Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/933296
19 maltatoday SUNDAY 28 JANUARY 2018 Opinion S ailors in the Imperial British fleet returning home from the war, coined the phrase, 'I'm alright, f**k you jack'. They did so because they realised, albeit too late, that their sacrifices went unnoticed. With our bond to the British navy, these were words I would hear from a very early age. I kind of enjoy the way some people break their Maltese storyline and suddenly make reference to 'f**k you jack' to point how someone couldn't give a hoot about the implications of his actions. Most readers may recall the term 'amoral familism', a term advanced (but not coined) by Jeremy Boissevain, who died two and half years ago and who loved Malta. It describes the typical, self-interested, family-centric society where the State – or even the community's better interest – is sacrificed on the altar of one's own personal benefit. It is the gateway for nepotism; and in a liberal democracy dominated by two parties, patronage is what feeds Malta's dependence on the political class. Now this may not be a very opportune moment to complain that we are a society of self-centred individuals with people who do not care if the building construction is ugly or unsuitable for this country, or whether it blocks the natural light for the neighbours, or even if it has changed the lives of those in the community. They do not give a damn if they have left the neighbours dealing with fine dust for weeks on end or if there is more traffic and pollution, more noise and more digging into the blessed Maltese franka and more grey and white concrete pillars reaching up to the sky. And that is only the tip of the iceberg of our ego- centrism. I am referring to the ego-centrism that is a human factor and not a Maltese trait. All this talk of Malta of being an abnormal country is far-fetched. What we do as journalists is no different from what other journalists investigate or probe. Nonetheless this is a small country and never before have we been faced with two political parties who could stand for the same thing if it were not for their leaders. The style is similar and so are their aspirations. But let us focus on the real issues. And I am really sorry to bother you for the umpteenth time about the way this country is being pillaged and transformed. But we really need to do something. What we need to do is to turn around this amoral familism and use it to argue that our families, our progeny have the right to pristine surroundings and a room with a view. To argue that what we are doing is for future generations. We really need to get cracking with this idea and make it part of the #saveourcountryside campaign. We also know that the building construction industry is the prime donor of both the PN and PL. They pay for the wages of the staff and the top men and women who campaign as if it were a question of life or death. In MaltaToday you can read a news story written by Yannick Pace who revisits an article he wrote almost a year ago and points out the fact that the commercial companies of the two main political parties are in complete breach of the law for having failed to file their audited accounts. In the case of Media.link, the last annual return was handed in 12 years ago and in the case of One productions, five years ago. The PL's research and consultancy company filed its accounts 15 years ago and the PN's travel arm seven years ago. Not to mention the fact that the two parties pay their bills, loans and what not whenever they like, as is the case with their national insurance contributions and VAT. Just imagine for a minute if YOU did not pay your bills or filled up your tax returns correctly and on time! Both political sides talk of ethical and moral standards, and of political differences but they do not give a damn when it comes to their own interests. Both serve similar business interest groups and both suck up to power. Let me give an example; the IIP citizenship scheme is undoubtedly an initiative that has added gold to the country's coffers, but it is a ignoble project. It derides the notion of nationhood and moreover it attracts millionaires who have only one interest – tax avoidance. That interest in not an honourable one. But once again, it is just incredible to see that those who are offering a service for this 'disreputable' money- making initiative are former Nationalist ministers and prominent Nationalist parliamentarians, not only Labourite newbies, with a drive to make a quick killing. Interestingly a request by this newspaper's editor to Identity Malta for more data on who exactly has registered foreigners as Maltese citizens has been refused. As a nation we deserve a stronger and more credible opposition to offer some checks and balances, but the more I see and hear Adrian Delia, the more I see the confused mind and stratagems of Pierre Portelli. It does not stop here. Many of these new citizens have convenient addresses that are offered by the providers to facilitate their citizenship. And no, Dr Joseph Muscat, it is not an honourable money-making venture. The same applies to so many other initiatives which are promulgated by only one criterion, that is how much money is left in our coffers. Is this the only reason we create these models? And is there no end to this kind of reasoning? We are infected by this obsession to make a quick buck at all costs. The news that Mercury House permit was acceded to by the Planning Authority with the blessing of both the PN and PL representatives who happen to be Ryan Callus and Clayton Bartolo, was no surprise. Yet what surprised me is that the only contribution by the developer was €60,000 to the Arts Council. A request to donate €250,000 to the local community was shot down. Mercury House will have at least 275 apartments and a hotel with 48 rooms. If one takes the apartments to sell for an average of €1.6million each the return for the developers is €440 million apart from all the other trimmings. So what is the friggin' problem of giving 0.05 percent of all earnings to the community or the country? Qualcosa che non va… So instead of convincing our very successful entrepreneurs to come to terms with the community spirit, we devise other methods to make money: a financial hub for high tax rebates for foreign companies and a magnet for colourful figures from the East who want to become Maltese citizens for tax avoidance purposes. This is a great country and I want to continue living here. I ain't leaving and I want to die here. I am not going to run away, so I want my children to want to live here and not run away. Most of my friends all have their children living in other countries; the UK, Spain, Australia, Italy and France. Lovely countries, but this is my country. I feel at home here. Once again Joseph Muscat will address party supporters this morning in Mosta and talk about the next generation. I will ask him to raise the question of values for the next generation; not the values that Eddie Fenech Adami talked about, but rather the values that are not only measured by wealth, but by cultural standing and education. By the quality of life beyond the concrete jungle devised by horridness of modernity and guided by the greed for more and more money. I ask you to support me in the #saveourcountryside campaign. Lend your voice to a cause that has only one dividend – a better country. @saviourbalzan Saviour Balzan is Managing Editor of the Mediatoday Group Saviour Balzan I'm alright, f**k you jack Name & Surname .................................................................. Telephone: ........................................ Address ...................................................................................... E-mail: ........................................ YOU CAN RECEIVE THE MALTATODAY ON SUNDAY OR MALTATODAY MIDWEEK, FOR A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR. NEWSPAPER BY POST Send a cheque payable to MediaToday to: Subscriptions, MediaToday, Vjal il-Rihan, San Gwann, SGN 9016 NEWSPAPER BY POST TIA RELJIC THE Ministry of Education failed to publicly announce the findings of a national report on literacy rates published this week, which revealed that Mal- tese students fared significantly worse in 2016 when compared to 2011. The report placed Malta in 40th place out of 50 participating countries, as the very worst per- forming among European coun- tries. The Progress in International Reading Study (PIRLS) 2016 re- port showed that the reading score of students in the Maltese language – 452 – was lower than 2011's score of 457. In 2011, the test was adminis- tered to 10-year-olds in Maltese as a benchmark exercise but the main test was administered in English reading, resulting in a score of 477. In 2016, the main test was administered in Maltese only. Malta remained under the in- ternational average score of 500. The reading attainment of Mal- tese students was comparable to students from United Arab Emirates but was higher than only nine countries: Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Oman, Kuwait, Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa. The PIRLS report is a com- parative study of the reading attainment of ten-year-olds, conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). When asked why the findings were not publicly announced, the ministry failed to respond. But asked to comment about the findings themselves, a spokesper- son for minister Evarist Bartolo explained that the study does not take bilingualism into consid- eration, and does not account for the fact that small countries have relatively smaller num- bers. Maltese pupils slip further down in global reading study Newspaper post PAGE 2 have relatively PGS 4-5 Education ministry does not announce PIRLS report highlighting regression in literacy among children THIS IS NO C.S.I Criminologist Saviour Formosa €1.75 YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT maltatoday today today SUNDAY • 10 DECEMBER 2017 • ISSUE 944 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Phone data on Msida car bomb could hold link to suspects MATTHEW VELLA POLICE investigators buoyed by the arrests of a criminal gang sus- pected of having carried out the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, are working on new linkages to previously unsolved car bomb executions. The extraction of some eight mo- bile phones – all of them 2G phones in a bid to evade data triangulation – from the seabed in the Grand Harbour close to the criminal den in Marsa where the arrests were carried out, could well hold the clue to who commissioned the heinous murder. Suspects George Degiorgio 'ic- Ciniz', his brother Alfred Degiorgio 'il-Fulu', and Vincent Muscat 'il- Kohhu' were arrested on Monday but have refused to utter a single world during questioning, and con- tacted no lawyer to assist them in court during their arraignment – a sign that the hardened criminals are clearly well briefed on their legal situation as things stand. MaltaToday is informed that po- lice believe the accused did not even create the bomb itself, but were re- sponsible for procuring and carry- ing out the execution. Additionally, the evidence at hand is suggesting a strong link to previ- ous bomb attempts, namely with the car bomb that permanently maimed Romeo Bone in Msida, back on 17 February. The attack, carried out in broad daylight on the busy Msida thoroughfare, left the Floriana man severely injured, having lost both legs in the attack. SUSPECT'S STINGRAY Corvette snapped inside criminal den The familiar rusty gates of the Marsa sheds where the Degiorgio brothers were arrested last week serve as a background to this Corvette Stingray, which eyewitnesses working in the port area said they had already seen "To picture Malta as a crime haven, when it is one of the safest countries in the EU... to me, that's inexcusable" 14 15 YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT maltatoday Which toys will fly off the shelf this Christmas? 6 Death of a Soho gangster Behind the legend of 'Big Frank' Mifsud, the story of a vice-lord who ran the Soho skin trade 10 11 I would like to receive the newspaper for a period of one year. MaltaToday on Sunday - €94.59 MaltaToday Midweek - €59 The newspapers are delivered by post and therefore subject to the usual postal timings. Normally, MaltaToday on Sunday should arrive on Monday and the MaltaToday Midweek should arrive on the same day (Wednesday).