No bombs can condition democracy

I am as shocked and angry as many others on the execution of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Most of us never imagined that Caruana Galizia, or any other journalist or writer, would ever have been executed. It is only in the late 1970s and 1980s that Malta began experiencing some form of deadly political and civil violence after Independence, and yet this was nothing comparable to the scale and troubles of other independent and post-colonial countries.

Since the tense period of the 1980s, it never passed anyone’s mind that someone would execute a murder for political reasons, let alone imagine a journalist or a writer being executed in such a brutal manner. The assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia is abominable and treacherous, cowardly in nature yet so rotten that it has scarred our peaceful way of life. The peaceful calm in this country has been broken as someone, somewhere has crossed a line that should not have been crossed. 

No one actually showed any outrage at the car bombings which took place during the recent years. It’s ok, we thought, as we assumed that as long as the criminal gangs blow up each other, we, as law-abiding civilians, have nothing to fear. Now, this has changed. The fact that this line has been crossed by the assassination of a journalist and writer makes it even more outrageous and terrifying. Criminal groups are directly threatening not only our peace, but even our democracy and way of life. 

In this moment of outrage and mourning to a slain journalist and writer, our society needs a lot of reflection as well especially since we never expected such an outcome in the first place.

The State should be able to create a safe environment for journalists and writers free from any harassment and intimidation, so it should go without saying that the government should quickly send the right response by re-drafting its proposed and sloppy press reform and abolish criminal libel, lower civil libel damages, and increase fines for vexatious libel.

Undoubtedly there is a large and overwhelming feeling in society that the police commissioner is not doing his job, especially since there were no police investigations in the Panama papers matter.

Police commissioners in Malta have since colonial times always protected the strong and powerful, and this is why in our recent history, no politician from either side of the political spectrum has ever gone to prison over corruption, despite the fact that cases of corruption by governments from both sides of the spectrum are numerous and well-known. It is about time that politicians are held accountable by the law. A new police commissioner chosen by a commission of judges could increase trust in our institutions. 

If there are reasons for the Prime Minister and the Labour government to resign, this is not one of them. If Labour were to resign from government right now after having won the elections with a clear mandate, it would be sending the message that violence can actually dictate our democratic process.

Clearly we have to stick together as a country in this moment of crisis as we cannot allow bombs and violence to affect our way of life, to divide us and cripple our democracy.

Mark Camilleri is chairman of the National Book Council