What Malta needs is a real electoral reform for the country to move closer to other European democracies, Alternattiva Demokratika said.

AD said it was bizarre to have both the Nationalist and Labour parties open to discuss constitutional change to avoid situations where a government ends up with a one-seat majority in Parliament.

Chairman Michael Briguglio said: “The two-party system is bankrupt, and there is no guarantee that it will lead to stability, even if a party in power has more than a one-seat majority.

“The Nationalist and Labour parties should read the writing on the wall and join AD in the call for updating Malta’s electoral system so that it can be in line with that of established European democracies. Cross-party stable governments are the norm in the EU,” he said.

Dr Briguglio said that while AD agreed that candidates should be elected from their respective district, there should also be a national quota for a party to be represented in Parliament.

“This system would be similar to that of highly-developed democracies such as Germany. In this regard, it is pertinent to note that all countries in Europe, including minnows such as San Marino, have more than two parties in Parliament. Hence, PN and PL should follow the examples of our European counterparts, rather than strengthen the stagnant two-party system”.
AD general secretary Ralph Cassar said AD favoured stability through real changes in electoral reform not through patch work aimed at accommodating partisan interests of the two parties currently represented in Parliament.

“What is being proposed is another piece of patch work aimed at perpetuating a two party system which is in crisis because both parties know that they cannot hold together the contradictory views of MPs elected on their behalf. Coalitions of parties on agreed programmes ensure more stability and reforms than coalitions of individuals in a two-party duopoly.”

AD spokesman on EU and International Affairs Arnold Cassola said it was amazing how this proposal, which originated from Labour’s Michael Falzon, had now been embraced by PN whip David Agius.

“The hunger for absolute power by a one party government is simply insatiable. Do PN and PL realise that this proposal goes against all basic tents of EU democratic pluralism? Does Malta want to be isolated by its EU partners like its Hungary counterpart because of the arrogance of its Prime Minister Orban? What Malta needs is the widening of pluralism to respect the diversity of Maltese public opinion and not institutionalising further the helplessness of a two party parliament and the arrogance of a one party government,” he said.

arnoldcassola@gmail.com

arnoldcassola@gmail.com

The past days saw the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the murder of Raymond Caruana. Unfortunately, the Maltese people had to be reminded of the brutalities of the past, when violence was the order of the day in Malta and young people in the prime of their life, like Karen Grech, Raymond Caruana, Nardu Debono, Wilfred Cardona and Lino Cauchi, were sacrificed on the altar of senseless violence.

Some Maltese believe that we should forget the past and move on. Same attitude that the Labour Party and many in the Nationalist Party take vis-à-vis the Gaddafi regime.

For me, this is totally wrong. We cannot and we must not forget the past victims of violence. What is important, however, is that these events and commemorations are not utilised as political party activities but are organised by the Maltese state in a united show of respect for all those who suffered in the past in order for us to lead a better life today.

Instead, the state is completely absent. It is absolutely abominable that, as per the PNPL maxim of “let’s forget the past, let’s look to the future”, there is no history school textbook that gives our children a picture of what happened in Malta in the 1960s, in the 1980s, etc.

We have monographs written either by PL or PN hacks or even by respected writers and historians with a critical approach… but still identified with either the PL or the PN. But we do not have a school textbook for the young Maltese generations to learn from the aberrations of our past.

Unfotunately, with regard to the 1960s’ interdiction and the 1970s’-1980s’ murders, the political parties have suppressed any attempt at building a national conscience about them.

Getting back to the above-mentioned murders, all have been left unsolved, apart from the Nardu Debono case. And, yet, various people have been associated – in court, through the grapevine or otherwise – with the various killings.

But let us get back to the Raymond Caruana case.

We know that the same gun that killed him had shot previously at the Tarxien PN club premisies then again at PN Gudja and, afterwards, the same gun was planted by someone in Pietru Pawl Busuttil’s farmhouse.

The sequence of the said (and “sad”) gun was: 1. PN Tarxien; 2. PN Gudja and Caruana murder; 3. Busuttil farmhouse.

It is obvious that from phase 2 to phase 3, the murderer passed on the gun to the person who planted it in Mr Busuttil’s farmhouse or else to somebody who then ordered someone else to plant the gun where it was found. In the second case, the person who actually planted the weapon knows the identity of the individual who ordered him to do so but, for one reason or another, he has kept his mouth shut all these years. Utterly disgusting and irresponsible.

Immediately after the killing, Anthony Carabott, Michael Spiteri and Edwin Bartolo were brought in for police questioning but there was no conclusive evidence to link them to the murder.

It was only four years later, in 1990, that Nicholas Ellul, known as Iċ-Ċaqwes, was identified as the owner of the gun. Though charged with the murder of Raymond Caruana, he was never heard in court. Mr Ellul died of an overdose in 2001.

Then, in 1997, Il-Pupa, Ġanni Psaila, testified that he knew who had fired the gun on that fatal December day. Later in the same year he died when he fell off a roof.

In the meantime, the famous gun disappeared from the strongroom of the law courts. Disgusting.

Raymond Caruana was murdered 25 years ago. Il-Pupa fell off a roof 14 years ago. Iċ-Ċaqwes died of a drug overdose 10 years ago. Did they die or were they killed?

arnoldcassola@gmail.com

Prof. Cassola is spokesman on EU and international affairs of Alternattiva Demokratika – the Green party.

Prof Arnold Cassola, AD spokesperson on EU and International Affairs, said:
“Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, has been playing about too much
with changes in the constitution, restrictions on the media and now
manipulation of parliamentary procedures. Obtaining a strong parliamentary
majority does not give one “carte blanche” to manipulate with the basic
rules of democracy. Malta’s Prime Minister should speak out clearly that
such behaviour is not acceptable in the free and pluralistic EU which we
have fought to be part of”.

Michael Briguglio, AD Chairperson, said: “We reiterate the call of the
European Green Party for stronger action in the EU to safeguard democracy.
Member states who tinker with democracy should not be allowed to do this.
More and not less Europe is required for democratization of societies,
pluralism and respect for diversity”.

Alternattiva Demokratika calls on Maltese government to continue pressing EU partners and UN on the release of Libyan assets abroad.

Alternattiva Demokratika has said the Maltese government has to increase pressure on European Union member states on the release of Libyan assets abroad.

“In order to facilitate transition towards a Libyan democratic and pluralistic society, it is imperative that the Libyan assets abroad should be released to ensure the proper functioning of the Libyan civil service and other structures,” AD spokesperson on EU affairs Arnold Cassola said.

“A clear distinction should be made between Gaddafi family assets, which should remain frozen, and Libyan government assets, which should be immediately defreezed by the UN. If global agreement cannot be reached at this stage, the EU-27 countries should at least insist with the EU that just the Libyan government assets frozen in their countries should be immediately released.”

Michael Briguglio, AD Chairperson said: “An ethical and progressive foreign policy of both the EU and Malta should be characterised by support to democratic forces.”

In reaction to President Abela’s Republic Day speech in which he called for the setting up of a public forum on Constitutional reform, Alternattiva Demokratika says comprehensive consultation is “imperative”

AD welcomes President’s proposal for the creation of a ‘constituent assembly’ composed of representatives of all political parties, civil society and anyone interested in contributing towards a new Constitution.

AD Spokesperson on Home Affairs, Carmel Cacopardo said: “It has been over three years since AD has submitted proposals to former Speaker Louis Galea on electoral reform. The current electoral system is skewed through the introduction of a discriminatory mechanism intended to restore proportionality between the two major political parties excluding everyone else”.

AD spokesperson on EU and International Affairs, Arnold Cassola, said “The Maltese constitution is direly in need of being updated to keep abreast with global and EU politics, for example, with reference to Malta’s neutrality clause”.

AD Chairperson Michael Briguglio, confirmed AD’s agreement with the President’s proposals and said “AD calls for comprehensive consultation with civil society stakeholders for constitutional reform. This is imperative in a modern democracy. It is also high time that the Parliamentary Select committee starts meeting once again to discuss such important matters.”

Commerce graduate Natasha Bugeja has called on University academics (December 1) to turn up for their lectures and deliver something more interesting than “monologues”.

Speaking for myself, I cannot judge the quality of my lectures: it is up to the students to assess.

But as regards lecturers not turning up, it is about time that students and their representative body, the KSU, stop being generic in their accusations, shrug off the multi-secular omertà culture still persisting in Malta and name and shame the lecturers who do not turn up.

arnoldcassola@gmail.com

A few weeks ago, two British expatriates were charged in court with breaching the peace. The offence of Rachel Ginty and Ben Ford consisted “in insisting, loudly, that the police arrest a man who, they claimed, had assaulted them and their friend in Paceville five months ago. The two friends, who work in Malta, insisted they were attacked after Ms Ginty told a Maltese man to calm down when she saw him hit his girlfriend. When officers from the St Julians police station arrived on the scene they did not arrest the man, who insisted he had never laid a finger on his girlfriend. Frustrated with the inaction, Ms Ginty turned to The Times, which published her story, on May 28, after sending questions to the police which remain unanswered”.

Luckily, the court considered Ms Ginty’s actions to be completely justified… and justified indeed she was.

Why did it have to be a foreigner to report the violence while other onlookers simply shied away from doing so? Why was it that the police did not arrest the man who was acting violently with his girlfriend?

Unfortunately, this inaction on the part of a number of Maltese people, who are ready to endure even personal suffering and bullying rather than reporting misdeeds, is closely linked to the phenomenon known by the name of omertà (code of silence), which is normally associated with nearby Sicily but which, I can assure you, is part and parcel of Maltese culture, a living servile remnant of Malta’s feudal and colonial past.

“The fish stinks from the head” is a literal translation of a Maltese proverb. And, unfortunately, this maxim is very valid in the context of Maltese omertà. Because, in reality, it is the Maltese political leaders of today who do their best to keep quiet and cover up for certain misdemeanours when it suits the limited selfish interests of their political parties.

Neither Lawrence Gonzi nor Joseph Muscat, despite all their talk about clarity, transparency and progressive attitudes, are immune from this exercise in stealth. Indeed, they are the major culprits – acting in unison and harmony – when it comes to doctoring or hiding from the people certain scandalous behaviour.

First joint PNPL example of omerta’. Do you remember the 2009 European Parliament election campaign? Well, there were candidates who breached the provisions of the law with regard to financial regulations and spent tens of thousands of euros in their efforts to get themselves elected. According to law, if any of these were elected they should have been stripped of their mandate. This, however, would have brought about a most embarrassing situation since, barring a handful of candidates who acted correctly, others had blatantly broken the law when it came to the financing of their campaign.

What was the reaction of Dr Gonzi and Dr Muscat to all this? Rather than asking the police to investigate and to apply the law, they both ganged up together and, in the short space of a week, they wrote a joint letter to the Attorney General asking him to revise the present spending limits of election candidates, with the clear aim of covering up for all those in their two parties who had blatantly broken the law.

Second PNPL cover up. This concerns past Libyan-Maltese affairs. We all witnessed in the past weeks the images of Mutassim Gaddafi’s Bank of Valletta’s credit cards, which made the rounds of the whole world’s TV stations. Also, the Gaddafi family has €87 million worth of assets in Malta. Yet, the government is refusing to state who the Maltese partners of the Gaddafi family have been. Dr Muscat is not objecting.

Then we have CIA reports saying that “Sergeant Mario”, “Mr Briffa” and “Mr Mangion”, all working at Luqa Airport in January 1989, were spies in the pockets of the Libyan secret service. Malta’s security was at stake at that time and probably before. But both the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader would not set up a board of inquiry to investigate the CIA allegations.

They prefer to let bygones be bygones.

Why are the two political leaders so keen on burying this issue? Are they trying to protect somebody?

Third example of PNPL omertà. For the past two years I have known of a number of PN and PL local councillors who were being investigated by the EU for misappropriation of EU money. For two years this news was the talk of the town in the European institutions’ corridors in Brussels. And, yet, Il-Mument, In-Nazzjon and KullĦadd, Net and One TV stations, Radio 101 and Super One Radio kept mum about the scandal.

The bubble was finally burst a few days ago when an independent Sunday newspaper published the story on its front page. In the meantime, for a whole two years the facts were kept away from the Maltese population. And then they say that omertà is a typical Sicilian phenomenon!

Something is very, very rotten in the state of Denmark.

arnoldcassola@gmail.com

Prof. Cassola is spokesman on EU and international affairs of Alternattiva Demokratika – the Green party

History has been made in North Africa. Tunisia has now a democratically-elected multi-party assembly. What seemed unthinkable a year ago is now a veritable reality and the Tunisians, who never in their history had experienced true, free and fair democratic elections, can now boast of the first ever democratically-elected assembly in the Maghreb region, thus demolishing the multi-centennial myth that Arab countries are allergic to democratic systems.

This so-called Arab Spring has been triggered off by the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi in December last year in his home town of Sidi Bouzid, a poor town in the interior of Tunisia, 250 kilometres from the capital Tunis. His death had sparked off a domino effect in the Arab world with the Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan dictators now already deposed, while Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen and others in the Arab world are desperately dealing with the popular revolt against their misdemeanours in order to hang on to their power.

Mr Bouazizi has now gone down in history as the Jan Palach of the Arab world and is revered by his admirers as a martyr that sacrificed himself for liberty and democracy. For his courageous self-sacrifice, the European Parliament has just awarded him posthumously the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Human Rights.

Yet, it would seem that back home the young man who set himself – and the Arab world – ablaze is not seen at all in a good light. Nemo profeta in patria (no one is a prophet in his own country) was a popular saying in ancient Rome. Mr Bouazizi’s story would seem to fully confirm this maxim because in this provincial outpost of Tunisia he is looked upon with scorn by many of his fellow townspeople.

“It is not true that Bouazizi was a University graduate”, says 22-year-old Bilal as we sip some coffee in a typical Sidi Bouzid coffee shop frequented only by men, many of whom unemployed youngsters. “In fact, he had not even finished his high school. The myth of his University education was created by his sister in order to stir up more emotions at his horrendous death”.

“He was simply a petty village bully,” adds Faisal, “a bad man who often got drunk and beat up his mother mercilessly.”

And, yet, the citizens of Sidi Bouzid had initially paid tribute to the young man who on December 17 last year had set himself alight in front of the town hall after having been allegedly slapped in the face by Policewoman Fayda Hamdi. What bigger dishonour for a Mediterranean man than being slapped by a woman in the town main square in front of everybody!

In memory of his heroic suicide, the rioting crowds of Sidi Bouzid youngsters had attacked various public buildings in town and marched off to the main Avenue 7 Novembre to rename it Avenue Mohammed Bouazizi.

So what has changed now? Why have the citizens of this town, which until as recently as the 1950s consisted simply in a local market revolving around the tomb of the moderate wise Sufi mediaeval intellectual who gave his name to the town, now turned against this modern hero?

“His was not a real and authentic protest against the Ben Ali regime”, says a local youth by the name of Hamdi. “Had it been so, Bouazizi’s mother would not have accepted 20,000 dinars from the dictator and left the town. Rumour has it that she got other money from TV stations to recount her son’s ordeal and that she is now living in Tunis, in the prestigious area of La Marsa”.

Whether all this is true or not cannot be independently verified but the rumour was enough to turn the hero into a villain overnight. The marble plaque in Avenue 7 Novembre, turned Avenue Bouazizi, was unceremoniously removed, his photos splashed all over town were torn to shreds and the Sidi Bouzid youngsters today claim that it was they who started off the Jasmine revolution and not their deceased compatriot who turned himself into a human torch.

The resentment against the establishment and the citizens of the capital Tunis has also exploded uncontrolled ever since the new authorities declared the date of the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (January 14, 2011) as the date of the revolution as opposed to the December 17 immolation of Mr Bouazizi.

Such decision is unacceptable to the citizens of Sidi Bouzid. For them the revolution started off in their home town and Tunis should not dare take credit for it all.

As I walk along the few tombs in the secluded country graveyard six kilometres away from the village of Lessouda, three other youths stand over the freshly built grave of Mr Bouazizi discussing some frivolous issue of life and laughing their heads off in the process.

There is little sign of respect for their dead compatriot who has become a household name all over the world. Here in the hinterland of Tunisia, where the average monthly salary is less than $150 and unemployment has reached phenomenal levels, jealousy, pride and prejudice can easily transform an international hero into a local villain.

arnoldcassola@gmail.com

Prof. Cassola is spokesman on EU and international affairs of Alternattiva Demokratika – the Green party.