Actor Alan Montanaro: ‘I apologise for insensitive comments’

The actor Alan Montanaro has said a private Whatsapp chat which earned him a serious rebuke from the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations has been “maliciously taken completely out of context” and apologized for what he said.

Montanaro was warned by the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations after failing to provide a transparent financial system for donations received by his Drama Outreach Project, and over the offensive choice of words he used to refer to the impoverished Cambodian children his organisation was supposed to be helping.

“The exchange was a humorous one between an intimate group of volunteers. All members of this group know my humour as much as they know that my wife and I adore the children that we work so hard to help. I now realise, that taken out of context and out of the intimacy of the chat within which it was intended, it may be misunderstood. Notwithstanding I apologise unreservedly for the insensitive comments,” Montanaro said.

READ MORE Serious rebuke for actor who mocked Cambodian kids his charity was helping

Montanaro was reported to the Commissioner over statements he made in a Whatsapp chat with volunteers and committee members in which he refers to Cambodian children as ‘window washers’, ‘kidney donors’ and ‘just bloody kids.’ 

Another message by Montanaro stated: “I hope he’s not considering becoming a surgeon cause I’m going to need a cornea in a couple of years and I’m cashing on El Mingo!” – Mingo being a distortion of one of the children’s names, Meng.

In his warning letter Wain reminds Montanaro: “The ‘silly banter’ as you call it continues in an equally offensive and distasteful manner with your cruel and insensitive remarks about ‘Meng’ who, one assumes is one of the boys you were there to help, and your similarly offensive remarks about the girls at the village which I needn’t quote.”

“Specifically, calling the children your organisation is supposed to be helping, and for whom one assumes you care, ‘just bloody kids. Window washes or kidney-donors the lot of them’ cannot ever pass for a joke, or even for a ‘rather crude’ sense of humour. The remark is offensive in itself and calls in question the very motive behind Drama Outreach in Cambodia because one cannot believe that you have the children’s interest and well-being at heart when you state this attitude towards them.”

Montanaro said his NGO Drama Outreach Programme has mobilised hundreds of people of different nationalities and walks of life to contribute to children’s’ families with food, clothes and other basic necessities. He said all committee member and volunteers self-finance their travel expenses.

“At this point what keeps me awake at night is not so much the hurt that has been inflicted upon me, my wife and my daughter by your article, but the harm to the children both in Cambodia and in Malta and their families that we have grown to love as part of our own extended family and who would undoubtedly suffer the consequences of a suspension of this programme,” Montanaro told MaltaToday in a right of reply.

Other shortcomings

Montanaro was also reported to the Commissioner for taking sponsorships of €275 for each child without providing proper invoices or documents to sponsors to verify receipt and how this money was used.

One complaint to the commissioner was that when one volunteer group arrived in Cambodia, the committee members were apparently on holiday in neighbouring Burma.

On financial accountability, commissioner Kenneth Wain was even more unequivocal. He said “all kinds of funds must be acknowledged, receipted and reported in the organisation’s financial statement and report submitted to the Commissioner.”

Montanaro said it was “totally untrue” that funds he raised were – in the Commissioner’s words –  “not acknowledged receipted or reported”.

“The fact is that since the Commissioner in his investigation did not disclose his source or a concrete example of such failure, our obvious response to an allegation of that sort was that if there ever was anyone who did not get a receipt that must have clearly been an oversight.

“This is not the same as saying that there actually was an oversight. The point is that in fact there was no such case at all as all monies in fact had been duly receipted and to my knowledge, no monies were ever received and a receipt not given. Unfortunately lack of proper investigation leads one to jump to the wrong conclusions.”

Montanaro also disputed an allegation made to the Commissioner for NGOs that committee members from the DOP were on holiday in neighbouring Burma.

“When the first group of volunteers, of which my wife and I formed part, left Cambodia after two weeks of hard work with street children and orphans we travelled to Burma (Myanmar) on holiday before returning home. The programme was entrusted to a qualified and trained group leader as planned months before. What we do after our stint as volunteers, including the choice of holiday destination at our expense and in our own time has nothing to do with the work of the NGO and does not prejudice the programme in any way. Incidentally I must reiterate that all volunteers, committee members included pay their own travel to and from Cambodia.”

Editorial Note: The following is a right of reply from the committee of Drama Outreach, which Montanaro founded.

Right of reply from Drama Outreach

The article reported the contents of a letter in which the Commissioner for Voluntary Organizations wrote to DO Project about allegations which were brought forward by the personal agenda of a particular disgruntled and troubled individual.

However the article failed to report the results of the enquiry whereby the Commissioner noted that DO Project was in compliance with the conclusions of his report and “therefore considers the subject in caption closed from my end”.

DO Project categorically denies all of the accusations which result from the article. DO Project was at no point found to have financial shortcomings as the article header incorrectly states. All of the organisations' financial transactions have always been meticulously acknowledged, reported and receipted and the annual financial statements have always been rigorously completed and submitted to the Commissioner. In addition the NGO publishes financial statements on its website in full transparency.

DO Project confirms that all of the travel expenses to deliver the programme in Cambodia are undertaken personally by volunteers and committee members and no funds go from the NGO to cover these travel expenses. In addition all volunteer groups are made up from trained adults who deliver the developmental drama programme. The role of the NGO committee remains at all times to administer the affairs of the NGO, not to oversee the execution of the developmental drama programme. A trained and qualified individual is designated by the NGO to coordinate the delivery of the programme by each of the volunteer groups. The personal choice of volunteers to travel outside of their voluntary commitments has no bearing on the work of the NGO.

With respect to the statements made by Alan Montanaro mentioned in the article, this refers to a private Whatsapp chat which was brought to the attention of DO Project committee members by the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations. DO Project feels that these comments were inappropriate and should have been avoided. However these comments which were taken out of context do not in any way represent the work and commitment that Alan Montanaro has undertaken in co-founding this NGO and working tirelessly for the benefit of the hundreds of children which DO Project has assisted over its four years of operations.

It is highly unfortunate that as a result of false allegations fuelled by vicious personal agendas the hard work of hundreds of individuals for the children in Cambodia is ultimately being put at risk. Despite these attacks DO Project will continue to work for the children whom the NGO and its supporters have so much at heart.