Those media houses reporting the government’s denial are missing something crucial. If it isn’t Ali Zeidan, then who is it?
When the government denies that former Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan is ‘residing’ (the government spokesman’s word) in Malta, it appears to me that the obvious thing to do – always in the interest of one’s readers – is to fling a question back at the government spokesman.
‘If Ali Zeidan is not residing in Malta, then who is the foreign individual living under extremely heavy armed guard, provided by the Malta police/security service, at flat 2, Ambjent Complex, Xemxija?’
I cannot believe how newspapers with massive resources allow the government to get away with this kind of thing. ‘The government has said it’s not Ali Zeidan.’ ‘Oh, that’s all right then.’ ‘So why are there between four and eight armed plain clothes policemen in two cars outside that building, and a Police Mobile Squad car usually parked behind it?’ ‘Oh gosh, sorry, forgot about that. Is it relevant?’
Unbelievable.
This brings to mind the case of John Dalli’s Bahamas friend with the false passport, Mary ‘Ladybird’ Swan. I publish her Malta address in High Street, Sliema, and her mobile phone numbers, and then find out I’m the only one going there to ring her doorbell and phoning her landlord to check out the nature of her activities.
I sometimes think that if something sounds bizarre, the Maltese press operates on the assumption that it can’t possibly be true. In my long and complicated experience (of life as well as journalism) it generally turns out to be the other way round, largely because what sounds bizarre to those who have led sheltered lives is not at all bizarre to those who haven’t.
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Perhaps it’s someone buying a passport and the security services are keeping watch for the PN media.
Also, providing the evidence of the minimal residence requirement that would enable the mysterious applicants to claim a pseudo-citizenship. The Malta LP government would be providing the necessary evidence, utilizing its own secret service personnel, to prove to itself, and to its commercial agency, that someone aspiring to buy a Malta passport had actually resided in Malta but, in the interest of national security, that token residence needed to be kept hidden from the true citizens of Malta.
If it is Ali Zeidan, sometime or other he will get to be spotted around, so I wouldn’t assume that the Government can afford to be caught lying by denying Ali Zeidan’s ‘residing’ in Malta. So could it be that Ali Zeidan has already been smuggled out of the island?
[Daphne – He has indeed been ‘spotted around’.]
But from today onward he just can’t afford to be seen in public again, as that would be crucial for the government. So there are just two options, that of Ali Zeidan leaving the island unnoticed, or hibernating for the rest of his stay.
Had this been happening in a real democracy, “Ambjent Complex” would by now be under constant siege by the press. The press houses would not let hold until the identity of the person being protected is exposed.
And if the government is caught lying brazenly, heads would roll.
But in these blessed islands the press and the Opposition are too busy being positive, because the government told them so.
“I cannot believe how newspapers with massive resources allow the government to get away with this kind of thing.”
If the press creates an atmosphere where government officials feel comfortable giving journalists story direction on the subject of pig farms, then it’s hardly surprising that that same press bends over backwards when it comes to matters of ‘national interest’.
Enough of all this speculation. It’s Elvis Presley.
Let others do the dirty work. Or in Bondi’s case, we can’t investigate his salary because he’s the news editor’s companion.