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Your letters
Sustainable development is the key
From Tourism minister, Michael Refalo
Your
regular columnist David Pace (MaltaToday
17 June) frets because in my interview
with MaltaToday (27 May), I said I believed that to increase
winter traffic "The proposed Fl track is a prime example
of diversification, as are golf courses, walking and riding tracks
in Gozo".
His
worries increased as I went on to say that "the environment
is not the be all and end all".
I
have no problem with repeating every word that I told your journalist
Kurt Sansone. No, the environment is not the be all and end all.
Nor for that matter is the economy. A politician's mission should
aim to ensure the wellbeing of the society he is elected to represent.
Which means that he should safeguard and promote the values of
health, education, stability, law and order, and the environment
of that society.
Your
columnist may not be aware that on my recommendation, the government
has recently adopted the internationally accepted principles of
sustainability as guidelines for tourism development. Sustainability
is neither a vision nor a static situation. It is a creative,
site specific, balance seeking process which extends into all
areas of decision making through a process based on sustainability.
Decisions should not only represent the interests of current stakeholders
but also those of future generations.
Those
who are blinkered by prejudice against golf courses and other
major developments such as race-tracks, are as wrong as those
who cavalierly discount the dangers and potential irreversible
damage to the environment. Projects should be seen on their own
merits and each single factor in the equation given due weight.
It
is only then that one can make an educated choice. While it is
my responsibility to think of and find ways of increasing tourism
in the winter and shoulder months - the activities mentioned are
just a few examples - it is the duty of others to evaluate site
specific projects, assess their impact and decide whether they
should be given the green light or otherwise shown the red card
and thrown out.
My
mention of walking and riding trails should have alerted your
columnist that tourism does not only rely on major developments
to strengthen seasonal tourism. Next year – 2002 - is the
International Year of Eco-tourism and it is public knowledge that
my ministry is in the process of drawing up a 12-month programme
of activities specifically to bolster awareness and generate interest
in a sphere of tourism that could, in time, add to the varied
offers which Malta and Gozo give to the international market place.
Ignorance
is a dangerous tool
From Adrian Caruana, B’Kara
With
reference to "Isn’t it ironic?" (MaltaToday, 10
June 2001), it is ignorance which causes destruction!
In
the above-mentioned article, an assumption is made about why a
fund-raising campaign, organised by another local newspaper, did
not accept the writer’s donation. The assumption is "I
guess that astrology money is not good money".
Your
writer assumes the role of an astrologer, yet openly admits that
he is not able to erect an astrological chart. On his own admittance,
to have a client’s chart erected, he has to send the information
to his friend in Australia who will make the chart and send it
back to him. So is it possible that that particular newspaper
was hesitant in associating itself with a person of dubious skill
and competence? And what title should we give an astrologer who
needs his friend in Australia to erect the birth charts for him?
Possibly, that newspaper was thinking, ignorance only causes destruction.
My
concern is that such a person authors astrology columns and therefore
is a representative of astrology to the general public. Does he
erect a chart for the predictions in the newspaper? If yes (and
if the answer is no, it is a psychic column, not an astrology
column) does he ask his friend in Australia to erect the charts
for him, every single time? Or does he use Tarot cards to make
these predictions? This is why I believe it is ignorance which
causes destruction.
Beware
of peaceful Muslim penetration
From Carmelo Micallef, Siggiewi
I
am not worrying about myself since I am 52 years old. I am worrying
about Maltese future generations.
We
cannot ignore that at the moment we are witnessing a peaceful
penetration of Muslim men into our very small society of unmarried
Maltese women.
Intermarriage
between European Christian Maltese women and Muslim men will lead
to a natural Malta conversion from Roman Catholic to Islam. Malta’s
female population is only 175,586!
Take
action now.
*Editor’s
note: This letter in no way reflects the views of this newspaper
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