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Matthew Vella
The secretary-general of the Malta Labour Party, Jason Micallef, has declared a letter to a newspaper penned by Marsaskala mayor Mario Calleja, expressing anti-immigrant sentiment, does not tally with MLP policy on irregular immigrants.
Calleja is claiming the inflammatory letter he penned to The Times, which the newspaper actually published on the 24 July, ominously entitled “The Looming Crises”, was “not racist”.
The Labour mayor wrote that “our nation, our culture and indeed our race” would face “extinction in a century” due to illegal immigration. “These people should be sent back to where they come from at once. It is the only way to meet this challenge.”
Jason Micallef has now told MaltaToday that “any action with regards to Mr Calleja’s personal opinion in his letter to The Times will be dealt with internally and through the party’s structures” – a measure that still does not pour light over how political parties are dealing with cases of racism amongst their members.
The Nationalist party had also claimed it would deal “internally” with the case of a local councillor, also a member of the tourism minister’s secretariat, who publicly associated himself with far-right organisation Alleanza Nazzjonali Repubblikana.
A former police officer with 21 years of service, Mario Calleya claimed with MaltaToday that he wrote the letter out of concern for the army and police forces who, “would be using their time better” in other areas rather than manning immigration centres.
Calleja claimed he was spurred on to write the letter simply on the latest unfounded rumour over immigration: “I know of a nurse who was told by a migrant to take care of their boats because the Maltese would need them to get out of the island in the future,” Calleja said.
But his spurious letter, in which he freely quotes from the Bible to claim Malta cannot take on migrants, claims that migrants cannot “assimilate” due to their religion, culture and way of life.
According to Calleja, there has been no reaction from the Malta Labour Party.
“I did not write it in the name of a political party, it’s my personal letter, and I don’t even think it is a right-wing letter,” Calleja said when prompted over whether the letter’s contents jarred with Labour’s own statements on racism and migration.
In his letter, Calleja speculated about how, unlike Maltese migrants who integrated into other societies, “Islamic Africans” could never become Maltese, “after even the third and fourth generation”. Instead, he advanced the prospect of Maltese themselves becoming so-called “Islamic Africans”.
He also wrote that “many babies are being born generated by illegal immigrants”, leading to “unwanted guests (taking over) the mansion”.
Calleja said his letter was in not racist, despite his letter’s content giving credence to undeniably racist assumptions.
In June, a Nationalist party councillor and member of Minister Francis Zammit Dimech’s secretariat was publicly denounced by PN director of information Gordon Pisani for his statements on TV programme Xarabank and his public association with the extremist and xenophobic views of the Alleanza Nazzjonali Republikana.
Pisani had said Guillamier’s comments on live TV to army minister Tony Abela were in conflict with the PN’s beliefs. “The PN is clearly against racism and xenophobia. There is no doubt about it.”
But Minister Zammit Dimech did not sack Guillaumier, who reportedly told the minister he disassociated himself from all forms of xenophobia, and committed himself not to participate in any public activities in the future without the minister’s prior consultation.
Zammit Dimech disassociated himself “absolutely and categorically” from Guillaumier’s comments.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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