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Every time I’m about to start writing something thrilling and interesting, I am overcome by events.
I had meant to focus on last Wednesday’s reversal of roles, with Labour leader Alfred Sant in a golf buggy at the Marsa Sports Club in the presence of golfers, while Lawrence Gonzi toured Xaghra l-Hamra with a regiment of three greens.
So there will be no comments on a stiff blue Sant in a golf buggy or a green Gonzi at the site of the shelved golf course.
The week started off with a court hearing with Bertie Mizzi. Mr Mizzi will be appearing in court to continue his three or four libel cases against me. Together with others, he has embarked on a libel mania, in the hope that I will stop writing.
There is little to say here.
This government has chosen not to defend the free press so we will have to take our case to Europe. And remember it will not only be to Gonzi’s credit that we entered Europe, but to all those who sweated it out before 2003.
Before I embark on my usual litany, I think Dr Gonzi has to be advised to tone down the “me, me, me” talk.
He seems to give the impression that all the achievements of today are his doing. Some of them are, but others are thanks to the work of many of his predecessors, including the one and only Eddie Fenech Adami.
That Mater Dei will finally open after 17 years is not something Gonzi should so proud of. He should be praised that he took the bull by the horns. Actually, it should be our national shame. It is an ignominious project, which has taken 17 incredible years and at the immense expense of Lm250 million plus. Mater Dei hospital is a dark blot on the Nationalist record. It will be an extravaganza to run and will be unsustainable in the short and the long term.
Well, back to this week. In Tuesday it was court, and before I do continue please Bertie, please understand that I have a privilege to report court hearings. Now Bertie insisted that he was slandered when I opined that he was a Mintoffian collaborator.
To support my opinion, in court I quoted from the late Edgar Mizzi’s book. Mizzi – another Mintoffian collaborator – describes Bertie in no uncertain terms as one of Mintoff’s collaborators (check it out on page 451).
Bertie Mizzi did not appear very happy with this quote and neither was his defence lawyer, who happens to be Edgar Mizzi’s son. Mr Mizzi denies he was a Mintoffian.
Soon after some fun with Bertie, I got to know that I also had a first-ever libel from Police Commissioner John Rizzo against me and Midweek editor Matthew Vella; and then the second libel by the same Commissioner of Police against opinion writer and Radio 101 news commentator Michael Falzon… and, of course, myself.
Though senior government officials disagree with John Rizzo’s actions they have stood by him and issued carefully worded statements supporting his right to sue us.
Both Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and anointed deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg have chosen to legitimise Rizzo’s line of action against this newspaper and Radio 101 commentator and former PN cabinet minister Michael Falzon.
I thought the cabinet ministers who told me that Borg is a feeble politician and not up to it, were exaggerating. But really and truly they were only reconfirming what I have always reiterated.
Just remember how he acted in the George Grech scandal. He was silent, incapable of making a statement, or of turning round to the former Commissioner of Police Grech and telling him that enough was enough. All in all, the perfect example of what a Home Affairs minister should not be.
In the immigration saga, Borg decreed that the media should not be allowed to visit the detention centres. For his attitude he was given a thumbs down from both the Council of Europe and the UNHCR. Did Tonio twitch? No he did not.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. If this government does not have the balls to turn round to the police and tell them that this is not the way things gets done in 2007, then I am sorry, please do not even attempt to discuss the merits of this government.
Should I be so surprised, three years ago, that the government ordered all government agencies to boycott this newspaper? That commercial boycott failed. But the intention was clear. DESTROY MALTATODAY.
My great aunt, a Strickland aficionado, would always turn round and tell me: “Dawk, mangia santi, cacca diavoli.”
It is important to remind people about the way some in the PN have handled the police.
Before 1987, the Nationalist media machine demonised certain police officers. They were justified in doing this.
Their anti-police campaign had targeted Superintendent Cassar of the notorious North Korean trained police unit (the SMU), Psaila and so many others.
When returned to power in 1987, instead of being unceremoniously suspended, the same people who were depicted as the demons were given key positions in the police force. Cassar was returned to the special police unit renamed the SAG, and Psaila, who had been mentioned in serious ill-treatment of people when under interrogation, was given Kordin Prisons to run.
When Alfred Sant was elected in 1996, the two men were asked to leave.
I do not think that John Rizzo should be asked to leave at all. But I would not be too surprised should Labour make more changes than Tonio Borg.
The least one can do, is to invite Rizzo for a black coffee and remind him of his important role as the Commissioner of Police in a pluralistic European society. Lawrence Gonzi and Tonio Borg defend John Rizzo’s right to sue editors and commentators for libel, but do not feel the need to stand up for free press.
This story finds its roots in MLP deputy leader Michael Falzon’s outburst at a Labour party club two weeks ago.
So when a respectable Labourite supporter, a celebrity chef, sent an innocuous email to MLP deputy leader Michael Falzon, all hell broke loose. He sent the email without an address, because his wife is a Nationalist and he did not wish to give away his identity.
The email called on Falzon to stand by his party leader and was passed on to the Commissioner who proceeded to investigate.
The man was placed on police bail (which obliges a person to sign at the police without being accused) and effectively harassed by police, as is normal in interrogations. He was treated like a criminal. He was photographed, finger printed and had his computer hard disk confiscated.
I disagree with this treatment, more so when it has to do with an email to a politician.
If politicians cannot live with all the flak, then they should take up needlework. If I had to pass all my nasty emails and anonymous letters to the Commissioner he would have to give birth to a special unit to deal with the growing anti-Saviour brigade.
But what I object to – and this is my opinion – is any politician lifting up the phone and asking the Police Commissioner to investigate.
I find it abhorrent that a deputy leader of a party says publicly that he passed on names of his colleagues at Mile End to the Police Commissioner. More so if he announces this in a political club.
When former MLP deputy leader George Abela said on RTK that Alfred Sant had some explaining to do, he should have said the same to others in the party.
And he should have also addressed the question of how the police handled the matter.
John Rizzo cannot understand that I am expressing an opinion. He should ask his chosen lawyer, Joe Giglio – the man who defends hardened criminals when prosecuted by the police – to explain it to him. But then again, what exactly is the Police Commissioner doing hiring a top criminal lawyer? I am told by people who understand police issues, that had (for instance) the head of London’s Scotland Yard done something similar, he would “fall from the tree like a bad apple.”
Again, this is just my opinion, which I will continue to express even though the Gonzi government does nothing to defend my right to say it.
When I look at the bigger picture, I am obliged to also look at the ugly political landscape. It is a misty, grim place dominated by politicians who think they have a divine right to run this country.
A Nationalist government which wishes to run the country for another five years, and an Opposition leader who intends ending his 14-year term on the opposition benches. All this reaffirms my intention to carry out my age-old promise.
Yes, to charter a grand cruise ship to Siracusa to transport hundreds of Maltese voters to join me for a sumptuous slap-up feast on voting day. It will be called “La festa Maltese per gli astenitori”. If the number is too big, I will organise more than one cruise liner. And probably we will be greeted by the very green Italian MP Arnoldo Cassola who says he is Maltese and who will probably argue that all the visitors are in fact his voters!
All voting documents will be then donated to a group of crazy Sicilian artists to allow them to construct a gigantic papier-mâché model, preferably resembling a gigantic middle finger.
The week continued, and on Thursday, hunting and trapping chief Lino Farrugia presented in his typically graceful way a poster written in appalling Maltese, stating that I am a traitor (traditur).
My lawyers claim that I should present a judicial request at the Msida police station against the gorgeous looking Farrugia in relation to words which are tantamount to incitement.
But thinking about it, I cannot bring myself to be the sole reason for incarcerating Lino in a prison cell for up to three months if found guilty of incitement. Lino is, after all, a champion of the outdoors.
For being such a kind character, I have been rewarded with a boycott of MaltaToday ordered by Lino. After failing to even prickle our Illum sales, he is now turning his attention to MaltaToday.
Lino: next year you will not be shooting in spring, but MaltaToday will be flourishing.
In all honesty, I really owe Lino an 18-year-old single malt whisky. He has been quite a help with this unexpected marketing drive for our publications.
Lino, grazzi mill-qalb, u ma kellekx ghalfejn!
In a skimpy interview with The Times, Jason Micallef secretary general was asked about the Michael Falzon incident.
Quite strange, I thought.
The Times did not even bother to cover the Falzon story. I guess it was not news.
Micallef said that this was all part of the PN spin.
Jason, it was not the PN that ran the story, but MaltaToday; the PN have until now been very careful how to report Falzon, preferring to directly attack Sant.
Is it not obvious, that the PN wants to divide and conquer?
And finally the unprepared Times journalist, asked Micallef about the infamous “serp” – the snake.
Micallef said that he would resign if it was proven that Sant had used the word snake.
Well perhaps Sant did not mention the word, but definitely referred to it.
Well, the ill-informed Times journalist should have read Illum, Malta’s fastest growing Maltese-language newspaper.
It was about a Labour delegate who referred to “a snake” in front of Alfred Sant and it was Sant who reacted to the so-called snake by saying; “Jidher li din il-persuna b’ li ghamlet kixfet idejha u hemm il-provi.”
Check out the archives, without paying a cent, on http://www.illum.com.mt/2006/11/12/index.html
sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt
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