Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/181770
26 Letters maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2013 Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Arriva: easy money or easy access? I for one would like to suggest that in the forthcoming budget the subsidy to Arriva is linked to better accountability. Thus I would suggest that rather than paying the subsidy directly into Arriva's bank account, the amount to be paid to this company would need to be 'earned'. This could be very easily done: by distributing Arriva tickets to all registered electors. Thus if the service is satisfactory it will attract patronage and the franking of these tickets would translate into earnings for Arriva. If the Arriva service does not manage to convince, it will experience a shortfall in revenue as dissatisfied passengers would opt to use their private transport. This way, non-electors such as visiting tourists would Parking and dumping of cars Dumping vehicles is indeed a reality. Some months ago a towing truck literally dumped a neglected car in front of a house. There it still lies with a flat tyre, accumulating dirt and rubbish. A report has been made to the police station but it seems to be of no avail, as the vehicle is parked within a parking bay and carries a valid road licence (which expires in 2014). Must one have to patiently wait till 2014 to be entitled to use this parking bay? We are at the mercy of the car owner, who may even decide to renew the licence and leave it there for another year. Surely, there must be some regulations regarding the dumping of unwanted cars in front of other people's homes? Is there no concern for the needs of others? A.C. Borg San Gwann need to purchase tickets, while locals would get them free through email, and this would also do away with any claims of discriminatory treatment. Naturally, free emailed tickets should be transferable so those who do not use them could also give them to philanthropic organisations. Otherwise, very disgruntled commuters might also tear up the tickets they would be allocated in an effective protest against Arriva's poor service when this is the case, thus depriving the company of a chunk of its projected revenue. The Arriva buses were designed to stop next to the pavements to facilitate the boarding/disembarking of passengers, especially the elderly and those suffering from mobility impairment. This next-to-the-pavement manoeuvre is not being followed by a number of Arriva drivers, neither is it an isolated occurrence. One can bear with this shortcoming temporarily from the unscheduled bus service roped in to replace the bendy buses in Malta. However one would expect a better service from the appropriately-designed Arriva buses, whose drivers cannot now claim to be inexperienced. Another point of contention among commuters is the repeated incidence of Arriva bus windows being left ajar, rendering the air conditioner ineffective. So the public transport operator should be incentivised in a positive and negative manner to deliver or else, do with reduced takings and 'suffer' as much as the tired commuters have over the years. Colin Debono Ghajnsielem, Gozo Unanswered prayers The bishops of Malta have appealed to their followers to say rosaries and to hold vigils of adoration to ask God for peace in Syria and the Middle East. Such an archaic mindset assumes an anthropomorphic God who waits for the rosaries and the adoration of human beings before He intervenes in the Middle East. Prayers for peace have been going on since 1986, when Pope John Paul and leaders of world religions met at Assisi. Their prayers were not answered. In fact, the situation in the Middle East became even worse! A year after the Assisi prayer meeting, violence - rather than peace - erupted in Gaza and in the West Bank during the Palestinian intifada. The 1990s witnessed the rise of Al-Qaeda. The new millennium brought us the horror of 9/11; the war in Afghanistan; and the catastrophic war in Iraq. All the prayers in the world did not prevent the horrific civil war in Syria; the violence and chaos in Egypt; and the spread of fundamentalism and terrorism in the Muslim world. John Guillaumier St Julian's Equal but different I agree 100% with the stand taken by Auxiliary Bishop Charles J Scicluna writing online as regards the new IVF law. Gays and lesbians naturally cannot conceive a child, so they do not have a claim to procreation as heterosexual couples have. Thus the state will not be discriminating against them if homosexuals are not given the facility to use artificial means for conceiving a child, for science itself does not override nature and new human life is not generated by input from two males only or two females only. The state is already burdened too much with the social and other services it offers our society, all paid for by honest taxpayers. Real needs are to be met, but if any have whims they should pay for them themselves and secure them from jurisdictions which have less regard for the dignity of the human person from conception, as does our country along bipartisan lines. S. Debono Kirkop YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt Neutrality and all that EDITORIAL – 28 September 2003 The second coming and going of the US Navy ship La Salle has been a non-event, unlike the first time the ship visited the Drydocks for repairs, when all hell broke loose. But there is a major lesson to be learnt here. Neutrality and non-alignment are non-issues for the vast majority of the population, including devout Labourites. It is in this context that the leaders of this country must find the courage to re-assess neutrality as drafted in the Constitution. The atrocities in BosniaHerzegovina in the early 90s, Kosovo in the late 90s and September 11 have changed the meaning of military intervention and war. Does it make sense to be neutral in face of mass murder? How can neutrality protect a country from the indiscrimi- nate clutches of terrorists on a death wish? When neutrality and non-alignment were entrenched in the Constitution in 1987 the world was a different place than it is today. Besides, neutrality was used as a brokering chip by the Labour Party to push forward electoral reform demanded by the Nationalist opposition of the time. It is fair to say that the Nationalist Party would have done anything to secure electoral reform to prevent another perverse electoral result. The debate at the time was not exhaustive, and it was impregnated with party-political overtones. Today, in 2003, Malta has to contend with a neutrality clause that does little to reflect the times we are living in and worse than that, there is a reluctance in the political class to debate the issue. The biggest stumbling block is Labour's unwavering position, which has made neutrality a central principle to the party. Not that neutrality is bad for the country, but it has to be redimensioned to reflect the signs of the times. Come next May, Malta will be joining a block of nations that is increasingly playing a major role on the world stage. We must not be engulfed by the changes, and this makes it imperative on us to be participants in the drafting of the EU's common foreign and security policy. Having a coherent national foreign policy is a must. Malta can use its central Mediterranean position and traditional peace-loving role to be a proactive player for peace on the world stage. Having an active foreign policy on the same lines as Norway would immensely enhance this country's stature. Why shouldn't this country be an active player in the Middle East crisis as a broker for peace? Why can't the country make good use of its friendly relations with Libya to bring Europe closer to North Africa? The answers to these questions have to emerge after a thorough, mature and widespread debate on Malta's role in Europe and the world stage.