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Energy minister’s wife given post as Malta Enterprise envoy
Sai Mizzi Liang appointed Malta Enterprise investment promotion envoy for Asia.
17 September 2013, 12:00am
Miriam Dalli
Miriam Dalli
2 min read
Konrad Mizzi and his wife Sai Liang
Malta Enterprise has recruited Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi's wife, Sai Mizzi Liang, as its investment promotion envoy for Asia, The Times of Malta reported today.
The Office of the Prime Minister told the newspaper that Mizzi Liang's responsibility "is to promote Asian investment in Malta and Maltese exports" to Asia, targeting China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.
Mizzi Liang, described as "excellently qualified for her mission", has Maltese citizenship but is originally a Chinese national, from Lianning.
According to The Times, Mizzi Liang's work with Malta Enterprise, the government's investment arm, started in recent weeks and was already active on its behalf in China.
Last week, the Energy Minister, on behalf of the Maltese government, signed a memorandum of understanding with China Power Investments which included a multimillion cash injection to Enemalta.
The signing came after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat held meetings with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Among others, the Maltese delegation to China included Malta Enterprise chairman Mario Vella.
In his interview with MaltaToday on Sunday, Konrad Mizzi had denied any family connections being involved in the deal secured by Malta in China, with a state-government corporation that will buy a reported 35% stake in Enemalta.
MaltaToday had asked whether the influence of his wife's Chinese family had played any part in securing close relations with China. "My family connections had nothing to do with this," Mizzi insisted. He also noted that while his wife was willing to help government, she had expressed the wish not to be involved in any of the energy ministry's activities.
In a tweet, Nationalist deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Mario de Marco said "meritocracy" had lost all significance under the Labour government.
Il-kelma meritokrazija tilfet kull sinifikat taħt Gvern Laburista. http://t.co/sMePk7PDz3 — Mario de Marco (@TeamMDM) September 17, 2013
Miriam Dalli joined MaltaToday.com.mt in 2010 becoming assistant editor f...
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@quixotic. Mhux talli ma qrajtux 'Animal Farm' imma ghextu ghal 25 sena taht il-PN. Shabi l-Ghawdxin kienu jghidu li jekk trid xi haga Ghawdex trid tkellem lil Toni ta' Giovanna. Dan Toni huwa r-ragel tal-ex Ministru Giovanna Debono u kien il-percimes fil-Ministeru taghha stess. Dik hija l-mertitokrazija xbin. Imma inti dak inhar ma kellikx dizzjunarju nahseb.
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Ara min qed jitkellem fuq meritokrazija. Kieku ma kellux il-kunjom ta' de Marco min jaf jekk kienx jispicca AVUKAT jew DEPUTY tal-PN. Hallina Mario!
Rita Pizzuto •
Mela veru Demarco ma jafx xi tfisser meritokrazija la ma gharaf ex fi zmien il-25 Sena tal-gvern tieghu.
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I do not agree with the emphasis on the personal family component of this story, let alone the nationality origin of the targeted person.
There is no doubt that there are native Maltese citizens who may be amply qualified to serve in this or other posts. But until now, there is certainly a pool of human resources that may have been marginalised, overlooked or underutilised which can be used in Malta national interest.
Rather than give in to the temptation of short-sighted narrow nationalism, the country leadership (all the parties included) ought to look into the best ways of tapping into the assets of talented, qualified, competent, faithful and loyal Maltese citizens of foreign extraction who can serve as better interfaces and bridges of mutually beneficial cooperation with their countries of origins.
APOLOGIES: COMMENT WAS MISTAKENLY POSTED ON A DIFFERNENT ARTICLE
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@quixotic. You see you have no answer for my questions. There are no details of the job description in this article. I repeat, if it is a consultancy job then the criteria of selection are different.
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@fufa - What you are describing is cronyism not meritocracy. Pick up a dictionary. I also suggest you read Animal Farm by George Orwell.
@Sagitarius - Details of the job are in the article above and in the OPM statement on the job description. Either the job was created for her or it was given to her without assessing other candidates - this is equally wrong.
@FXT - If one keeps justifying the many slip-ups of this government on the basis that the previous had some too the country will go backwards not forwards. People voted for change, accountability, transparency and meritocracy. If all the people wanted was change il-Partit tal-Ajkla could have provided that (and some humour too).
@Anyone else - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld0hUaZZ9ko
Luke Camilleri •
The PN in Opposition have truly become "Colourful ~ feeling BLUE , RED with anger, GREEN with envy ,and now feeling YELLOW, and making us feel yellow feeling sick ,not liking Chinese at all !
They'll be brown next at this rate . . . . . SHITTING IN THEIR PANTS ! ;)
Why do they always stoop so low as to attack the messenger and not the message?
Carry on Dr. Konrad, doing it with grace AND DELIVERING!
As for DemaRCO and his tweets, he should have tweeted ON OLIGARCHY and not only on meritocracy.... he is a bit late in the day now !
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@quixotic. Il-meritokrazija tfisser ukoll 'tafda' fil-persuna. Din il-persuna irid ikollha l-fiducja assolouta tal-gvern tal-gurnata. Apparti l-kapacita taghha, forsi intghazlet ukoll ghal-fiducja. Issa inti tahseb li shabek tal-PN ma ghazlux is-CEO's tal-Enemalta fuq il-meritokrazija? U xi froga ta 800 miljun dejn ghamlu.
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So not its also Konrad Mizzis wife!!! It appears that Michelle Muscat also got herself a job at Castille complete with chauffeur driven car.
How sublime. How transparent. How meritocratic!!! My foot!!!
joseph mercieca •
Dr.Mario Demarco twitter message is ludicrous and puerile. He and his party have no moral legitimacy to berate the Labour Party on meritocracy. It is an empirical fact that during the PN’s 25 year incumbency the main qualification or merit that one required to sit on a board, committee, be chosen as consultant, win a contract or in any way participate in government was to be a Nationalist. Being a Labourite automatically disqualified you.
What was the result of the meritocracy of the PN? The new government has been lumped with a number of catastrophes that is costing the country millions. Thanks to the meritocracy as practiced by the PN Malta has inherited an energy sector that was precipitating towards bankruptcy, the oil procurement scandal, the Arriva tragicomedy, the Fairmount caper, the loss of 67 million Euros by Freeport through reckless investment, a health sector on the brink of collapse with a shortfall of around 70 million Euros not to forget the Cottonera project. One might also mention the various pies in the sky like the White Rock project and last but not least Smart City. This is what the Labour government has inherited from the experts selected by the PN.
Now Joseph Muscat said that he would adhere to meritocracy in the selection of personnel. Is he doing it 100%? I would be a fool to concur with such a statement. I believe in fact that some of his appointments were not up to par and others left much to be desired. None the less one has to admit that he did not execute any pogroms so much so many Nationalists are still at their posts. Others were offered positions, some accepted whilst others declined as it was in their rights. There is no need to mention names as many know to whom I am referring. I have no intention of defending Mr.Mizzi’s appointment. Still I felt the need to write just to remind people of what we left behind and I just cannot stand gratuitous prevarication.
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@quixotic. Do you have details of the job? Perhaps you could enlighten us on the type of contract Ms. Mizzi has since you mention meritocracy, applicants etc,. What if she was engaged on a consultancy basis, in which case there are usually no applicants? So many consultants were engaged by successive Nationalist administrations. Did any applicants apply or were they (the consultants) directly appointed? You are envious bitter people and that is your great problem!!!
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@fufa - "Il-meritokrazija tfisser x'hinu r-rizultat miksub fil-kapacita tal-persuna involuta." No. Meritocracy means people are appointed to their qualifications, experience and other merit not on the basis of who they know (or are married to). Pick up a dictionary.
@MaltaToday - The pertinent question here is whether or not she is qualified for the job and how many applicants were interviewed. Being chinese does not mean she is best qualified since there are over 3 billion asians out there. Similarly there are many asians living in Malta and quite a few are now Maltese citizens. If she has any other qualifications what are these and how are they relevant. From the internet it appears that she was working or wanted to work in child care (http://whois.domaintools.com/careforchildrenmalta.org) can we have some proper journalism and establish her qualifications and whether these reflect the post?
Paul Pandolfino •
Meritocracy at its best. Nothing new now got used to this kind of cronyism, nepotism, and friends of friends appointments. In somma as Joseph promised before the election Malta Taghn Biss.
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U INT QIEGHED HEMM, MHUX BIL KUNJOM, MHUX BL ANARKIJA. MELA INT TAF TIMXI de marco
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Tal-misthija li din il-mara m'ghadnix isem; m'hix persuna; m'ghadniex kwalifikazzjoni: hi biss a 'miniter's wife'! Mhux se inhallata ma Alan Camilleri ta EX Malta Enterprise tghid?
Mhux ta b'xejn li l-mara hi lura f'kull qasam tl-hajja! Hu inkredibli li l--bicca l-kbira ta l-irgiel anke dawk li jghidu li huma 'liberali' jobghodu lin-nisa, u ihobbu izzomhom biss bhal pupi!
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I'm certain that deMarco can just whip up a few dozen Maltese citizens who are fluent in the Chinese languages. If being fluent in the local business language of the country you wish to do trade with is not a huge "Merit" that what is? Sorry deMarco, after the mountain of abuse in appointments that your government practiced during its time I would tread softly on the issue of meritocracy. Our collective memories are not as short as you might wish them to be.
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looks very very good for China. Mizzi's Chinese wife, Ms Sai Mizzi Liang to promote investment for Malta in China for Malta Enterprise and Mr Shiv Nair, dubbed as 'China's secret weapon' also employed with Malta enterprise!! - Are we perhaps a little naive??
(http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/businessdetails/business/businessnews/Energy-guru-on-Malta-Enterprise-s-payroll-to-promote-investment-20130821)
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Il-meritokrazija tfisser x'hinu r-rizultat miksub fil-kapacita tal-persuna involuta. Jekk is-sinjura Mizzi Liang kapaci iggib investiment lejn pajjizina mit-tigri asjatici, x'fija hazin jekk hija tigi l-mara tal-Ministru Konrad Mizzi?
Il-Prim Muscat sewwa jaghmel li jaghzel l-ahjar nies huma min huma. Ir-rizultat ahhari jghodd.
Sur de Marco mhux ahjar taghzel xi hadd li tafu u johorgok ta nies milli taghzel lil xi hadd kapacissimu??? u li mhux xi qarib, imbaghad jaghmillek dejn ta 800 miljun fl-Enemalta? X'taghzel kieku inti?
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sparku this party in authority make me sick but heaven forbid if we have the Nationalist take over. I feel at this time the Nationalist do not exist other having a couple that think they own the party because of their pedigree.
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@sparku. Rest assured that the electorate doesn't want back dead wood. PN has done worse things and the only thing they now bemoan is power, or rather as we say in Maltese 'iz-zejza li tilfu'. We judge governments by competence and this government is surely far too competent than the junky government we had before.
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People voted for meritocracy amongst other things not this. ... and De Marco can't talk either!! This is Malta Im afraid!
David Bongailas •
A highly disappointing appointment that smells of usual nepotism but seriously Dr.DeMarco talk is cheap....taht gvern laburista il-kelma meritokrazija tilfet kull sinifikat......ghaliex qabel Marzu kellha xi sinifikat partikolari ? Anyway message to the PM......do ot go down this dangerous road.....the country simply can't afford to have he Nationalist Party back in government any time soon.
