Malta Freeport Corporation CEO in Facebook braggadocio – tells PN deputy leader: “You have only one degree and I have five.”
Aaron Farrugia, the chairman of Malta Freeport Corporation
Aaron Farrugia started his brilliant political career with a job leading a team of Labour Party juniors who wrote letters to The Times pretending to be disaffected housewives from Sliema and discontented heads of household from Swieqi, who claimed all their troubles were due to the Nationalist government.
They were rumbled when he or one of his colleagues pressed ‘reply to all’ on an email and somehow managed to include The Malta Independent newsroom.
Aaron Farrugia continued his rise to glory with the top job at Forum Zghazagh Laburisti and then found himself chairing Labour’s ‘tink-tenk’, Fondazzjoni Ideat. Meanwhile, he sat on the Labour Party’s national executive committee.
He has smoothly segued from that into a job as chief executive officer of Malta Freeport Corporation, one of this government’s Taghna Lkoll appointments, made yet again without a call for applications and with nobody else being interviewed for the post. Golden years thug and Lorry Sant henchman, Ronnie Pellegrini, has been appointed to the board.
But Farrugia is very touchy about being told that he got the job as a reward for services rendered to the Labour Party, in a state of unfair play in which public money is used to compensate individuals for their efforts in bringing the Labour Party to power.
When PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami suggested as much, Farrugia responded with braggadocio and other forms of vulgarity, on Facebook.
Quite frankly, I think people like this are beyond redemption. They bend over backwards to prove the point that the difference between the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party is absolutely massive and that the differences between the core supporters are completely unbridgeable.
That is because those differences are not political, whatever we may think, but socio-cultural. The differences in politics grow out of the more primary and fundamental differences in socio-cultural values.
This is a man who doesn’t even know that the CEO of a state corporation (or any corporation) should not engage in insults on Facebook or anywhere else, with politicians or anyone else.
He does not even know that the chairman of a state corporation should not insult or use intimidating language towards politicians of the party he does not support (or any other politician, because it is unseemly and bad for the corporation), and that this is especially unwise when what provoked his reaction in the first place was the suggestion that he is a Labour tool and apparatchik.
Worse still, Aaron Farrugia was appointed to the job by Labour politicians who have no idea that this behaviour is completely unacceptable, because to them it is perfectly acceptable, justifiable and there is nothing wrong with it.
But what gets me most of all, beyond that, is the hamallagni and the rahli mentality. Imagine putting somebody so crass in the CEO’s chair, literally a backwoods bunny.
In typically Maltese village fashion, Farrugia collects degrees (but no education), defines himself by them and expects the rest of the world to do likewise. And in typically Maltese village fashion, too, the degrees are an end in themselves, the definition of a person’s worth, and not the first step on a long road which renders them meaningless.
Where in the world do people define themselves by – or are defined by – their collection of degrees rather than by their work? It’s unbelievably sad. That’s why so many Maltese people end up like Alfred Sant, in his 50s and still defining himself by his DBA ‘from Harvard’.
“I’m a self-made man” (unlike you, u ifihmni, ta, he tells Beppe Fenech Adami). Farrugia needs to have ‘self-made man’ defined for him.
He isn’t a self-made man at all. He is a chancer on the make, who used Malta’s largest political party, with the lowest standards, as a vehicle for furthering himself.
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Can he please post his form 2 results?
This must be the first case in the whole world where a CEO turns to Facebook to reply to a politician with insults. Childish.
Ma ghadhomx bicca karta tal-incova ic-certifikati Issa. Fi zmien il-KBIR arkitett ta ‘ Malta hekk kien qalilna.
Ghal wahda ghandu hamsa, hej.
Taf x’jonqsu? Gemba hobz imhaffra, ftit zejt, ftit kunserva w zebbug u bicca ncova u mus biex iqatta u jibla.
Il-veru ta’ wara l-muntanji, imma kollha jhobbu jippuzaw ghal ritratt.
Bhala CEO tal-Freeport, mhux ahjar jibda jinkwieta xi ftit bl-ahbar li l-imghallem tieghu ha jpoggi tanker bla magni b’140,000 m3 LNG taht imniehru?
If Aaron Farrugia has ‘five degrees’, then Beppe Fenech Adami has three, for Beppe, in the same way as Aaron, studied law too.
And for the record, Aaron did not obtain his LL.D, contrary to what he wants people to believe. He’s redoing his thesis this year.
So that means he has four degrees. Or, to put it correctly, four degrees and one diploma (Notary Public).
Jassigurana li se jissorprendina. Haven’t these people ever gone out of their hometown and met some real people?
I wasn’t aware people get to redo their thesis nowadays.
So, does he still get a stipend?
I have to ask: what is he doing as CEO of Malta Freeport Corporation, when he could he leading a Fortune 500 company?
Making it means making it in the real world, Mr Farrugia.
CEO of Malta Freeport Corporation is a bit of a pompous misnomer; it is Malta Freeport Terminals that run the freeport.
The ‘Corporation’ exists to protect the government’s interest, another euphemism for giving jobs to government dinosaurs on the board, and ‘security’ contracts to canvassers.
Is this really the behaviour of a CEO? With all his five degrees and whatever, does he not know what ethics are? The more they talk, the deeper the whole. Just imagine how he treats his subordinates.
Aron Farrugia’s comment on Facebook shows that in spite of having five degrees, he didn’t learn anything. It is the minister responsible for the Freeport who should reply to Beppe Fenech Adami.
Four and a half degrees, and still can’t spell and write in Maltese, let alone English.
Li kieku kien jghix fi zmien Mintoff lanqas degree wahda ma kien ikollu ghax Mintoff ried lil kulhadd jibqa’ njorant. Mela suppost jghidlu ‘grazzi’ lill-gvern Nazzjonalista.
What Aarrogance.
Watch your language Ciccio. He is a CEO and possesses 5 degrees. How inspiring.
Only 5 degrees? Ghalhekk kiesah, mela.
Please list them so we can all have a good laugh
Shouldn’t he be expressing his views about the LNG Gemini and how it will affect the business of the Freeport?
I see that he’s got one qualification for every Mosta Dome on that ship.
https://images.vesseltracker.com/images/vessels/midres/Lng-Gemini-752079.jpg
I guess keeping quiet on that account was one of the reasons he was placed there in the first place.
How timely and perversely attention-seeking his absurd outburst.
Perhaps the internal pressure’s mounting?
Is it Beppe Fenech Adami that he’s reminding about his “qualifications,” really, or Joseph Muscat who finally got laughed at and publicly ridiculed on a Freeport point?
If this miserable sod had not been an exceptionally-talented PL lackey he would now be on the dole.
Just pitiful. What a dreamer.
By the way. It seems to me that the Faculty of Law at the University of Malta needs to pull its socks up and very urgently.
It just cannot persist in dishing out hundreds of morons with law degrees into Maltese society.
It was widely considered a faux ‘tan-nejk’ faculty even in my days at uni half a century ago.
Nowadays it is an absolute farce.
I will make more enemies in one day by saying this than by any other method but I am going to say it just the same.
I have met many people who studied at the University of Malta and nowhere else, and I have concluded that most of those who went in ignorant just stayed ignorant.
Then I know others who either spent semesters at a university abroad — Maltese students have the lowest participation rate in Erasmus out of 28 EU countries — or who were already open-minded and educated when they went to university here in Malta. Only the people from those two latter groups bettered themselves with their degrees.
The University of Malta is a terrible university with very low standards of entrance, which means that it must therefore have very low standards throughout so that these unexceptional entrants can survive the course.
Agreed. How about making it compulsory to spend months away from the island, familiarise with some basic facts of life;
Socks run out, bread goes stale and commuting means standing up in a packed train for a couple of hours.
If throwing money at stipends is an investment a return is due. Doesn’t have to be the money, perhaps we could ask our young ones to commit to what they really want to do.
Five degrees of separation.
These are the people full of talent that were hidden until some time ago. Aaron Farrugia is going to face hard competition when the talented passport buyers start flocking in.
True, there is no way he is going to be able to compete against those five people who paid 380.000 more than the new asking price.
And what ‘results’ is he talking about? What has he concretely achieved in his life apart from his academic ‘palmares’?
In Malta, do photos with personalities count as ‘international career’?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151208272097910&set=t.511557909&type=3&theater
Joe Fenech. You missed what he achieved concretely ……a load of bullshit. Maybe he will get his fifth degree in the subject. At least he has loads of hands-on experience in the matter.
Kitsch sits surrounded by low-brow style popular icons calculated to have popular appeal.
An alabaster column and pseudo fajerplejs tal-briks completes the picture.
A degree may be the result of hard work.
A pedigree is made of different stuff.
Aaron should ask himself if he would have got the job had he not been part of the PL. If there had been a call for applications, with a cv like his, he wouldn’t have even been called for an interview.
Richard Branson, successful owner of Virgin group of companies, once said : “I never hire a person who brags about his qualifications and degrees.”
He could read for a sixth degree in Maltese orthography and language. The plural of “kwalifika” is “kwalifiki” not “kwalifici” (wrong masculine plural ending) because its gender is feminine (kwalifika from qualifica/qualifiche not masculine. Unless students are made to learn Italian (together with English) Maltese will continue in its precipitous decline.
Not to mention that he changed the spelling of ‘nissorprendik’ to ‘nissporprendik’. I don’t even have one degree but I would have had the sense to double check my spelling and grammer when posting a rant about my superior intelligence.
All those degrees and the job he got was handed to him and not earned….
Great response … kbir Aaron !
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151219621947910&set=t.511557909&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151219621797910&set=t.511557909&type=3&theater
Why is he flaunting photos taken at a Mitt Romney conference? Isn’t there a bit of an ideological conflict there, Aaron? Socialists, my bloody foot!
I think he was there on a free trip paid for by the US government. No conflict with Socialist ideology: “Ta’ b’xejn kollu tajjeb.”
Not at all. PL is a far right political party.
I’ve heard of the third degree in the fardal taghna lkoll, but the fifth degree?
Labour needs to make up its mind: do qualification count or not? If they do, why does it have people like Joe Mizzi, Cuschieri, Parnis and others which happen to have neither the qualifications nor the appropriate profile for their posts?
And 18 months later they make him Malta’s envoy to the UN World Tourism Organisation.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/20633/muscat-says-joe-grima-is-not-the-face-of-the-labour-party-20120830
Nifrah lis-Sur Farrugia li twieled fi zmien tajjeb, ie meta missier Beppe Fenech Adami kien Prim Ministru.
Sfortunatament jien ma kontx daqshekk fortunat (forsi haqqni ghax gej minn gamilja PN) u allura zmien l-istudju tieghi kien meta l-Partit Laburista kien fil-Gvern u allura kull ma stajt nistudju kien ghal bicca degree bhala student haddiem.
Infakkar lis-Sur Farrugia li wiehed mill-akbar achievements tal-Parit tieghu huwa li fi zmien Gvern Laburista, kien hemm sena (1981) fejn HADD ma gradwa.
” That is because those differences are not political, whatever we may think, but socio-cultural.”
Daphne, I cannot agree more.
It is simply against all natural principles, like trying to dilute oil with water. Simply doesn’t work.
Aaron Farrugia’s five degrees were only possible because of Beppe Fenech Adami’s father. But the latter, unlike the former, would never be so crass as to say so himself by way of retort – even though Farrugia more than deserves to have his nose rubbed in this fact.
If my grandmother was still around, she would have told him what to do with his five degrees.
Honesty is an integral factor of being a CEO. Let Mr. Degrees tell us, honestly, if he were chosen because he is fit for the job or because of him being Labour.
Maybe Times of Malta can ask him that. In all probability, it will be served with a “no comment”.
Jekk Aaron irid jimpressjona lil xi hadd, ahjar jghallem lil min hatru f’dik il-kariga minfejn jidhlu l-bastimenti ghall-Port Hieles, il-Freeport.
What the hack does braggadocio mean? What language is it? Who speaks braggadoccio?
Aaron Farrugia is busy Googling it as we speak.
Aaron Farrugia is a walking, talking example of the lack of quality control at the University of Malta.
Għall-ewwel taħsbu r-rettur (designate) tal-Universita fuq dak is-siggu qisu tron, komplut bil-berittin u t-toga, u mhux bi ftit arroganza fil-‘body language’ tiegħu.
Dik il-formalita’ kollha biex umbgħad qiegħed sieq fuq sieq qisu mar il-każin jara logħba futbol li ma tinteressahx!
Prosit bob-a-job tal-kumment tiegħek: ‘A degree may be the result of hard work; A pedigree is made of different stuff.’
Din mihiex nejka ta’ qattus:
On 11 June 2010, Aaron Farrugia was given “Ġieħ Ta` Xbiex”, the local Order of Merit, an honour conferred to those who demonstrated “exceptional merit in the service of the town of Ta` Xbiex”. Ġieħ Ta Xbiex is a public tribute to those who distinguish themselves and whose achievements enrich the well-being of the city.
– from his Wiki bio
He may be right. The moment he left Labour’s IDEAT, the party was orphaned of all ideas.
Excellent article, Daphne. You couldn’t have summarised this guy and people of his ilk any better.
He styles himself as “self-made” when in reality he is a leech feeding on the spoils of victory the PL is still dishing out.
Ironic to the core.
And the spoiled brat was given the chairmanship of one of the most economically strategic and security-sensitive positions on this island.
Aaron boasts: “I am a self made man”.
When some one like Aaron said that to George Bernard Shaw, his reply was one of visible relief. “That relieves God of a tremendous responsibility”.
Il-pastas tlibbislu t-toga pastas jibqa.
A twat with five degrees is still a twat.
X’tistenna minn wiehed baxx bhalu?
http://www.theage.com.au/small-business/managing/blogs/the-venture/is-uni-worth-it-20140305-3464f.html
Five Degrees And A Sartorial Funeral
1. Shoes not shined, not polished, and dusty. Also square-toed.
2. Top shirt button undone.
3. Tie knot loosened.
4. Tie motif and colour totally inappropriate. This is academic dress. The tie should be black.
5. Polyester tie.
6. Suit jacket and robe wide open as if this was a harlot’s chamber and that was a shantung (what else?) dressing gown, legs akimbo as if it were same.
I haven’t forgotten my alma mater, if others have.
However, I have no doubt that young Farrugia here will be University Chancellor in a few years’ time. Alas, and so the darkness spread.
Thank you, Baxxter, for putting it in print.
Is this Farrugia the one who uploaded photos of his kitsch bedroom?
[Daphne – No, that was another FZL loser.]
Someone tell this small-minded person that the world’s most able and successful persons have one or no degrees.