Ministers, please pull up your socks
From a female reader of this blog.
It is time our politicians, especially our Ministers, including our Prime Minister, to pull up their socks and show professionalism instead of giving cheap speeches or interviews to show off just how woke they are and to remind us just how important they are.
Reported in Malta Today on 5th July 2023, Marianna Camilleri writes that [Minister] Owen Bonnici condemns the River of Love pastor’s abuse of criminal law to stifle artists. What gives Owen Bonnici the right to come out with such a declaration? Has power gone to his head?
Such declarations are dangerous, however nonsensical they may be. In reality, such broad statements beggar belief. Does he believe he is blessed with the priestly wisdom of the oracles that existed in Malta during our Megalithic Temple Period? This primordial behaviour of imparting a lesson on which law should apply or not is totally out of order. That, dear Minister Bonnici, is the job of a legal team to decide and not of you.
True, you were once Minister for Justice, but even were you still Justice Minister, you would be overstepping your remit. Being Minister for National Heritage, the Arts, and Local Government does not entitle you to turn nasty and foment animosity of any kind. Whether it is against a pastor, a cobbler, an ordinary citizen, or even actors. No man in power should show himself to be protecting and favouring one against another.
Actors or artists are made or destroyed by the public-paying audience, which is far more enlightened than our current politicians. Allowing for vanity weaknesses, both actors and artists know their shortcomings and their strong points and certainly can stand on their own two feet. They and/or the three artists in question do not need to be turned into a protected species by our Minister. It would be far better for his ministry to concentrate on improving the quality of performing artists to ensure that those who genuinely love the arts are willing to buy tickets to attend events. This would stop the ongoing tradition of filling seats by distributing complimentary tickets.
In Parliament, during the second reading of the legal amendment, Bonnici stated: “If the person who felt wronged had opted for a civil remedy, even if I personally still would have disagreed with them, I would have accepted it all as a matter of civil nature,” What nonsense.
Minister Bonnici, you must remember that every citizen has a right to freedom of speech and action and a God-given right to defend himself or herself as deemed fit. You have no say in the matter unless you are joining the upcoming groups that feign to be tolerant and democratic but, in reality, are the budding petty dictators of tomorrow.
The European Commission – on Wednesday, 5th July 2023 -published its Fourth Rule of Law Report looking at the state of the Rule of Law across all EU member states and once again flagged the excessive political and state pressure on the Maltese media! (vide Newsbook as reported by Miguel Azzopardi). Curiously, the other media houses have yet to mention this point. Does anybody know the answer? I do.
