Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/517560
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 27 MAY 2015 News Eurovision singer's 'value scare' is about abortion sneaking onto political agenda TIM DIACONO THE 'singing doctor' Gianluca Bezzina has warned that Mal- tese political parties could end up bowing to a pro-abortion lobby group. "Although all major political parties in Malta are against abor- tion, I am scared of the future," Malta's former Eurovision rep- resentative told MaltaToday. "A minority lobby group in favour of abortion could be set up and political parties would decide to legalise it for the sake of winning votes. Abortion will always re- main morally incorrect." Bezzina raised eyebrows when he accepted an invitation by Na- tionalist Party leader Simon Bu- suttil to speak at the party's gen- eral council on Sunday. In his speech, the singer urged political parties to stand by what is right and warned that it is very simple for a government to fast-track legislation in favour of controversial issues, such as abor- tion. "The Opposition should safe- guard morals and should not seek to increase its votes at the expense of morals, even if it means spend- ing another five years in opposi- tion," he said. However, Bezzina's speech was hit with a barrage of criticism, with several arguing on social media that his words were actual- ly a veiled denouncement of civil unions, which he has vehemently denied. "I am not a coward, and I would have mentioned civil unions up- front if that was what I was refer- ring to," he said. "I have several gay friends, all of them know that I am in favour of gay rights, and none of them was offended by my speech. I don't know why so many people assumed that I was refer- ring to civil unions and to, for ex- ample, divorce and hunting." When quizzed as to what he was in fact alluding to, Bezzina in- sisted that he wasn't condemning any particular law, except for the spectre of abortion legalisation. "I was referring to a political pattern, in which political parties adopt the same stances for the sake of not losing votes," Bezzina said. "Unfortunately, that means that people often end up voting for the least scandalous party." Bezzina is a practising Catho- lic who has previously said that he reads extracts from the Bible everyday. However, he denied that his speech at the PN general council was in any way linked to a promotion of religion. He also denied being in any way affiliated to the Nationalist Party. "I am not a Nationalist or a La- bourite and I would have similarly accepted an invitation to address a Labour meeting," he said. Matsec board apologises for exam mistakes THE Matsec board yesterday offered an apology for a reported mistake in the Intermediate Mathematics exam, but insisted that the Physics A-Level paper had not included any mistakes and that all the topics had been covered in the school syllabus. The examination board published a statement following pressure from the Nationalist party to investigate claims made by students and their parents that some questions did not form part of the syllabus. The complaints were raised over mathematics intermediate level and physics A-level. The Nationalist party said it had verified the complaints with teach- ers who also confirmed that there were questions which were not in- cluded in the syllabus. The PN said it expected the authorities and the board to investigate what happened and provide the necessary remedies so that "justice" would be done with the students, who were "victims of someone else's mistakes". In its statement, the MATSEC board said that the process of cre- ating the exam papers involved a panel which is elected expressly to plan the papers. "The panel is made up of at least two members, with one of them having the role of reviewer," the statement said. MATSEC explained that the pan- els for the Mathematics Intermedi- ate exam and Physics A-level have extensive experience of what lev- els are expected of students. "The reviewer's job is that of checking that the paper is of the required level, verifying that all questions fall within the syllabus, and that it can be worked out by candidates during the allocated time slots." The statement however explained that despite the best intentions, the last question of the Maths Interme- diate exam, which carried six marks, was not in the syllabus. "The Matsec Board is very sorry for the inconvenience and it will be taking the necessary steps to ensure that candidates are not placed at a disadvantage," it said. Discussing the Physics A-Level, MATSEC added that all the ques- tions in the paper had in fact been covered in the school syllabus. Singing doctor Gianluca - 'Abortion will always remain morally incorrect'