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I can do without the song festival and Eurovision. Does it really matter? I will not be presenting the festival ever in my life, I have no intention of doing so, and no one seems to believe that I am capable of it, which is correct. And let us face it: I would be a hopeless compère.
That should not stop me or anyone else for the matter to question why someone who spent years on end hitting out at a festival ends up presenting it and doing it so badly.
What is even more bizarre is the absolute amateur, sycophantic way the whole event was presented on TV. It is a tribute to our mediocrity that no one in the audience stood up and booed.
As Eileen Montesin stood in the background with her arms folded it was obvious that she was irked and bothered. I was about to shed a tear for ‘Becky’, when a bee in my bonnet reminded me that this was the same Eileen of Xandir Malta days.
The chairman of the Maltasong board, yet another political appointee, Robert Abela, is the owner of a factory that produces plastic bags, not xylophones. He should have been, but was not, tremendously embarrassed by the whole fiasco.
If I had been in his place I would have taken a plastic bag and put it over my big head and put myself out of this misery. The only thing that would have saved me from this suicide is the eco-tax that has led producers to bypass the laws and produce plastic bags to a smaller size to exempt them from Pullicino’s intelligent tax.
PBS’s Friday programme, that costs the Maltese taxpayer in one year a startling Lm210,000, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, contributed to this orgy of mediocrity by serving as a trading house for insults. It was a wonderful kawlata with prima donnas offering a plethora of endless soundbites that would put Jerry Springer to shame.
The public deserves much better but Father Joe Borg does not seem to worry.
The Eurovision raises the excitement of many Maltese to new highs, but it is a cartoon strip of poor, and bad taste. When we should have been discussing the real issues, state TV was revelling in a triteness that only the superficial deem right.
This week, the former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and Judge Patrick Vella returned to centre-stage. It will be judge not jury for them. There have been few comments in the press about their case.
I cannot go into the merits of the case, but needless to say it is a court case that will fuel interest beyond our shores. It should also open our eyes to a reality that is talked about but never proven.
I am talking about the culture of alleged kickbacks and the habit of allegedly buying favours. Let us not believe for a moment that this is an isolated case. Not a week passes without stories reaching this newsroom of people who are allegedly on the take.
There is no smoke without fire. But it is near to impossible to prove. The only way would be to sneak into their bank accounts, view their private transactions and scrutinise their lifestyles.
There is proof that some people simply cannot maintain this without a little help from their friends. The mistake is to place everyone in the same category. There are judges and magistrates of the highest integrity, who understand their role and their mission.
There are others, few but significant, who have interests that are unacceptable – at least to me.
How can a magistrate have interests in property speculation? And it is not only the judiciary that should be poked at. Some journalists have interests too and should be fried. The same applies to some corporate business and some agencies.
This is a small country where networks are a part of life and if one wants to move on, becoming part of this new freemasonry is a must.
When I sit down to write, I promise myself that I will try very hard and not leave any stone unturned. I admit that I have failed in some cases. But the liner which I keep repeating ad nauseam, is that “no one is sacred apart from my mother”.
If the government, opposition and others for the matter, seek redemption from this opinion, please look elsewhere.
If the Peter Fenechs and Joe Zammit Maempels expect me to ignore the political patronage that led to their appointment as Mediterranean Conference Centre chairman and Lotteries and Gaming Authority chairman respectively, then please take up residence in Riyadh or Teheran.
Why is Joe Zammit Maempel offended if I mention that he receives a remuneration of Lm6,000 a year, has been given a car and a mobile phone for serving as LGA chairman? Is he ashamed to let people know that he has been appointed because of his close links to the Nationalist party? Surely he wasn’t appointed chairman of the authority because he was a gambler.
And why is Peter Fenech so uptight if I mention that he is the legal advisor to The Malta Independent? Which has nothing whatsoever to do with the Independent doing next to the nothing about the Jumbo Lido story.
Is he bothered if I mention that he is the director of a company that was involved in Jumbo Lido? And that the company he is involved in had a Lm109,000 rent owing to the government, waived? And that at the very same time the company he is involved in is claiming Lm138,000 on a management lease contract at Jumbo Lido from a third party? Or that his wife Roberta Messina ends up entering the world of political patronage by being appointed by Louis Galea as chairman of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority?
It has to be said that husband and wife are Louis Galea acolytes.
Now I am sure that Joe Zammit Maempel and Peter Fenech, two Nationalist diehards, will not be dropping flowers at my tombstone when the Good Lord decides to switch off the supply, but they have to come to appreciate that the good old days are over.
The other day, of all people Joe Zammit Maempel appeared with that Nationalist-looking Labourite, Gavin Gulia, on Smash TV discussing libels laws. Why can’t lawyers keep to their profession and stop trying to be journalists?
Is this the end of the Roman empire?
Even the naïve US Ambassador seems to sense the feeling, with her recent encounters with Labour functionaries and journalists and her attempts to make them understand the foolhardiness of US foreign policy.
Take for example Zammit Maempel: I still have to hear what he has done to sift out all the illegal slot machines that abound in bars and entertainment places in Malta and Gozo.
What he has definitely done as Gaming Authority Chairman is to ask the police to prosecute against this newspaper for presenting an article on the Dragonara Brasserie.
The most surreal statement about the state respecting the freedom of the press was the one by Michael Frendo. Just in case anyone needs any reminding, Michael Frendo should be reminded of how free the press in Malta is.
First of all, the truly independent press is treated unfairly. Michael, ask George Pullicino how fairly and equally he treats the free press – most especially when it comes to EU-funded advertising campaigns.
And then what about Michael Frendo’s underling, Richard Cachia Caruana, who refuses to answer questions by MaltaToday or sit down to an interview? And what about briefings restricted to the select few?
Do I need to remind Michael about last year’s budget consultation fiasco which purposely left members of the independent press out of the loop?
Should I continue? Yes, I should. What about State TV, which has consistently ignored applications from independent companies to provide ‘free’ independent programmes?
Needless to say, Michael Frendo is unaware that the monopoly of State TV, monopolised by one company, blatantly heeling to one political party, is a repeat of the Pellegrini years.
Which takes me to the fuss over Mohammed, Peace be upon Him, and upon all the victims of Islamic fundamentalism.
There is little to say here. It is question of freedom or no freedom. There are no half measures here. This six-month late reaction to the Mohammed cartoons is proof of a cultural divide.
It is all a question of bigotry, tolerance and openness and of a modern society versus a medieval society. The Maltese may be irked by the rage and violence running in most of the Moslem world. But would they have taken to the street and burnt down the MaltaToday offices if a cartoonist illustrated a sacred Catholic icon in the same way leading satirical magazines have done abroad?
No they would not. Their fundamentalism does not run that far. When Ratzinger was elected Pope, the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto carried a cartoon on its front page, depicting Christ carrying the cross walking out of the Vatican.
The caption read, “the first refugee leaves the Vatican.”
sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt
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