Noah to the rescue

Earlier this week, Labour deputy leader Toni Abela and PN deputy leader Mario de Marco called for the permit that sanctioned development next to the world heritage site of Ta’ Ħaġrat to be revoked. 

Today’s MaltaToday edition reports that Joseph Muscat has decided to find a way to rescind the permit. If that happens, then his quick reaction is very commendable – more so at a time when Labour could do with some cuddling by the environmental lobby.

Then on Saturday, Simon Busuttil as PN leader referred to the Ta’ Ħaġrat permit as a “scandal” and a “dark shadow over the government’s environmental credibility index”.

It was as if we had all woken up to a brave new world and that the sacrilege against our archaeological and historical heritage had only began on 9 March, 2013.

It is perhaps useful to point out that in the last four decades, the destruction and deterioration of our archaeological heritage continued unabated. Worse still: the local plans, which were overseen by former MEPA minister George Pullicino in 2006, did little to avoid removing new pressures on archaeological sites.

Whenever I think of George Pullicino, I remember that his local plans continued to put extreme pressure on our countryside.

Somehow, everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten the road construction that led to the destruction of the Bistra catacombs, the deterioration and destruction of the Roman temple in Wardija Gozo, the removal of menhirs in Gozo, the building permits around the Brocktorrf circle in Xaghra (Gozo), the new buildings around Skorba in Mġarr, squatting by hunters over public lands over bronze age settlements in Dingli and Nadur, the extension of quarries in Mosta and Ta’ Zuta over cart ruts and megalithic remains, the quarry next to Ħaġar Qim and the countless punic tombs which were built over and destroyed… The list is so extensive that this column would need six consecutive editions to list all the examples.

What is clear is that the building and construction lobby has always had the political class by their proverbial balls. 

So when Mario de Marco and the very young Ryan Callus stood in front of Ta’ Ħaġrat temples, they must have thought they were making history. 

They should have started off by saying that they were turning a new page and emphasising that their party was now really standing for something.  And that when in Opposition, it is bloody easy to say no to things, but when in power the temptation to say yes strangely overwhelms the good sense to say no.

Despite all the recriminations by the green lobby, nothing will beat the bad policy decisions taken by Lorry Sant and later by George Pullicino. Though Pullicino was never in the league of Sant, his policies opened up for more development. 

I would like to think that my fears about Michael Falzon – the new parliamentary secretary responsible for MEPA – will be proven wrong.

                                                                          ***

When you have nothing better to do, you might want to consider ruining your Saturday mornings by listening to European Union candidates making wondrous declarations against each other. 

They all sound as if they are going to save Malta from the floods. As if all of them were clones of Noah. As we all know, their first priority is the attractive package that awaits them as soon as they set foot in Brussels.

My verdicts have to be reserved primarily for four candidates. Luck, it seems, goes to the first personage by the name of Norman Vella – a former PBS presenter who contributed to forcing half the population to vomit or break their box as a result of his political TV bias. Later, he complained that he had been ousted out of PBS but never recalled how he had been installed there without a call for applications. 

Most people of course do not remember Vella as a l-Orrizont and One TV journalist. Neither do they remember that his father – who was a GWU official –was hardly a soft-spoken Labourite. And no one seems to want to remember that their conversion to Christianity (Nationalist politics) came about because their political anchor (George Abela) was busy aligning himself to the Nationalist way of doing things at the time. Before that, George Abela was busy making a fool of himself blockading public roads with GWU militants. Norman’s father – and Norman himself – thought the world of these ‘militant’ activities.

People have short memories. I do not.  And perhaps people would do well to recall that being a politician requires two basic instincts: The gall to be a hypocrite and secondly, resignation to the fact that your audience is lobotomised.

He now decries that the worst thing that happened to the country was having Labour in government. Ironically, the best thing that happened to Norman Vella is being in Opposition. He sounds better attacking a government than licking its ass. And what’s more: as things stand for him, he has a very good chance of getting elected, and if so, the former immigration officer – who is a darling to the traditional fiery-blinkered Nationalist voter – would have a guaranteed career, a handsome salary and financial package.

Of course, Joe Azzopardi – known as Peppi to all those who have no memory – will be a very happy man. It is he who propelled Norman Vella to stardom, it is he who provides some friendly ‘communication’ advice.

The next candidate who needs no introduction is Alfred Sant. The former prime minister outshines all the rest of the candidates with his erudite discourse, but he has one serious problem. He turned our lives upside down with his obsession to impose a Switzerland in the Mediterranean prior to 2003, as an alternative to EU membership.

That crusade changed people’s lives and sent Labour back to the middle ages.

Another remarkable candidate who ought not to get re-elected is David Casa.  Remarkable in the sense that when it comes to analysing his political contribution he has little or nothing of substance. Like Norman Vella, he appeals to the hard core. 

In Saturday’s general council, he and Norman Vella registered the highest decibel rating in the applause barometer. Which goes to show that what one man thinks is not necessarily what another opines.

Then again, Casa has always struck me as someone who works hard to hide away from the truth.  His notable absence from the civil unions celebrations reveals his reluctance to align himself with those he feels most at home with. He, together with all the rest at the PN council, did not have one word to say about civil unions. Which is as close as admitting to the fact that the civil unions stand was a minus for the PN.

The next man who leaves an impression is Cyrus Engerer. Don’t get me wrong, the former PN councillor has more grey matter than David Casa and Norman Vella put together. But he lost me when he hobbled to curry favour from the hunter’s lobby and offer his unbridled support to what he described as “the dying tribe of hunters and trappers”.

And though unlike David Casa, Cyrus Engerer does not fear standing up to be counted and declaring that he is gay, this still does not justify me voting for him.