A tale of two plots – Rachel Borg
As the heat continues to grip our island, there are two distinct plots that are unfolding around us.
One is the courtroom dramas that have released a paintball game with one witness after another launching shots, which normally would be expected to have serious consequences but which instead appear to the Police to be splashes of paint.
The other is the supply of refunds and vouchers and a bunch of silly stories meant to distract, that keep the population from looking and seeing and feeling revolted by what they are hearing.
Before these refund schemes and letter-box money are created and posted, the job of cleaning up the corruption and cancelling the shifty contracts should be the first order. Money that has been stolen from the country and its people should first of all be sequestered from those responsible, blocks put on those accounts that come from suspicious and criminal sources and the police investigate each and every case of money-laundering and bribery and mis-use of public funds.
Then, that money can be utilized towards the funds needed to be of help and to sustain the country through a difficult period, with the people at the centre of the assistance, without discriminating one industry from another.
That is what the real refund should consist of. A refund of the pillaging and the contracts dished out to clients in direct orders and for personal expenses that should never have been paid by the state.
In a well-planned method, though, the masses are taught to follow their creative instinct. It is never a wrong for them because it is relative only to them, providing a cover and affording behaviour which normally would be tempered by responsibility, consequences or collective needs but which here answers only to itself.
This method is replicated over and over again by a greedy government that is capable of protecting Ministers who are just a shop-front, whilst the back-room deals and forgeries are rubberstamped.
Alongside this charade, painful and shocking evidence is being heard in court that clearly implicates known persons in the most serious crimes and in a dereliction of duty by others which is simply astonishing.
The police, then, are like a river running through two banks. On one side is justice. On the other is creativity. Whenever was a police force meant to flow and carry all the mud into the sea?
The real purpose of a police force is to capture the culprits and dredge the river.
But, the plot is twisted and the distribution of refunds and cheques from our taxes, is received as a sensible and caring governance for which we are grateful. We might as well post a letter to ourselves, no stamp required, and jump happily when we receive it.
The compensation is needed to foster the country through this difficult period. Yet, again, how much of the negative situation we are facing could have been avoided if only the responsible had taken precedence over the creative impulses and tantrums?
How much better equipped, financially could we be if we had proper economic management and accountability? Had that creativity been used towards developing a more sustainable economy and service rather than solely for political advantage we could be in an envied position, where the government would be fairly deserving of its majority and respect for rule of law.
There was no one there to regulate the bingeing. The finances were raided and some banks bent over backwards to accommodate the demands of the tycoons. Today we know that our country came close to bankruptcy due to the Electrogas guarantee that was provided and that a journalist was assassinated whilst working on leaks of this information.
So, the two plots run concurrently. One is there to gain political advantage. The other is there to get to the truth about murderous plots, unlawful contracts, lies, deceit, scandals and corruption made easy and the persons and entities behind it.
Can we continue to exist in this tug-of-war and will we ever return to a civilized country, based on rule of law, democracy and justice? To judge by the attitude of Robert Abela, the waves are in the sea and mooring your cruiser in a neighbour’s marina is perfectly fine whilst you cross between the two islands.
On the occasion where his feet are on dry land and somewhere near One TV, we get some pearls of wisdom to convince us that being creative is all that is needed to maneuver the country through this surreal and bizarre world of crime and to save our livelihoods.
If being creative is looking a little unstable, then there are always the irregular migrants who can ride the waves, like an insurance against the negative times falling onto Labour and clouding Joseph’s legacy of the Best in Europe.
The truth is, though, a tragedy has taken place and Malta has really scraped the bottom. People may think that this state is due to COVID-19 and partly it may be. But the real pain and the lost integrity is coming from those like Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi who are left with impunity to carry on with their life and basically the entire cabinet (including the ex-Ministers), who absolve them.
The Prime Minister now has decided that there should be a time limit on public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination, in the way that the memorial was cleared every day from the monument in front of the law courts. Each time Robert Abela speaks he is showing us how ill-equipped he is to be a leader, with a temperament more suited to a TV reality show than to meaningful judgement.
Freedom of the press is also under threat as we are seeing by recent events. Again, we had to endure a sick tirade from Jason Micallef against Bjorn Formosa of Dar Bjorn NGO. Nothing said by the Prime Minister because that is what is understood as freedom of speech in Malta. Falls under the creative vibe along with all the other insolent remarks and liberties taken by persons who are not even in a position to open their mouth.
Instead of serious politicians we have wanna-be-celebrities who only want to be liked, with all the bling and all the swagger, the permits, direct orders and the fat bank accounts. Along with these politicians are the cosy business partners, dictating their demands and channeling the readily available creative minds towards a monopoly of power and money. Some individuals get more carried away than others. Some are controlled by fear and others by pride.
Regimes are not intelligent. Our behaviour can dismantle them. Human nature is not creative of itself. Civilisation was created to protect it from harming itself. Sooner or later, it will need a system of justice and proper civil law if it is to survive.