Lack of respect spilling to Facebook, President cautions

Public life should be scrutinised but not subject to insults and ridicule, President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said as she exchanged greetings with the country’s dignitaries.

She said there was no place for hate speech and urged the media to unite against hateful online comments, while meeting the State's highest authorities one after the other at the Palace in Valletta.

Coleiro Preca made the statement in the presence of Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who agreed that news portals should moderate aggressive comments.

However, Scicluna also made it a point to bring up Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder. Without mentioning her name, he said “nobody should pay with their life for exercising freedom of speech”.

Coleiro Preca said the journalist’s murder should hasten constitutional reform and changes to the State’s institutions.

Music to her ears

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat used the occasion to say that a White Paper on the rental market, precarious housing and homelessness will be unveiled.

“Government will work with enthusiasm to achieve results and ensure wealth reaches everyone,” Muscat said.

He also insisted that government’s strong mandate should ensure that promised reforms will be delivered.

Coleiro Preca replied that hearing that wealth will be distributed justly and that the housing problem would be tackled were music to her ears.

She also pressed home the point that it was time for constitutional reform and insisted people should be involved in updating this “living document”.

Spilling onto Facebook

In her meeting with Speaker Anglu Farrugia and MPs, Coleiro Preca said parliamentarians had an “enormous responsibility to set an example by respecting differing opinions”.

She noted that lack of respect was spilling onto Facebook and everyday life and urged MPs to keep themselves to account in their mutual dealings.

The President also welcomed members of the judiciary, the Opposition, the police commissioner and former presidents, among others. Opposition leader Adrian Delia did not attend because he is abroad.