Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1506016
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 AUGUST 2023 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Dignified and timely treatment THE World Health Organisation had warned during the COVID-19 pandem- ic that the world must brace itself for a mental health pandemic. Unfortunately, of late, we have been hearing of one too many people who performed suicide and many are men. This is worrying but then when you read a report such as that which ap- peared in your newspaper on Sunday, Parents Anxious Over Lengthy Waiting Times For Children Requiring Men- tal Health Services, it starts becoming more clear where part of the problem lies. How can it be that children requir- ing assistance and treatment for mental health issues are being made to wait for so long? Aren't we inviting these prob- lems when help is delayed? Despite all the awareness raising on mental health, I feel this country is still not doing enough to provide dignified and timely treatment to those who need it. To make matters worse, we also rel- ish in a culture that imposes machoism on men, making it hard for them to ex- press their emotions and inner feelings. We must teach our boys that it is OK to cry. It is OK to sometimes feel vulnera- ble. It is OK to seek help. Jennifer Spiteri Tarxien Legal and inappropriate THE Standards Commissioner found that Parliamentary Secretary Chris Bonnet did nothing wrong when he used the ministerial car for a private holiday in Sicily. The basis of the Com- missioner's ruling was the fact that no rules exist on how ministers and public officials should use the official vehicles assigned to them. So, Dr Bonnet breached no rules as had been alleged when he used the car for his holiday. In my view this is purely a 'legal' victory for Dr Bonnet, so much so that the Commissioner also went on to urge public officials to adopt prudence when using official vehicles. What is legal is not necessarily appro- priate, something that our politicians often fail to understand. It is not right in my mind that an official car is used for leisure travel overseas and I would have thought that somebody like Dr Bonnet would realise this. P. Micallef Msida Nit picking on Refalo's stone marker WITH reference to your front-page report last Sunday, titled Silence Over Investigations Into Anton Refalo's His- toric Stone Marker, for correctness sake I wish to point out that this stone was very commonly seen during the colonial era. Some of them were seen thrown around by the rubble walls in the 1950s after World War II and also found dur- ing the villa building boom era during the 1970s until 1995. It is also a known fact that this par- ticular stone was also in fact discovered in abundance and totally ignored by many building contractors and stone masons during excavations in quarries, fields and back gardens of newly built villas in the countryside. This type of stone marker was obvi- ously surely not seen as interesting nor as historic and was considered valueless. It was mostly discarded innocently by many Maltese citizens. This story is truly nit picking at its political best. Please note that I do not personally know Anton Refalo and never met nor ever spoke to him. And mind you, I love our heritage and respect the laws pro- tecting our historic findings. Jean Vincent Agius Attard