No, it’s not the biggest problem

Published: March 15, 2009 at 11:03am

The foreign minister has said that irregular migration is Malta’s biggest problem of the moment, and that it is stretching the islands’ resources to the limit. I’m afraid he overstates his case. Migration – irregular, illegal or whatever you choose to call it – is far from being Malta’s biggest problem. It may be the foreign minister’s biggest problem, because he has become immersed in it and cannot see the wider picture, but to the rest of us who are not posting racist and bigoted comments on the internet, the country’s biggest problem is immediately apparent: making sure that Malta does not slip so far into recession that chaos and disruption ensue.

Whether there are 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 illegal immigrants locked up in pens called detention centres makes no difference to my life. If you’re honest with yourself, it makes no difference to your life, either. The only ones who believe that it makes a difference to their lives are the obsessed, who have fixed ideas about culture and identity and who feel threatened by those who are different, however tiny the minority. On the other hand, when the economy contracts all of us suffer, and the foreign minister should have it spelled out to him gently that Malta’s biggest problem is not his immigration bugbear but the very real possibility of a further contraction of the economy as we begin to feel the fall-out of what is happening in other markets.

Eurostat has released figures which show that Malta has had the worst decline in tourism figures in the European Union during the final four months of last year. Is that less of a problem than illegal immigration? I hardly think so. Nor do the hotel operators. The thing that the foreign minister seems not to understand is that illegal immigration is largely an irrelevance to all but those who make it their business to get uptight about it, and to behave as though it affects their lives when the reality is that it does not. To those who are struggling to keep a business going, to fight for new contracts, to look for new markets, to keep the revenue coming in and to keep thinking positive against the odds, the fact that the foreign minister and his troops have to contend with illegal immigrants is by the by, neither here nor there. There are more pressing matters on their minds.

Unfortunately, government spokesmen, certain MEPS and members of the Opposition are listening to ‘the people’ and forgetting that, most of the time, ‘the people’ think out of the seat of their pants and lack direction. The honest-to-god truth is that if you give ‘the people’ the choice between having the country over-run by illegal immigrants and keeping their job or having no illegal immigrants and losing their job, most of those people would choose the former option. What this means is that on the scale of what is most important to us, keeping our jobs and our income is far, far more crucial than not having illegal immigrants around. It follows, therefore, that any risk posed to our livelihood is a far bigger problem that the influx of immigrants from African states.

I can understand that Tonio Borg and Simon Busuttil are repetitively overstating their case in an attempt at getting action and attention from other member states of the European Union. What I can’t understand is the way they put their suit: that Malta is entitled to help from fellow member states because our geographical position puts us on the immigration front-line. The logic, unfortunately, is none too brilliant. If we are going to argue from the perspective of geography rather than, say, the perspective of relative poverty, then we are opening the way for some pretty impressive arguments from those countries whose borders are wide open and cannot be patrolled or policed, and which are so large that illegal immigrants can sneak in and just disappear.

Even if we plead special status, then we are opening ourselves up to scathing response from, say, the United Kingdom, where most of the immigrants are headed as the Promised Land. On the coast of France immediately opposite Britain, there are huge camps of illegal immigrants doing their damnedest to get across the water to a perceived heaven. Every night, hundreds of them leave the camps and try to break into the backs of lorries, strap themselves to the undercarriage of heavy vehicles, or find increasingly ingenious means of stowing away. Faced with this massive problem, the British are unlikely to be sympathetic to Malta. Nor will the French be sympathetic, given the problems they must contend with, caused by those hordes of illegal immigrants passing through their territory in the hope of reaching Britain.

The immigration debate has highlighted the fact that we still think of ourselves as a special case, a mentality inculcated into us by the administration of Dom Mintoff. We are not a special case. We are now a grown-up, fully-fledged state and a member of the European Union, and like all grown-ups, we have to face up to our own problems and deal with them without crying in the streets and asking for pity and sympathy. Thirty-four years after becoming a republic, we haven’t realised yet that there is no such thing as a free ride.

What fun, we have problems

Edward Scicluna is a decent sort of chap and nice to speak to, but when you’ve wrapped a political banner around your head and are standing for election as a party candidate, you have to stop pretending that you’re an unbiased observer. When the news broke that Malta is edging towards recession, The Times asked Professor Scicluna for his views and quoted him without pointing out that he is a Labour candidate. Is that important, you might ask? Well, of course it is: when you’re campaigning for election under the banner of a political party, everything you say has to be framed in that context. It didn’t help that the other economist The Times chose to quote was another Labour man called Karm Farrugia. Neither of these two chaps could conceal a frisson of pleasure that things are not looking all that rosy. They came across as being more concerned with being proved right than with this country’s immediate destiny.

This article is published in The Malta Independent on Sunday today.




42 Comments Comment

  1. S. Calascione says:

    I hate to say this, but the Nationalists really, really deserve to lose the next (general) election.

    [Daphne: That wouldn’t be so bad if Labour deserved to win, which they don’t.]

  2. Anonymous says:

    ‘EU-Kommissar wirft Malta Rassismus vor’

    EU Commissioner accuses Malta of being ‘Racist’

    http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/malta104.html

    Have a look at this link please.

    [Daphne – Very few people on this blog understand German. Please translate.]

  3. Antoine Vella says:

    Karm Farrugia was in the papers recently, using a fake quote from Marx to explain the present economic situation. Such an expert!

  4. Andrea says:

    The German Tagesschau-Online article is almost identical with the one from The Malta Independent Online: http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=84720

  5. John Lane says:

    Neither the Times nor the Independent included this part of Commissioner Barrot’s comments (but which appeared in the German version): “Commissioner Barrot said that the position of the Maltese regarding immigrants was rather racist and that this needs to change.”

  6. Leo Said says:

    I agree with Andrea that the “Tagesschau” report is quasi identical with the news item in The Malta Independent.

    However, it is with regret that I note that the “Tagesschau” news item is not original but derived from Italian sources.

    The affluent ARD (Working Group of German Stations) could have sent its reporters to Malta to view all in situ. It could then have been possible to avoid using the very cruelly misleading term “Straflager”. “Geschlossener Durchgangslager” or “geschlossener Auffangslager” would have been more appropriate translations.

  7. Lino Cert says:

    @Leo Said
    “It could then have been possible to avoid using the very cruelly misleading term “Straflager”. “Geschlossener Durchgangslager” or “geschlossener Auffangslager” would have been more appropriate translations.”

    “Konzentrationslager” would be an a more accurate description.

  8. Steven Calascione says:

    These people are escaping violent conflict, poverty and political persecution. I cannot, will not, vote for a party that places political expedience above human life.

    Is this the party that champions life?

  9. A Camilleri says:

    Wasn’t he one of Mintoff’s top advisers in his ‘heyday’?

    [Daphne – Karm Farrugia? Yes.]

  10. A Camilleri says:

    @Steven Calascione. Some may, but most aren’t. Those opting to go back with Eur5000 certainly aren’t.

  11. Leo Said says:

    Lino Cert wrote: “Konzentrationslager” would be an a more accurate description. Should I surmise that Lino Cert has spent time in a detention centre in Malta as well as in a “Konzentrationslager” somewhere on this planet? Should I regard Lino Cert’s remark as evidence of pitiful ignorance? Should I surmise that Lino Cert has a soft spot for cynicism?

  12. Chris II says:

    @ Steven Calascione:

    Which party are you referring to? As far as I know, the PN’s line of thought is that we have to help these people, even though we might need to do more to bring the detention and open centres up to scratch.

    The other side (the new Europhile party – PL (MLP, Partit Socjalista, Partit tal-Haddiema, etc) are implying otherwise and fanning the fire of racism. This is the real problem: instead of siding with the government so as to find a solution to this human tragedy, they are siding with “the people”.

    The real problem is that “the people” have lost their sense of direction, their real values and responsibilities and have ended up like spoilt children – either give me what I want or I shall stop breathing. This is the real tragedy and the real doomsday scenario of our islands.

  13. Lino Cert says:

    @ Leo Said
    Yes, I’ve worked in a Maltese detention centre. Have you?

  14. Moggy says:

    @ Leo Said: Lino Cert obviously doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And it’s not the first time, either. Konzentrationslager my left foot!

    We sincerely look forward to the day when people start to really help us to deal with a difficult problem – that of keeping these people in the comfortable environment which they deserve. As it is, we are having to make do with quickly refurbished quarters and hurriedly pitched tents. I fear that the situation has little to do with racism, and lots to do with a country which cannot fork out all it wishes to fork out.

  15. Lino Cert says:

    @Moggy
    We have 50,000 empty units, not to mention tens of empty guest-houses and two-star hotels that can be refurbished at a small cost. I agree with you though that this has nothing to do with racism. I never said it was. It is all about greed and mis-placed nationalism.

    [Daphne – I’m sorry, but you can’t trample on the rights of one group to accommodate the rights of another group. What you are advocating here is seizing private property to accommodate immigrants. It’s a non-starter, and wrong.]

  16. Steven Calascione says:

    Chris II,

    JPO has publicly stated that the Maltese government should tow immigrants out to sea and leave them there. This was he said, what the Americans are doing. [Daphne – He spoke for himself, and not for his party, and even he is the first to admit this. If you are going to cite examples, then cite the prime minister, who heads not just his party but also the government, and who is pretty much the only politician speaking as you and I do. But he’s the most important one and quite frankly, the only one who counts. I really enjoyed listening to him give Joseph Muscat a polite and restrained dressing-down in parliament a couple of weeks ago. He admonished him for his behaviour, and reminded him that their duty as party leaders is not to fan racism and create panic but to do whatever they can to get the message across that human beings are to be treated like human beings, and not like waste.]

    The US Coastguard actually handover immigrants caught illegally entering US territorial waters in accordance with international laws (see Ranier Fsadni’s response in The Times dated Thursday, 5 March, 2009).

    The Times immediately portrayed the Prime Minister in such a way so as to be seen to be justifying JPO’s position. JPO is popular, elections are round the corner. Easy to see why this was done. [Daphne – You’re completely wrong on this one. Take it from me.]

    The Prime Minister himself, may have been unaware of the implications of this particular sleight of hand, however, as the holder of the highest executive office in the land, he ought to have been better versed in the intricacies of international law and indeed, his own living history. JPO’s suggestions directly contravene international law and all moral codes. [Daphne – I think he realises that now.]

  17. Pat says:

    Lino Cert & Daphne:
    You are both onto something. Why could there not be incentives to use those empty lots for said purpose? I agree they should not be seized, but why not rented/bought?

    [Daphne – Who would pay for them? If the state is going to use taxes to pay people’s rent, then it should start with those who are on the housing list already. You cannot seriously expect illegal immigrants to be provided with social housing. Refugees, yes.]

  18. Steven Calascione says:

    Thanks, Daphne.

  19. Pat says:

    Daphne:

    You adress several topics in one there… Yes, I do think the state should pay for the living cost of people not capable of doing so themselves, whether they are Maltese or immigrants. I suppose it all comes down to a decision of how a welfare state should be formed. Once they have been taken in either as refugees, or awaiting a status, they should have a roof over their head, food on their tables and medicine for their children. Once they have actually gained a status enabling them to stay the next obvious step is education.

    Just the other day I drove by the tent city outside Luqa again and it’s a sight far too sad to be accepted in a civilised country. How can this be accepted and then people expect them to be grateful for it?

  20. John Schembri says:

    @ Pat: perhaps you weren’t here when the refugees from Idi Amin’s Uganda came in the 1970s and they were helped by the population and given shelter by the authorities. Maybe there were about 500. Our economy could take that influx, and we welcomed them with open arms. Some still write to the Times of Malta to thank us. [Daphne – That’s a very poor comparison, John. The refugees from Uganda were (1) not African but Indian, (2) had legal status, and (3) were only in transit and didn’t stick around to work or set up home.]

    Should we build a small city at Hal Far to accommodate people who do not have refugee status? The quarters which were built in Hal Far have all been vandalised by certain migrants, I hear. [Daphne – You know, it never fails to shock me how grown men and women trade on hearsay and gossip rather than finding out the facts.]

    We all know that they are suffering and that some of them came to Malta on purpose, with their GPS they invariably landed in the same three places on the west coast of Malta. [Daphne – You’re not a seafaring man, are you? They don’t fetch up in the same places because of their GPS, which only a few have anyway. They fetch up in those places because of the island’s orientation towards the North African coast, the winds and currents, and the fact that a sizeable part of our coastline is sheer cliff-face, which is why only boats called the Jolly Roger with cargoes of green soap head that way.]

    What I want to say is that we are typical islanders: we help anyone who is in need (the boat people would have nowhere to go), but we are on a very small crowded island, we don’t like to encourage more migrants to come here. [Daphne – Try telling that to Captain Cook. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cook_james.shtml%5D

    In Italian they say that visitors are like fish ….. after three days they start to smell. How can we know how many more boat loads of these poor people and trouble-making Tunisians Ghaddafi will send us? [Daphne – How many Tunisians do you actually know, as a matter of interest?]

    Don’t talk about the welfare state. There’s hardly enough money for the present social services. A friend of mine from the Ivory Coast used to live at the tents in Hal Far, found a job, now he is sharing a flat with others and hopes he will join his friend in France when his turn comes. He shows a lot of gratitude and he earned his money with hard work like we do. We should address the root cause of the problem: why are they leaving their country?

  21. christian says:

    And again you people are forgetting the most important topic: our economy. What about the tourism this year? What is going to happen if the GBP – Euro rate remains the same? Shame on the MTA. I walked into about 20 travel agents, international and family-run, in four counties in Ireland/Northern Ireland, and not one promoted or even offered Malta as a destination. [Daphne – Why blame the MTA? I would imagine that’s a business decision taken by the owner of the travel agency. Travel agents are not there to represent destinations. They are there to give their clients the best possible options. If Malta is not one of the best possible options, it’s not the MTA’s fault, but the result of a whole conglomeration of adverse factors.]

    We are still promoting culture and the usual granny stuff. Tourists will still come to Malta, at the right price, for the right reasons, with or without immigrants, so please stop wasting time and money and promote Malta as it should be: the new mecca for night-life.

    [Daphne – How is that going to help the country’s coffers, exactly? It might help the drug-dealers and the night-clubs, but it’s not going to help the restaurants, or the good hotels, or the shops – at least not the sort of night-life I imagine you mean.]

  22. Leo Said says:

    @ Lino Cert

    You should of course be proud of your work experience at a detention centre in Malta. However, you avoid mentioning whether you were an inmate of some “Konzentrationslager”. Hence, I still do not know whether you could really compare a detention centre with a konzentrationslager.

    I have been lucky enough to avoid sojourns in a detention centre and/or a konzentrationslager.

  23. Joseph loves the Illegal immigrants... says:

    Hi Daphne,

    Hope you are listening in to Martyr Jojo addressing parliament. Scaremongering. Not only has he missed out on his history lessons…but he has also missed out that he has twin daughters…when he spoke of his daughter. Oh! what a circus…alas no show. …Insomma

  24. Lino Cert says:

    @Daphne
    “. What you are advocating here is seizing private property to accommodate immigrants. It’s a non-starter, and wrong”

    Where did I say that? You are mis-quoting me. There are many ways that the government can release this unoccupied property, without seizing it. For example by exempting these properties from capital gains tax and stamp duty as long as they are used for social housing purposes (for both Maltese and immigrants). And I’m not suggesting that they are offered for free either. There would be a minimal standard rent set which could be affordable for legal immigrants starting out, perhaps subsidised by EU grants, and perhaps paid-in-lieu in the form of future credits, and to be repaid once these immigrants find their feet.

    There are several large three-star hotels which are closed in the winter. These could easily accommodate thousands of immigrants awaiting processing, at least they would be spared the cold nights, summer is less of a problem. The UK and France are littered with such guesthouses, which typically serve as stepping-stones towards the immigrants eventually renting their own place. This could hardly impact on the economy. In fact pushing immigrants into the labour market would help the economy flourish. When I first went to the UK I was illegal since we were not in the EU yet. When found out, I wasn’t kicked into a detention centre. Instead I was given chance to regularise my position, was given social welfare, my children were given free medical care. Once we entered the EU I was then able to regularise my position and repay what I was given many times over in terms of tax and social insurance payments.

    Has anyone worked this through and figured out whether our economy will really and truly suffer such an impact with further immigration? And even if there is a significant impact, cannot we absorb it without falling into poverty? And even if immigration should push us into poverty, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it, detaining children and pregnant women will only dehumanise our society and expose us to the world as the bigots we are.

  25. Lino Cert says:

    @Leo Said
    “You should of course be proud of your work experience at a detention centre in Malta”

    No, in fact I am not proud at all of my experience. First of all, I shut my eyes to the abuses happening for several weeks because the money was so good (we were paid about three times the going rate for public doctors, plus allowances). When I finally spoke out and reported two guards, they were court-martialled and penalised two days’ wages each. I was then advised by the chief administrator to resign from this job “for my own safety”. I never spoke out in public, like many other Maltese doctors who have worked in such centres I just found another job and kept my mouth shut. So I looked first to save my skin like many others, and yes I am ashamed of this; it will be on my conscience for years to come and makes me feel dirty and an involuntary accomplice, like I am sure many Maltese doctors feel. It had to be foreign doctors to have the guts to speak out.

  26. A decent proposal... says:

    Daphne dear…anzi Precious,

    Here is my proposal…ustra…everybody should be salivating.

    Ejja. Caqlaq lass.

    Let’s start importing “Sinkijiet”.

    This is part of Jojo’s hysterical 20-point diatribe. He is still at Point 8.

    Hope my heart does not conk out before the end of his babble.

    I have a “Sinking” feeling that you shall not fall for my proposal.

    Sincerely,

    Broken heart…sorry…Broken LP.

  27. christian says:

    Daphne,

    Malta is so expensive, one would get a cruise for a week all-in, instead of booking a week in a three-star hotel in Bugibba. Flights to Malta are as expensive as a package deal to Spain, the Canaries or even Italy. These are our main competitors.

    No, I do not think flying in a bunch of 18-year-olds looking for cheap booze would solve our problem. I was thinking more of the late 20s to middle-aged group, looking for some good time away from their home-town. [Daphne – Exactly what kind of night-life is there in this wretched place for people in their late 20s and the middle-aged?]

    These are just three examples of people I know who visited Malta lately.

    1) A couple in their early 30s visited Malta with a wedding group, stayed in a three-star hotel in Mellieha and the only memories they have of the island are the hotel bar closing at 11pm, being ripped-off by a taxi driver who took them to Bugibba, and that they couldn’t find any kind of entertainment, or drinking place anywhere.

    2) Another couple got a present from their daughter for the wife’s 50th birthday – a holiday to Malta; they stayed in a four/five star hotel in Sliema. Their comments were that the hotel was first class, but once out of it, it was like being on a building site. They asked for directions to some good pubs, bars and clubs and were pointed towards the Strand.

    3) A colleague of mine is just back from Malta, because his daughter is considering getting married there. He stayed in a five-star hotel in the north. Again, his comments were that there was nowhere to go to for a drink, and he was afraid inviting people there for a week, because he thinks they would be bored. I convinced him to join me in September for a week in St. Julian’s. Hopefully he will change his mind.

    Daphne, these are the people I had in mind. Western Europeans (or Europids) do not go on holidays to learn about Malta’s bizzilla or churches; they go there for a good time no matter how old they are. [Daphne – It all depends on what kind of people you mean.]

  28. Babbling Joseph says:

    Daphne,

    Please, just ignore this if not conducive to the ongoing discussion. But please do download Joseph Muscat’s speech, once online…and then bring it up for comments.…at least so far…He is just a mixed-up guy. The LP cocktail. No cock No tail.

    [Daphne – I will.]

  29. A Camilleri says:

    @Lino Cert. And how would you recommend breakfast to be served? Would they like Full English or Continental?

  30. MikeC says:

    @lino cert

    I’m beginning to get very confused with your curriculum vitae and what it is exactly you do in the medical field.

    In the article above, you say:

    “No, in fact I am not proud at all of my experience. First of all, I shut my eyes to the abuses happening for several weeks because the money was so good (we were paid about three times the going rate for public doctors, plus allowances). When I finally spoke out and reported two guards, they were court-martialled and penalised two days’ wages each. I was then advised by the chief administrator to resign from this job “for my own safety”. I never spoke out in public, like many other Maltese doctors who have worked in such centres I just found another job and kept my mouth shut.”

    Yet in this thread, (http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2008/06/14/he-has-nothing-to-declare-not-even-genius/) where much doubt is cast on your multiple identities, ethics, and veracity, you say:

    “I may not be a doctor but have worked in both the state and private health care system both in Malta and overseas so I know what I am talking about.”

    To which one of the responses (by daphne), which remained unanswered was:

    “What were you doing in the state and private health care system both in Malta and overseas? Pushing trolleys of food around? You can’t have been doing anything much given that you didn’t know about the STD clinic at Boffa, or who Philip Carabot is.”

    Now I’d like a convincing answer to that question. Because you see, to even begin to believe you’ve ever been near a detention centre, I’d like to know exactly what it is you did in a hospital which earns you, as you put it “three times the going rate for public doctors, plus allowances” when you do the4 same thing in a detention centre.

    Based on your posts, I think its a fair question, isn’t it?

  31. John Schembri says:

    Daphne – “Exactly what kind of night-life is there in this wretched place for people in their late 20s and the middle-aged?”

    At Il-Barri, Mgarr: a few beers, rabbit, snails or horse meat with plenty of chips, veggies and bread would cost you 20 euro.

    [Daphne – My idea of absolute hell. I hope you are joking.]

  32. Lino Cert says:

    @MikeC
    “Based on your posts, I think its a fair question, isn’t it?”

    It’s a fair question but I will choose not to answer it. I’m no Patrick Attard, who was either very brave or very stupid, I am neither. Daphne gets paid for saying it as it is, it’s easy for her to criticise us wusses. [Daphne – I don’t get paid for this blog, and the only reason criticism is easy is because there’s just so much that sucks.] I would probably get fired if I spoke. [Daphne – No you wouldn’t. You use a false name.]
    I don’t need to verify the case above because it made the papers. And I wasn’t the last one to leave in such circumstances. There was a constantly changing medical team until the MSF docs came along, and not even they could take it.

  33. John Schembri says:

    @ Daphne: I was joking, but I don’t mind going there or the other eating-houses at Mgarr. They are value for money, and most importantly it’s the company you are in which makes it a good night out.

    [Daphne – They are not value for money, but a waste of money. If you are going to eat rubbish in a depressing non-aesthetic environment devoid of all charm and comfort, then you’re better off at home, cooking your own supper, which is bound to be better, and eating it in more congenial surroundings. And no, it’s not just the company which makes it fun – all sorts of other elements come into play.]

  34. MikeC says:

    @Lino ‘pants on fire’ Cert

    You may choose not to answer the question, and I can choose to assume that most of what you write and claim is personal experience is actually fabrication and fantasy.

    I missed the report in the papers but whether it was reported or not has no bearing on whether you have any direct experience of it other than reading the report in the paper yourself.

    You have alternately claimed you are a doctor and when pressed admitted you weren’t.

    It has been suggested that you are actually someone who pushes a food trolley in a hospital but you could equally be a patient in a mental institution with access to the internet.

    As I say, you may choose not to answer my question, and I may choose to assume that every single claim you make is false, since some of them, by your admission or by virtue of being contradicted by well known facts, certainly are.

  35. christian says:

    While writing this I have in mind two countries Monaco and Northern Ireland.

  36. christian says:

    It is unbelievable the amount of middle-aged people looking for a good night-club, casino or a simple pub. Why does Malta have the biggest decline in incoming tourists?

    But then, maybe we are happy with this, you know, more quiet, less hassle and fewer people in the A&E.

  37. Andrea says:

    @MikeC
    I think you are right about Mr Cert.

  38. Lino Cert says:

    @MikeC

    You’re right MikeC, I have to come clean: mine were total fabrications. There IS an omnipotent God after all, the cosmos is eternal, there have been no crimes against humanity in our detention centres, Maltese is our national language, Joseph Muscat is our next deserving leader, religion teachers are not abusing our children, schools are not a total waste of time, and there is total freedom of expression in our bigot-free country.

    And you are also right about me: I am the trolley-pushing inmate of a mental institution, with access to the internet, where I wreak havoc and play games with your poor mind.

  39. Moggy says:

    I find it difficult to believe that Lino Cert is a doctor. Every doctor (of medicine) on this Earth knows what a GU clinic is. Lino C. did not. That’s enough evidence for me.

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