Well done, Ivan – but you’re wrong about one thing
“A man in my position should not get involved in public debates.”
Not quite. Everyone has not just the right but the duty to get involved in public debates on matters so serious. It is one of the blessings of living in a democracy – speaking out without retribution or fear of retribution.
By not speaking out, by saying that you should not or had better not, what you are saying, effectively, is that you don’t believe we live in a democracy.
Given that all the laws are in place which make Malta a democracy, it follows that any failings are our own. If we don’t speak out because we hope to garner favours, or because we fear damage to our property, business or social life, or because we expect harassment in various forms, then we are helping to bring that situation into being, making it a self-fulfilling prophecy or reality.
The more people speak out in their own names, the easier it will be for others to do so, and it will become the new normality as it is elsewhere.
When we express our antagonism towards China and its important people, we tend to forget one thing: how brave ordinary people in China are to express their disagreement with the terrible dictatorship that has held their country in a vice for generations. Yet still they do so, the consequences being awful beyond our comprehension.
And here in Malta we think we are being brave if we say, in our own name, that the government’s mercenary sale of Maltese passports as a door into Europe, to individuals shrouded in secrecy, is a bad thing.
It has come to this already.
A few months ago, supposedly educated people were screaming ‘Shame on you’ at the prime minister who was their guest. MPs were behaving like vulgar animals in parliament, insulting those they disagreed with, left, right and centre. Everybody and his dog competed to rubbish the Nationalists in newspaper columns, on the radio, in television debates, in public forums and around dinner tables.
And now they’re all scared to open their mouths. They’ve noticed, too late, that there’s a stop-at-nothing bastard in the prime minister’s chair.
We get what we deserve.
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A year ago, a certain Franco Debono was a permanent fixture on all front pages, all talk shows revolved around the meaning of parliamentary democracy and Lawrence Gonzi was accused of being arrogant, weak, omnipotent and absent all at once.
This country was doing a ’68 over Christmas.
This is how people think
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20131107/local/no-cap-on-the-number-who-can-buy-citizenship-henley.493749#comment-1113783646
vince collins
• 5 days ago △ ▽
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you can’t criticise something you don’t know how it’s gonna work out…..and you don’t criticise something when you got one of your MPs and a failed candidate trying hard for a company to get the “contract” for the same deal…to me that’s HYPOCRISY. First see some of the results..then open your trap as much as you want….
AS FOR MONEY…..selling citizenship is not as bad as selling a bank, an airport, lotto, etc etc….
It is appalling to hear these sickening comments.
I have know Mr Ivan Bartolo personally for many years and he has always been an honorable man and I find what he has written is both courageous and honorable.
“The more people speak out in their own names, the easier it will be for others to do so, and it will become the new normality as it is elsewhere.”
I agree totally, which is why I do not consider pseudonyms very favourably.
There’s lots of them on this website.
You are perfectly right, Daphne. People felt more free to express themselves under the PN government. The TV talk-shows, newspapers articles and other sources had the liberty (gained after 1987) to air their views, without fear of repercussions. Take Peppi Azzopardi for one.
Dr. Gonzi received unfair criticism during his tenure. We were not spared a day without having to open our newspapers in the morning and read something “negative” about his government. Naturally, the Times of Malta and MaltaToday were on the frontline in this attack.
Slight correction .. they will probably be visiting Malta at least once. That will be the day when they will use their vote to make sure the PL remains in power.
If the Henley & Partners predictions are correct and 300 people buy a citizenship per year then by the end of the term, the PL will have an extra 1500 votes.
Daphne, what you say is true, but let’s give credit to a person who felt that he had to speak out, irrespective of the restrictions that he felt for not doing so.
I am not in a position to comment on Ivan Bartolo’s position, and what it involves, since I do not know it.
Drawing an analogy between Malta and a front garden is way too kind. I would say Europeans will be appalled by the unwanted scum rising out of their drainage system. Sadly this is what we have turned our beloved country into.
We get what THEY deserve.