Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/376810
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2014 24 Letters 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. Sunday, 5 September, 53 immigrants, Monday, 6 September, 21 immigrants arrive in Malta. The daily evening news coverage includes growing number of immigrants reaching our shores. To date as per figures revealed by the Police Commissioner last Fri- day, 1,014 illegal immigrants are in the hands of the police and the army currently, of which 596 are in detention centres and 418 are in the open centres manned by the army and police. It appears that 80 of have been given refugee status while 500 have received temporary humanitarian status. While waiting for their status to be proc- essed some live in four overcrowded deten- tion centres which have at times led to riots by protesting detainees and the internment of asylum seekers in MT Carmel hospital to be treated for mental illnesses. It is clear that we are on the threshold of an emergency situation. Illegal Immigration is fast becom- ing a political issue. The matter is of growing concern to the average family. The matter must be tackled calmly dispas- sionately yet firmly. Our Government, which is fully aware of the political fall out, attempts to act and appear tough while being fully cognisant that it must, at all costs, act in a politically correct and humane manner. Balancing these two approaches is not at all easy and requires much skill of opera- tion. The numbers involved and the limited resources of the State to handle such an explosive situation requires that structures and a management system to cope with this emergency are set up. The time to act is now. It must be established first and foremost that we are here dealing with a humanitarian problem. These immigrants are not leaving their country capriciously. Their departure is a response either to fleeing persecution or to the lack of opportunities of work and a basic living standard. The possibility that some are criminals seeking to exercise their criminal activities in Europe, must also not be discounted. The immigrants' plight remains one of desperation. Leaving on just a wooden float at times no longer than 18 feet long and crammed with desperate people, without sufficient supplies and knowledge of their destination, can only be the work of a desper- ate person, whose feeling of despair and readiness to do anything regardless of danger shows a mind set of having lost all hope. This desperate situation must lead us to question why do they leave in spite of all the dangers? We must not only question illegal immigra- tion but also the causes of their plight. We believe that the growing gulf between the rich and the poor countries is the major cause of the migration. It must equally be emphasised that our country cannot cope with such a large number of illegal immigrants. Our size and our financial resources are limited especially in the prevailing difficult financial situation. The financial burden runs into two million liri yearly. The temporary solution of keeping them in detention centres - apart from the problem of overcrowding - is also financially unsustainable. The detention camps are a clear limitation on the freedom of movement and privacy of immigrants and gets us no closer to finding a long term solution to the problem. The detention centres have also been strongly criticised by The Council of Europe Commissioner for refugees, Alvaro Gil-Robles as being "totally inadequate and… should be closed down at the first opportu- nity." We need to look for a solution together with other countries and organisations outside our territory. The illegal immigration problem is a EU problem that has to be tackled jointly by all the 25 members. This is also a test case for Europe's enshrin- ing value of solidarity. The problem is not particular to Malta. It is being experienced by all States bordering on the southern European shore. Other European countries particularly Italy are going through the same difficulties. The solution must be found within the Eu- ropean Union and or alternatively the United Nations context. Herein lays the chance to find a long-term solution. This is where the Malta government should carry on lobbying without missing further opportunities for financial aid. It is extremely regrettable that our country lost out from benefiting from EU refugee funds because it failed to apply with another EU member in time. Within the European Union and the United Nations, Malta must carry on lobbying to be helped and supported in dealing with the high influx of illegal immigrants. The problem must be tackled and sorted out in Northern Africa before these desper- ate people embark on their journey of hope. Ideally as has already been suggested by the newly appointed European commissioner Rocco Buttiglione, areas known as safe areas or protected areas or clearing houses must be set up in Northern Africa preferably in Libya where they would be under the control of The United Nations and from where all the documentation and the administrative work necessary will be sorted out. These UN designated areas should be administered and financed by the UN. The present situation is taxing the resources of the police corps and the army. The situation warrants that currently 100 policemen a day are fully occupied policing the situation. It is clear that police resources are being stretched to their limits. The close to emergency situation warrants that the matter is dealt with in a bi-partisan approach. Both political parties represented in Parliament should set up a Parliamentary Committee to recommend an action plan to deal with this emergency. This needs to be set up with immedi- ate effect so that citizens are assured that the situation is in hand, that they need not panic as may have been the case when illegal immigrants freely walked ashore on Gozo last weekend. The manner and the facility in which they strolled along certified the way our coastline is easily accessed. The present ping-pong between both political parties is nauseating. The impres- sion being given is that one side simply is taking advantage of a difficult situation while the other side is defensively defending its ac- tions. Rather than carry on arguing it is best decided that they work together to draw up an action plan. The situation is a desperate one that re- quires European structures to be put in place before the situation worsens. A desperate situation Editorial • September 12 2004 The efficacy of relics I have always mentioned that there are three certainties in life. Taxes, death and Guillaumier's unstop- pable drive to ridicule and make a mockery in the press of anything with a Church/God connotation. Although the Church takes great care to see that no relic is given public honour unless there is reasonable certainty about its au- thenticity, it has never guaranteed the genuineness of any particular relic; yet some relics of doubtful authenticity have been given such veneration. Because of the difficulty of prov- ing them to be certainly spurious, the Church does not discontinue such devotion. Even though relics may be in fact false, God has often seen fit to reward devotion paid them. Lack of documentation worries the sceptics whenever an event or existence of a person is in doubt. But there's no need to worry about this. A classic example is whether Malta was bombed in World War Two, there is no need of eyewitness- es or a notarial deed to prove it – a cursory look at shrapnel deposits on walls and bastions or rusty angle iron pieces still jutting out on the seashore are enough to prove it. The Church exhorts us to vener- ate the bodies of martyrs and others now living with Christ in heaven, since they were the living members of Christ on earth and the temples of the Holy Ghost. As Christians we venerate as well the objects connected with these heroic followers of Christ, much in the same way as the Americans treasure the pen of the signers of the Declaration of Independence or the Russians, the mortal remains of Lenin in the Kremlin. The Church does not teach that there is any miraculous power in the relic itself but rather the attrib- uted intercession of the saints who are thus honoured, and the faith and devotion of the supplicant. It merely says that relics are often the occasion of God's miracles, as the Scriptures themselves attest. We read, for example, of the woman who was healed by touching the fringe of Our Lord's garment (Matt. 19 20) and of the sick who were cured when handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched St Paul's body were taken to them (Acts 19 12). Need I repeat that, "For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary, for those who do not believe in God no explanation is possible" (Weber) John Azzopardi, Zabbar Does illegality pay? I read the piece about the Armier squatters ('Armier squatters likely to get substa- tion after 2012 rejection', 31 August). It would be scan- dalous and a disgrace for Enemalta and the present government, if they accommo- date these land grabbers. It was the same for previous Nationalist governments, which never showed any will to evict them. We speak mainly about Armier because the illegalities are on such a large scale. What about Gnejna and St Thomas Bay, where there are also il- legal buildings? And at White Rocks, another shantytown is being built and not a finger is being lifted to stop it. But the government should provide a caravan site with all the necessary comforts, one in the north of the island and another in the south, and rent places or even sell them to these people as is done overseas. Surely if people want such facilities, they should pay for them, and not expect them for free? Do these people realise that the land they grabbed belongs to the people of Malta, and through the 2014 elections they entrusted the govern- ment to administer this land for them? Surely they did not vote for losing it to the few because of some political obligation. I truly regret to tell the truth – I never expected this government to behave in this way. The government is acting contrary to what the Prime Minister said it would do be- fore the last election, in every- thing. I do not want to say that Muscat has no control over his ministers but if he does, then we are being cheated. This is not what we were promised. Law-abiding citizens do not want to see these things hap- pening in their country. They want to see somebody give them back what is theirs for all to enjoy. Joseph Muscat, Mosta Unabated rape of local culture What an absolute shame. What a scandalous and inexcusable act – a 200-year-old farmhouse is being demolished to make way for a concrete block of flats in San Gwann. The numerous alerts from myself and others have served nothing to raise the conscience of the Malta En- vironment and Planning Authority, its chairman in particular, and I am even more sorry and displeased to say, that of the mayor of San Gwann, who is conspicuous by his continued absence and neglect of this locality's issues. My pleas have fallen on deaf ears. In other countries we would see protest marches and what not to try and save this unique farmhouse. In Malta we are lost on Ice Bucket stupidities. Shame on all who had a hand in allowing this sorry tale to progress to its black ending. Shame on those who could have waved a wand and stopped this wanton destruction of our ancient heritage. I hope these words will remain etched in eternity until one day some- one will curse the names of those who permitted this barbaric devastation now being wrought on this fair land. Stephen Saliba, San Gwann Reckless driving I have written on this matter several times before and no action has been taken. The dangerous driving during the day and night at the traffic lights in Tower Road in Sliema, near the Fortizza restaurant, is threatening the safety of individu- als and property. I therefore appeal to the Com- missioner of Police, either to place a policeman on patrol or to install CCTV cameras, in order to bring sanity to the situation of over- speeding and reckless driving. J Aquilina, Sliema