Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/580873
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2015 26 Letters Editorial • 02 October 2005 The price of flying to Malta Our tourism industry suffers from one major drawback: the high cost to travel to Malta. This is the prime cause of the decline in tourism. While low cost air- lines are increasingly welcomed in almost all holiday resorts, agreement between Ryanair or any other cheap airline and gov- ernment appears unreachable. There are valid arguments on both sides. The final decision should be taken in the long-term national interest and not in the short- term interest of our national airline. It appears inevitable that the arrival of Ryanair will put strains on Air Malta. This will result in job losses. Government is right to be con- cerned about this but wrong not to have recognised earlier that membership of the European Union would inevitably lead to increased competition and a strain on jobs. In all fairness, there will be equal pressure on all the other scheduled airlines operating to and from Malta. On a positive note however, the arrival of low cost travel to Malta will inevi- tably bring more tourists to our shores, not necessarily from the bottom end of the market since Ryanair has also become the favourite airline of persons from all social backgrounds. Reduced costs to fly to Malta could open up a new weekend traveller to Malta. Lower pricing could also lead to persons acquiring a sec- ond home or a retirement home in Malta with all the benefits that foreign residences brings to our economy. The problem, it would appear, in the eyes of the government is the survival of Air Malta and the long-term interests of MIA – Malta International Airport, where government has a minor- ity stake and is divesting its interests. This contrasts greatly with government's all too easy readiness to dispose of countless other government companies and interests. While appreciat- ing government's concern, we would suggest that government sees the bigger picture and takes a deeper look at the long-term survival prospects of our tour- ism industry. Its over-protection of the national airline betrays a Min- toffian mindset and warped nationalism in an ever-growing, globalised world. In a choice between the sur- vival of our airline and our tour- ism industry there is little doubt where government's preference should lie. It bears mention- ing that we do not believe that attention to the national airline and opening up to low cost airlines are necessarily conflict- ing. Indeed lateral thinking could suggest the advantages of Air Malta looking at Ryan air as a strategic partner. After all, the placing of six aircraft in Malta and feeding services to as many as twenty destinations, ushers in the hub concept which was the dream of previous Air Malta policy makers. So why the antago- nism and the delay in deciding? Needless to say, the reality of one local airport does complicate matters since land- ing charges granted to a low cost airline can in no way be lower than those charged to sched- ule airlines operating from the same airport. Surely this difficulty can be overcome in keeping with the commitment being given by Ryanair to bring over a determined number of travellers and to be penalised if set targets are not met. We would urge both parties to reach agreement and fast since our tourism industry is in dire need of a shot in the arm. We would however be naïve to feel that the prospects of our tourism depend exclusively on the arrival of low cost airlines. This would be a very positive development but on its own will not be enough. The way forward together with low cost travel to Malta is for all the stake holders to go back to basics. The industry requires good housekeeping, excellent service and value for money. We have to be committed to the details and most especially to selling a Maltese product. It is the traditional Maltese smile, Maltese food, Maltese folk- lore that could be our unique selling point. Our traditional hospitality and smile seem to have vanished. Ironically, this all happened as the numbers of tourists visiting us increased. Draconian measures also need to be introduced to curb the excesses of the construction industry which is a direct treat to the future development of tourism in Malta. If re-brand- ing is to have a meaning it must be associated and move hand in hand with an improvement in the tourist product. This essentially means going back to basics – cleaning up the coun- try offering value for money and most of all being customer focused. We also have some doubts on the price of the creation of further golf courses will create. Will the alleged, to date un- quantifiable, economic benefit arising from the increase in tourism golfers be worth the environmental price paid? We have our doubts and are yet to be convinced. Government is best advised to go back to basics rather than to embark on yet another grandi- ose project whose sustainability in the absence of adjoining real estate development is suspect. A critique of religion Local newspapers have pub- lished many write-ups and letters – some of them verging on panic and hysteria – on the need to "protect" the Catholic religion. Let's examine some religious beliefs, based on "the Word of God", and see whether they are worthy of belief or "protection". "Consider first God's moral character as revealed in the Bible," wrote Elizabeth Ander- son in an essay entitled "If God is dead, is everything permit- ted?" "He punished all mothers by condemning them to painful childbirth, for Eve's sin. He punished all human beings by condemning them to labour, for Adam's sin. He regretted His creation and, in a fit of pique, committed genocide and ecocide by f looding the earth. "Look at what God commands humans to do. He commands us to put to death adulterers, homo- sexuals, and people who work on the Sabbath. He commands us to cast into exile people who have skin diseases and who have sex with their wives while they are menstruating. "Blasphemers must be stoned, and prostitutes whose fathers are priests must be burned to death. That's just the tip of the iceberg. God repeatedly directs the Israelites to commit ethnic cleansing and genocide against numerous cities and tribes. He commands them to show their victims 'no mercy', to 'not leave anything alive that breathes'. These genocides are, of course, instrumental to the wholesale theft of their land and the rest of their property. "Consider also what the Bible permits. Slavery is allowed. Fathers may sell their daughters into slavery. Female captives from a foreign war may be raped or seized as wives. Prisoners of war may be tossed off a cliff. Children may be sacrificed to God in return for His aid in bat- tle or to persuade Him to end a famine." Christian apologists would observe that most of these transgressions occur in the Old Testament. Isn't the Old Testa- ment God a stern and angry God, while Jesus of the New Tes- tament is all-loving? We should examine, then, the quality of the love that Jesus promises to his followers. It is not only Jehovah who is jealous. "Jesus tells us his mission is to make family members hate one another, so that they shall love him more than their kin (Matt. 10:35-37). He promises salvation to those who abandon their wives and children for him (Matt. 19:29, Mark 10:29-30, Luke 18:29-30). Disciples must hate their parents, siblings, wives, and children (Luke 14:26). The rod is not enough for chil- dren who curse their parents; they must be killed (Matt. 15:4-7, Mark 7:9-10). These are Jesus's family values. "Peter and Paul add to these family values the despotic rule of husbands over their silenced wives, who must obey their husbands as gods (1 Cor. 11:3, 14:34-5; Eph. 5:22-24; Col. 3:18; 1 Tim, 2:11-12; 1 Pet. 3:1). "At the Second Coming, any city that does not accept Jesus will be destroyed. God will f lood the Earth as in Noah's time (Matt. 24:37). Or perhaps He will set the Earth on fire instead, to destroy the unbelievers (2 Pet. 3:7, 10). But not before God sends Death and Hell to kill one quarter of the Earth 'by sword, famine and plague and by the wild beasts' (Rev. 6:8)." Robert G. Ingersoll, an Ameri- can lawyer and orator, summed up the teachings of the Bible as follows: "If a man would fol- low, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would strictly fol- low the teachings of the New, he would be insane." John Guillaumier St Julian's Mater Dei standards serve public well At the beginning of September 2015 I was admit ted to Surgi- ca l Ward 3, where I remained for nearly three weeks. Hav ing ample time to see f irst-hand the day-to-day running of the ward, I was impressed with what goes on. Ever y morning the profes- sor in charge – Prof. Cas- sar – wou ld do a ward round and examine ever y patient. Being luck y enough to have a consu ltant v isiting you ever y day is a lu xur y few can boast of. In the same categor y I must a lso mention Prof. Emanuel Farrugia. Gera ldine, the nursing of f icer in charge, administers the ward in an exemplar y way. Of the same ca libre was nursing of f icer Pau l Ca lleja. If a ll the heads of section execute their dut y in the same way as these four employees, a stay at Mater Dei Hospita l shou ld prove to be a pleasant one. Lino Callus Hal Balzan