newsmakers

Insularity shaken by the events of 11 September

(click to enlarge) The Newsmakers of the year by Maltatoday's cartoonist Mikiel Galea

The newsmakers of the year are not necessarily benevolent, charismatic or illustrious. They are simply movers and shakers. If they were not around journalists would only be replicating boring press statements from the Department of Information or from political press officers.

The newsrooms in this small nation still retain an air of insularity, but one event was cosmopolitan in its chemistry and nature.

The events as they unfolded live on celluloid of two hijacked American airliners crashing into the Twin Towers at New York will be remembered for many years to come.

When the next generation comes of age they will query about what we saw, felt and experienced on that day. Very much like when we turned to our parents and begged them to tell us about the war or the assassination of JFK.
Never before had we witnessed such a scene. It was transmitted live before our eyes.

It was a feast of despair and hate.

It was an unbelievable catastrophe masterminded to cause major mayhem, yet it could have been far worse. Today we know that just over 3,000 lost their lives in the attack. Four suicide planes landed in the heart of the United States with the intention of creating a little war.

As we discovered, the rest of the world was not impervious to such a tragedy, everyone watched in horror as the facts unfolded and proof of guilt led the US and allies to the caves of Afghanistan and the terrorism of the fundamentalist Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden, unknown to many soon enough became a household name. But with terrorism the anger and divide between the rich West and the poor Muslim world became more apparent.

In the shadow of bin Laden, the Middle East and the Palestinians and Jews continued to die in a cruel conflict.

Apart from bin Laden there were not many other international issues that dominated the local scene. It did however drive one message home: it proved without doubt our vulnerability as a small economy and Island state and it strengthened the Europhile lobby who injected adrenaline in their argument that Malta’s true place was in Europe.

The European Union was still an ideal topic for overkill, but there was nothing earth-shattering to report apart from the sound-bites of countless dignitaries who visited the islands to voice an opinion about Malta’s accession.

In the very end, the press conferences were as expected: indulgent, repetitive and stage managed.

On a cultural level, the one thing that raised awareness or rather the blatant lack of it was the sacrilege at the Mnajdra temples.

Here vandals with a clear mission literally displaced Neolithic stones. They acted without impunity even though the site was supposedly guarded day and night.

In another country heads would roll. In Malta, the minister responsible called on the public to support him in tracking down the vandals. Needless to say they were never found.

For a short time the general public was up in arms and rightly so. But it was a belated response and one that may have come too late.

For years the historical and archaeological localities of Malta and Gozo had been pillaged and destroyed and apart from the solitary voices of some heritage groups there was little or no concerted reaction.

The other theme which troubled the Maltese and Gozitans was the state of the economy.

An attempt to address gross tax evasion led to widespread discontent. But in the end more revenue led to bigger smiles for the big wigs in government.

Slowly but surely, the general pinch was replaced with some less vibrant certainty cushioned by the declared intentions that future budgets would not tax the middle class. There was also much talk about privatisation.

In the burning sun of May, a frail looking Pope once again visited the Maltese Islands. Pontificating personally over the beatification of three Maltese, Pope John Paul II faced a massive crowd of Maltese and Gozitan faithful at the granaries in Floriana.

At last Malta and Gozo could boast of their very own native saints. This was the second visit of John Paul II to this country and very probably his last.

When everyone thought that the Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami was too weak to lead the Nationalist party after his operation in a US hospital last November, he surprised everyone in February of this year with his startling decision to say that enough is enough to the dockyard workers. He stated, in a nation wide address that if the yard workers refused the US navy La Salle repair contract, the government would freeze subventions to the yard.

The dockyard workers did not call his bluff and in a ballot they opted to go for the job. In winning this seemingly small skirmish, the Prime Minister had clipped the pro-Labour General Workers’ Union.

His strong showing did little to block small advances by the Labour party in the local council elections. A development that led some pro-government observers to cry wolf over government performance and emphasis on tax collection.

The upbeat Prime Minister would not take it and in a Workers’ day political gathering he had harsh words for those who he described as lacking the stamina.

Year 2001 started with a warm, rain free winter, the Spring was short and warm and Summer continued until the end of October. But winter moods took over in November and December and the Islands were soon trembling in rather freezing and humid temperatures.

Less tourists invaded our shores but the Island did not face he crisis so predominant in other tourist attractions.

If Spring 2001 was short so was the fuss over Sunday trading, when everyone thought that Sunday trading at Bay street would come to an abrupt end, the whole episode disappeared into thin air to the chagrin of the media that was left with little or nothing to report.

The greens and the media chose to take Mount Maghtab to task, and the government decided to ban swimming around the seashore adjacent to the landfill dump. But as the war waged on the indecisiveness or an absence in waste management policy, none of the media punters could come up with a precise alternative to Maghtab.

In 2001 the two slain policemen and a murdered warden will not be forgotten
It confirmed the danger many of these law enforcers face. But worse still, it uncovered the despicable act of colleagues who in one particular case were directly involved in the cold-blooded murder of a young policeman.

When policemen were facing real life stories of threats and murder, their most senior member was the talk of town. His sexual adventures led the Prime Minister and his Home Affairs minister to face the brunt of some of the friendly and hostile media. And yet, only when the ex-Commissioner and former head of the security service had actually shot himself in the foot did they decide to act. After month of keeping a magisterial inquiry into the alleged sexual misbehaviour of the Commissioner, the signalled in typical cryptic fashion that they would not shoulder the excesses of someone’s over indulgent sexual antics.

In the end he resigned and he was replaced by assistant commissioner John Rizzo, a highly regarded police officer who will also be remembered as an acolyte of the former incarcerated Police Commissioner Lawrence Pullicino. And he was also the officer responsible for taking Pietru Pawl Busuttil to the courts. The unfortunate man was framed with the murder of Raymond Caruana.

Labour leader Alfred Sant was than taken up with his Swiss in the Med diatribes, but he still found the time to master a voluminous fictional historical novel in Maltese, La Bidu La Tmiem.

Sunday newspapers were joined by yet another Sunday read MaltaToday published your sincerely by Network Publications.

On the box, Xarabank continued to hit record viewer audiences to the displeasure of some Labourite commentators. As Super One radio remained the most popular radio in the Maltese Islands and Labour propagandist Manwel Cuschieri the most loved and hated figure on the radio.

As mobiles inundated the Islands more people from all walks of life dabbled in SMS as the mobile operators continued to offer competitive prices.

The year ended with a widespread warning for 2002, cautious optimism and together for a braver and tougher 2002.