Will somebody please give that Richard Matrenza an intensive course in English as a foreign language?
Richard Matrenza and the missus off to be received by the Queen when he became Malta’s High Commissioner in London in 1996. Would you believe that he actually released this picture to the press?
Alfred Sant’s political appointee as Malta’s high commissioner in London, and Joseph Muscat’s political appointee to the Public Contracts Review Board has had a letter published in Times of Malta today.
Armed with a dictionary and heavy Maltese syntax, Matrenza proceeds to tangle himself up in sentences no native speaker of the language would ever write.
Sieg heil, Matrenza. Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox. Mhux fl-interess tal-poplu. And when you have a spare moment, try shaving.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
by Richard Matrenza, St Paul’s Bay
An attack on tiny Malta
I am following with interest what the subordinates of the Nationalist Party as well as their hoi polloi have been repeatedly reiterating with regard to the emotive issue of their creation, dubbing it a quick sale to acquire a Maltese passport.
These ardent supporters of their party keep resorting to selective and syndicated local and international media, which carry carefully-doctored pieces in their orchestrated condemnation by denouncing and misinforming the people about what the Labour government is doing to enhance secure foreign investments in this country.
What is glaringly obvious is that this local coterie with a vassal mentality is overlooking a very telling vacuum. Established, unattached and unshackled sources like The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal (Europe) and Time magazine, to cite reputable internationalists in their printed versions, have steered clear of accommodating undesirable local elements.
The PN acolytes are a sorry lot greedy for power. They cannot reconcile themselves to the political reality that the Maltese electorate have massively and democratically rejected their party from office 10 months ago.
As for certain fellow travellers of the PN in the talking shops of the European Union, it would do them more good to focus on how to put their own house in order. For a start, they should be working to create a real Banking Union. Their effective efforts should be directed to force Germany to evolve. They should strive to launch a solid formula to quantitative easing and, above all, aim to reaffirm a commitment to a true political union among the 28 members.
These would be sincere, effective, verifiable actions instead of allowing the European Union to bash tiny Malta, aided and abetted by unashamed members of the PN who are now on the Opposition benches.
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Why bother? As the Maltese adage appropriately say: ‘Tahsel ras il-hmar tahli l-ilma u s-sapun.
No idea what all of that meant. I must be stupid or something. I did get the tiny cutesie wootsy Malta that can do no wrong and the PN illuminati part. As for the banking union and quantitative easing, these are just things he doesn’t actually understand but which he saw written somewhere and thought they sounded cool. He’s probably been dying to use those fancy words.
This is Engrish.
It figures. Heil Beijing.
I hate to disappoint the man, but http://mobile.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/01/16/world/europe/ap-eu-malta-citizenship.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0&referrer
And http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/11/09/surge-in-rich-chinese-who-invest-in-u-s-citizenship/
Jeeeezzuuss, it’s excruciating!
It is with intense and undivided interest that I perused Mr Matrenza’s missive. I must declare I was positively mystified as to the contents, the form, and, in the final analysis, the meaning. Let it not be said that I have not applied myself in the arduous exercise of deciphering the hieroglyphs and the syntactic morphology, for I have, indeed, strived to pierce the thick veil that envelops the entirety of this most ponderous, substantial, weighty, and perhaps some will say burdensome nugget of essence, the gist, as it were, of this epistle.
For thus is the Herculean task with which I am faced. Like the travails of Sisyphus, like the Tantalic fruit which forever lies beyond my feeble grasp, this billet doux engenders in me a desire to comprehend, to fathom the depths of our former emissary’s genius. I lie thus, denuded of cognisance, stripped of understanding, in the clutches of the darkest, most sombre, coldest despair, forever yearning for that light of truth to illuminate, alas, what remains of my reason.
Baxx, se non ci fossi dovremmo inventarti.
I know several people who are in stitches right now.
That’s what my parents thought, and they lived to regret it.
You’re a genius, H.P.
We are clearly in want of a modern day Cippus Vase
Well done, Baxxter. Now I know why our lunches take so long. And that I leave with the same question, ‘What did he say?’
It’s so much better when you don’t understand someone. Saves wear and tear on the brain.
The man from Del Monte, he say go frig yourself.
Citing the general election result in order to discredit the PN deals a major blow to any individual’s credibility, and intelligence.
Behind the lofty diction lies the same pig ignorant mentality that permeates every nook and cranny in this country. Utter shame.
He’s been joined by Grixti, this ‘maggioranza taghna naghmlu li rridu’ got viral.
These people need to make up their minds whether they’re ready to grind this place to a halt to forcefully reset everything or admit plain inadequacy. (It is never good for an economy, on which they vouched their Damascene conversion, to stoke pure ideological division.)
When they moan about the PN’s 25 years in government that becomes a tall order, the country having established systems and a mindset geared towards concerted changes, in a style which won’t be given up easily by the public, notwithstanding the defeat.
If they really mean what they say, it should be the Opposition in parliament first, followed by all stakeholders and collective voting agendas. Unless, of course, they do NOT have a problem with the last being out of their control.
Don’t want to sound arrogant, it is, in fact, rather the opposite, but power isn’t something people used to authority and its exercise will ever lack. Not when these built themselves and all they do under successive PN administrative environments. Even building on top of achievements can be a tricky proposal, most players prefer evolution to some signature move to make a statement.
Or better, we don’t want a government to revolutionise the country’s multiple routes Arriva style now do we? Hafna incertezza, the Labour big no-no.
Seeing the controversy surrounding the contents of this citizenship scheme, how the polemic already stunted any possible potential and given the Commission’s decision to proceed against Malta, it’s neither long nor short term by any strategic standard.
Just ask the players whether that’s the way to go. Fine, we’ll just shut up then, why Muscat said he won’t discuss the matter any further, so there.
What a pompous ass.
So this is an emotive issue created by a coterie of PN hotheads with a vassal mentality.
The fact that the entire European Parliament shares the same opinion is utterly irrelevant, according to this cretin.
Kemm hu bravu dak Matrenza, hux? Rajtu x’ittra faqqalhom fit-Times? Min jaf kif werrwirhom.
” Their effective efforts should be directed to force Germany to evolve ”……..is this bearded old vessel for real?
The pedantic twat should learn how to use the term ‘hoi polloi’ properly. And while we’re still talking Greek – look up the meaning of ‘tautology’ and apply it to your use of ‘repeatedly reiterate’. Couldn’t get past the first paragraph so I’ll stop there.
Richard Matrenza talking about greed?
The man is almost 80 and he’s still seeking and obtaining patronage and grace-and-favour appointments by this government, which has made him chairman of the Public Contracts Review Board, consultant at the Housing Authority and chairman of the board at Zammit Clapp hospital.
I do not know why but the Prince Regent’s feeble attempt to sound learned and sophisticated (Black Adder the Third – “The Dictionary”) has sprung to mind immediately.
Good grief, man, use punctuation and a good dictionary. God knows you do need both.
His trouble lies in the fact that he goes out of his way to find an adjective (the more pompous, the better) for every noun he uses.
North Korean style.
Exactly.
Matrenza was always a buffoon even in his Lyceum days. Hanzir taqtalu denbu hanzir jibqa’.
He impressed me ta! Bravu dan, ghax ma fhimt xejn. Kif kienu jghidu ghal Sant. Ghax hadd ma kien jifhmu, mela bravu.
U ejjaaaa. He’s an ekonimist ta.
No wonder, Scicluna told Europe that Malta does not have persons of high calibre.