogg tal-lira or do they still have a brain-freeze as a result of the ice-water bucket challenge?

  4. Len says:

    The director of the company was Chinese, it was him who enslaved his fellow nationals.

    Joseph Muscat’s government treats the Chinese very well. One Chinese worker with the Maltese government is paid 13,000 euros a month.

  5. M says:

    Is that a convicted criminal on her right? Could we ask the minister if she condones the distribution of pornography and especially its use for revenge?

    • WhoamI? says:

      Ah M. But it’s not like journalists will ask that question to Helena Dalli at every opportunity until she gives a straight answer.
      .
      Don’t worry. F’xi hin iqumu tan-Net. Biddlu il-logos issa, so it’s all right. Nothing to worry about.

    • bob-a-job says:

      Helena Dalli defended Muscat’s decision to retain Cyrus Engerer as a consultant with her ministry in spite of being found guilty of distributing pornography.

      It didn’t bother her either when transcripts of recordings putting him in the thick of the frame-up within the Sliema Local Council were published but the again perhaps like Owen Bonnici she doesn’t read MaltaToday.

  6. Queen's English says:

    I’m wracking my brain trying to think of useful things which Labour have accomplished so far. You made me realise that the things which they consider to be their greatest achievements are things like gay marriage. While the ‘achievement’ is good it really benefits very few people as only 11 gay couples have used the new law so far. But that sort of thing makes for good Xarabank shows.

    The news this week that some old laws have been scrapped was another case in point. It involved laws which really bothered no one and anybody who is semi literate could have just gone through the list of laws and struck of the really stupid ones. These are laws which involve things like pensions for war widows etc.

    Have labour done anything for the ecomomy? Have they done anyhting meaningful to improve education and the justice system?

  7. Towni says:

    When is Helena Dalli launching revenge porn legislation for Malta?

  8. Tania says:

    And it’s civil unions all over again. How one can change one’s gender simply by making a notarial declaration beats me – it is insane.

    For example, is a married person entitled to make such a declaration changing gender and if so, would that marriage survive?

    However we will be told that these are minority rights etc etc. PN had better watch out.

    • Makjavel says:

      Yes, minority rights – like pissing in public , publishing sleazy selfies on facebook, eating worms as protein nourishment substitute for clothing workers.

    • Matt says:

      You cannot change your gender, you can change your sex. Thats the whole point. And its a hell of a process, not a quick notarial declaration.

  9. pals says:

    Was Leisure Clothing operating in Malta when the PN was in government?

    [Daphne – Yes, when the PN was in government and pertinently, when Labour was in Opposition and its secretary-general Jimmy Magro was heavily involved with Leisure Clothing and visited several times a week.]

  10. Alexander Ball says:

    I see they got their panel members from Dial-a-Crook.

  11. Vagabond King says:

    Was this picture taken at Kordin?

  12. Rosie says:

    Floor cloths – used, wrung and discarded. L-aqwa li fil-gvern hi.

  13. Freedom5 says:

    Is this guy that stupid :

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141029/local/opposition-to-propose-financial-compensation-to-political-parties-for-discrimination-by-the-state.541836

    PN got compensated for Labour excesses in the seventies/eighties by being voted into government for 25 years – and Labour paid for it dearly.

    Moreover, PN administrations could have initiated proceedings and recovered those properties during that time.

    Sorry: wicc ta’ cuc Malti.

  14. Charly says:

    Last general election one of the main topics was hunting for hunters’ votes. Now it seems we have another monster topic, gender identity for next general election.

    Pajjiz tan-nejk kien, ghadu u jibqa.

  15. Neil (the other one) says:

    How ironic that the panel representing this bill, issued by the “Ministry of Equal Opportunities,” is formed entirely out of LGBT individuals with the minister being the only heterosexual person present.

  16. Etienne Calleja says:

    You’ve probably missed the irony of your last sentence.

Leave a Comment