Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1195815
OPINION 23 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 DECEMBER 2019 Malta needs a truth commission Michael Falzon micfal45@gmail.com THE effect of the current situation in Malta on the national psyche is a worrying state of affairs. A recent interesting article by Nigel Camilleri, president of the Maltese Association of Psychiatry ('Re-establish normality now' – Times of Malta December 6) insists that his association urges giving priority to the safe- guarding of the health of the nation by putting a stop to moral injury. Moral injury, he explained, results when a person experiences a sense of betrayal, humiliation, frustra- tion, anger and shame as a result of people of trust failing to do the right thing. In short, Camilleri expressed the opinion that the current political crisis is negatively affecting the overall mental and emotional well-being of our country and a return to normality is a 'sine qua non'. The citizens of this small but proud country are facing the biggest moral crisis since becoming independent. What are we going to do about it? After the transition from apartheid in South Africa, President Nelson Mandela set up a 'Truth and Reconcilia- tion Commission' under the leadership of former Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu to study the effects of apartheid in that country. I feel that in the current circumstances, Malta needs a truth commission. A truth commission – or truth and reconciliation commission – is normally tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government and non-state actors, in the hope of resolving conflicts left over from the past. Although Mandela's idea was criticised by many and some objec- tives were not achieved, the process succeeded in its most fundamental responsibility: it pulled South Africa safely into a modern, democratic era. For the average citizens, it matters little whether or not such an investigation is for- mally called a truth commis- sion but the term has intuitive appeal: it generates expecta- tions that sordid deals will be brought to light and official lies exposed. Whether investigating human rights violations, corruption, the manipula- tion of information or any other events about which details are murky, the 'truth' is a welcome antidote. Although, the depiction of the nation as a diseased and wounded body that can be cleansed and healed through 'talk therapy' is questioned by some, I think the advantages of such a process would un- doubtedly benefit Malta. Truth commissions are not bodies that, on their own, can achieve such lofty goals as truth, justice and reconcilia- tion, but are simply processes that can make a contribution to longer political efforts hav- ing these same aims. In the case of the current Maltese situation, the people's desire to see their country return to becoming 'nor- mal' is palpable. The great- est mistake Joseph Muscat's successor can make is just pushing for an end to the judicial processes, which are meant to punish those found guilty of breaking the law, while sweeping everything else under the carpet. This will not ensure Malta's return to normalcy. It would not heal the nation's wounds but help to keep them festering. We have to see why what happened was possible and undertake the reforms neces- sary to avoid repetition of abuses. Even so, as I always maintain, there are no laws or Constitutional clauses that can stop persons from acting in bad faith and that is why democracy needs the Opposi- tion's and the media's input – even at the risk of abuses. After all, polticians, media people and those active in non-governmental organisa- tions are subject to the hu- man foibles. The role of the two main po- litical parties in a Truth Com- mission for Malta should be kept to a minimum, while the independent media and civil society should be given more space. In Malta's incestuous society, most people are peju- diced one way or another; but I have no doubt that there are people who can be objective, irrespective of their political leanings or sympathies. To recover and become 'normal', the Maltese people must forgo their tribal politi- cal loyalties and face the truth – however obnoxious it may be. We have to bite the bullet, if we want this small but proud nation to rise again. The right decision The decision taken by the Leader of the Opposition, Adrian Delia, to publish the Egrant inquiry report was the right one. In April 2017, Daphne Caruana Galizia had alleged that the company was owned by the Prime Minister's wife Michelle, prompting Joseph Muscat to request a magiste- rial inquiry into that claim. Delia was reported saying that he had the option of not publishing anything or of publishing only parts of it. He finally chose the option of publishing the document in its entirety. The official line, endorsed by the Attorney General, was that this publication would hinder the police in their pursuit of investigations requested by the inquiring magistrate. This line was repeated in the editorial of the GWU daily l-orizzont last Thursday. In truth, the police had ample time to pursue the in- vestigations indicated by the magistrate and therefore this could have only been a lame excuse to cover up the inad- equacies of our institutions. Moral injury results when a person experiences a sense of betrayal, humiliation, frustration, anger and shame as a result of people of trust failing to do the right thing Although Nelson Mandela's idea was criticised by many and some objectives were not achieved, the process succeeded in its most fundamental responsibility: it pulled South Africa safely into a modern, democratic era