Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1467738
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 MAY 2022 OPINION 5 SO it seems to be acceptable for Lino Farrugia to assault a sen- ior government official during an Ornis committee meeting and get away with it. As CEO of the hunting lobby, Farrugia ef- fectively is the reason why this government was elected with a 40,000 majority, and keeps treating hunters like demigods. Lino Farrugia is expected to stay on as CEO of the FKNK, because the guys around the table of that executive commit- tee do not have the balls to sack him. Vintage Farrugia of course, since he has always used his clout to put pressure on politi- cians. Simply put, when hunting and trapping come under pres- sure, he becomes a nasty piece of work. And that's how hunters and trappers in general think that they have some god-given right to do as they please and shoot at whatever flies, and take over public land and make it their own. Farrugia is certainly not new to controversy. When he organ- ised protests and his faithful fol- lowers caused panic and threat- ened other people, he would typically be quite mellow in the criticism of their actions. Years back, at one of their protests, hunters raised a poster taunting the German NGO CABS (which operates in Malta) with the Holocaust, saying it should deal with that national legacy. Li- no Farrugia was probably none the wiser about the outrageous comparison. Farrugia argues that Malta should be treated differently to the rest of the EU, which is why he was instrumental in bringing the Nationalist Party to their knees and managed to place his fingers on Labour's testicles as well – just see their overtures to this lobby and the ministers lin- ing up to have their photos tak- en with them. The parties are effectively puppets in his hands. Had it not been for Joseph Muscat, who rallied the troops in Gozo, the FKNK and Far- rugia would not have won the spring hunting referendum by a few hundred votes. But it is clear that Farrugia is a man of the past, a man who thinks that no matter what, we should do as we please and keep hunting as if it were a human right. His greatest trump card is the election vote, the one thing that concerns the political par- ties, but most especially the La- bour Party, that has been willing to sell its soul and defy the EU. So you can see what a bad kind of a joke it is when Labour calls itself the party of the environ- ment, with its dismal track re- cord on planning laws, its attack on the countryside, and its weak wildlife protection rules. The FKNK's Lucas Micallef said the lobby should now "move forward"... in other words, let Lino Farrugia be, per- haps have him back in Ornis, and the rest of us get on with life. But I know Lino Farrugia. I've known him from those ear- ly days when I had founded the Ornis Committee in 1999. And he is one of a kind, a man who serves his tribe's cause Farrugia cannot see the chang- ing world and values, but he knows that our politicians are narrow-minded and only in- terested in getting elected. So fuck the rest... But Lino Farru- gia must not be allowed to re- turn to Ornis. And if the FKNK cannot take a decision, then the Prime Minister should. Assault- ing a public official at an Ornis committee meeting is an unfor- givable episode. Lino Farrugia should be past tense. *** Hili Ventures have decided to block San Niklaw bay and oth- er paths in Comino. A similar situation exists at Fomm ir-Rih. Typically, the super rich in this country do not only buy si- lence but they also decide what is the law. Access to the coast, supposedly protected at law, has turned out to be absolute bullshit. Nothing seems to irk the gov- ernment of the day, no one seems to hear a word of disap- proval from any MP or party trombone. If Sandro Chetcuti's decision to block Fomm ir-Rih raised eyebrows and outrage in the newspaper columns, the de- cision to stop people from en- tering a popular bay would have raised a tsunami of complaints. But wait... it is Melo Hili and an upmarket tourism project we are talking about here! Here we are then, with nary a voice in protest because we are living in an age where many of us are exhausted, resigned to expect the worst, unable to find a voice that can give our fears and anger proper representa- tion... or worse, refuse to em- brace a courageous organisation like Graffitti, who have the guts to stand up and call a spade, a spade. We are simply resigned to think the established rich have acquired the right to bull- doze their way through any- thing they want. But people have to start speak- ing up, make sacrifices and take a stand. Because if we do not do that now, more of this island will be taken up and gobbled up by the rich lobbies that have silenced our political class, who believe they are doing us all a fa- vour when they deface this little country of ours. It is time to talk of the unac- ceptable extension of the Excel- sior hotel next to the bastions of Valletta. We need to back the NGOs that are speaking for the public, and petition our MPs to convince their leaders that action, not empty promises in electoral programmes, is what is needed. Robert Abela must respond to the general interests of the community, and not to the nar- row-minded interest of compa- nies and magnates driven by fast revenues and profits and greed. *** Last week, I referred to the Bank of Valletta payout in the Deuilemar saga, and I pointed my finger at those who should have been held responsible for past cases of litigation and financial mismanagement. I mentioned the former BOV Chairman Roderick Chalmers and former CEO Tonio De- pasquale, and of course there were those who were shocked that I suggested some form of accountability from these gen- tleman. Present BOV chairman Gordon Cordina defended the board at the time when inter- viewed on Xtra. Other folk who prefer having a few politicians' heads on a spike, took offence that I asked for the established elite to take responsibility. And it did not stop here. One commentor was incensed that my opinion had omitted to mention BOV's archaeologi- cal origins – the great Nation- al Bank of Malta scandal. How my historical brevity on BOV could be somewhat connected to everything else that is wrong in Malta (the lexicon borrowed generously from the anti-La- bour mantras) baffles me. After all, it was this newspaper that dedicated countless issues to re- count every single detail of the National Bank of Malta saga, and reaffirmed this long-drawn out case as a matter of national justice. Now, neither I nor anyone in my family has ever had a Na- tional Bank of Malta account. Yet this newspaper believed that the National Bank of Mal- ta story, and the way it was ag- gressively taken over by Dom Mintoff (for good reason, oth- ers would say, but that's anoth- er story), was a matter that de- served extensive reporting. We did it because we believed it was an interesting story that need- ed closure, not because we had an axe to grind or some family wound that needed healing. A newspaper does not see things through the prism of its own- ers' interests, believe it or not, but by assessing its function to give readers truth in the mar- ketplace of information. There is no question that the Deiulemar, Falcon Funds and La Vallette fiascos raise an is- sue of accountability at all lev- els, and that's not something that should be borne by some hapless bank clerk, but by its top brass. Now I won't expect everyone to give MaltaToday its due credit for what it reports about, but when it was report- ing the National Bank of Mal- ta's tragic story, did any other media house bother to take up the story and talk about BOV's skeleton in the closet? These scandals were not written about out of some self-interest or im- agined benefit. On matters of justice, the victim's political hue counts for nothing. It truly is a thankless job. Sins of the past and present blemishes Saviour Balzan Lino Farrugia