The fridge-magnet mentality

So the wiring on the facade of the Auberge de Castille has been camouflaged with a swipe of a paintbrush. The wiring is now the same colour – or almost – of the building.

All this is in vain, of course. The blind supporters of Joseph Muscat never saw the wiring at all, while the finicky Nationalists will keep on seeing it, whatever its colour!

The way the Castille lighting was installed is not just another problem: it is a symptom of a malaise that has overtaken the decision making process within the government – too much improvisation and no clearly thought out plans beforehand. A friend of mine remarked that the way some decisions on monuments and embellishments in Valletta are being taken is like the way people buy fridge-magnets and then stick them onto the fridge door, not thinking about the overall result but simply reacting positively to something that looks ‘nice’ at first glance.

Many fridge-magnet enthusiasts decide to buy one just on the spur of the moment without giving it any more thought, only to end up with a fridge door full of a cluttered cacophony of magnets that look a clumsy collection, at the very least. 

This malaise is so evident that even the editorial of the Labour Party’s own newspaper, ‘Kullhadd’ recently passed a negative comment about the siting of the new Migration Summit monument in Castille. The monument replaced the Manwel Dimech memorial that was pushed to the side. By the way, imagine what Labour would have said if some Nationalist adminsitration dared do that sort of thing.

According to the ‘Kullhadd’ editorial (November 15), this Migration Summit thing is ‘a beautiful monument from the artistic point of view but, perhaps, its place should not have been in the square’. But bang in the middle of an otherwise beautifully redone Castille Place must have been seen – at least momentarily – a brilliant place for it! 

By whom? That is the 60 million dollar question. I am sure that Joseph Muscat has no time to waste taking these decisions or, for that matter, the decision to design and order the incredibly kitschy CHOGM 2015 crystal-encrusted clutch bags. 

The other day somebody dreamt of installing circular brass discs embossed with the ensign of the Queen of the UK and Head of the Commonwealth and with the words ‘Commonwealth walkway’ in the paving along Republic Street. The discs are not all facing the same direction, indicating a rather confused dream. Anyway who would have thought that after the Mintoff regime – in keeping with the times – changed the name of the main street in Valletta from ‘Kingsway’ to ‘Republic Street’, a Labour government would go back to the colonial habit of revering British Royalty!  Perhaps it was more of a nightmare than a dream. Whose dream?

I still don’t think it is Joseph Muscat himself, but one of his cronies who has been given a free hand to do as he pleases. Not that this exempts Muscat from the reponsibility.

I say this because the myth of a Labour government being driven solo by the man at the top has lived on as a Mintoffian relic. Back then, at least, there was no doubt as to who was the originator of silly ideas!

I still remember that some time after I was entrusted with the ministry responsible for the development of the infrastructure in 1987, a relative of former Labour Prime Minister Paul Boffa paid me a visit to request my go-ahead for the Boffa statue to be raised on a higher pedestal in proportion to the statue itself. I was told that this was how it was originally designed but Dom Mintoff did not want the Boffa statue on a high pedestal and insisted that it had to be lowered! Eventually I gave the go-ahead, the works went ahead and the proportions are now correct.

Compare Boffa’s monument to the more recent one of Grandmaster La Vallette erected under the Gonzi administration just a stone’s throw away. The La Vallette monument is perceived as being awkwardly puny – it seems to be just a street furniture statue showing a 10-year-old in a carnival costume! That’s a rare boob on this front, as far as the Gonzi administration is concerned.

This is the sort of thing that happens when politicians – or their cronies – start looking at monuments and memorials with a poltical stance at the expense of artistic taste. 

Malta – and especially Valletta in 2018 – deserve to be treated with respect and not with the gloating of some political crony who apparently cannot realise how short-lived temporal glory can be.

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Schengen revisited

Simon Busuttil’s statements about Syrians attempting to come to Malta with false passports and the temporary suspension of the Schengen treaty belie a serious case of ‘knee-jerk-reaction-itis’.

First he twittered that he doesn’t buy the idea that Syrians come to Malta to look for work. He must have never visited a building site in Malta. The Syrians in Malta are practically engaged in all building sites: plastering and tiling is their forte. This has been going on for quite some time, even under the previous administration. 

Syrians in Europe learn that there is a demand for this work in Malta and – hey presto – they rush to come over here. Although I cannot exclude the possibility of some bad apple coming to Malta with ulterior motives, I am sure this is the case with the very big majority. 

It is a fact that these people with false passports were caught in Italy because Malta had temporarily lifted Schengen arrangements under which people coming from Italy would not need any visas or even passports – genuine or false – to enter Malta. The reports of these false passport holders made alarmist news, especially in the PN media.

Yet Simon Busuttil raised a hullabaloo when the government decided to extend the suspension of the Schengen arrangements for a month after CHOGM. Technically this meant he is all for people with false passports not to be caught out just before boarding a plane to Malta from most EU member states.

Realising that he had contradicted himself, Simon Busuttil later said that he would agree with the extension of the Schengen suspension if he was shown that Malta’s security is really threatened. 

Many read this way of behaving as that of someone with a confused mind. I see it as someone who blabbers an unnecessary knee jerk reaction every time he hears of any government statement.