There are various types of immigrant expats in Malta. There are those who, as guests, use enthusiastic initiatives to integrate with Malta and the Maltese. These are the most appreciated. I was once a legal immigrant myself (one is always a legal person but not necessarily a legal immigrant, so the weak play on words that no person is illegal is just bull) and showed great interest in the culture, history and modus vivendi of my hosts as a duty and a pleasure.

My participation in the cultural activities of my hosts was one of the things I looked forward to most, as it provides enrichment. I never gave them any advice like some supercilious guests like to do. They are intelligent enough and it’s not my business. Surely my presence at various times, even for long periods, in a foreign country is not going to improve their existence! And my departure is not going to leave disaster behind me.

There are immigrants whose title is a misnomer as they are really opportunists. They just visit us for a few days, make some money by cleaning pockets and handbags of the local natives, who complain about the permanent spring-cleaning of some visitors instead of thanking them for their sense of hygiene.

There are immigrants who sadden us by grabbing the first opportunity to leave and get lost somewhere in Europe. Back home may be much worse but it’s nostalgic. I understand that roots may be covered in soil but they are emotionally pleasant anyway.

There are some who come to Malta not really knowing what there is to see. They say that beer and other drinks are cheaper than back home. So they spend all their time drinking alcohol and see images and places which most sober visitors don’t even imagine seeing. With a little effort to dry their purchasing powers, they make themselves gastronomically wet and enjoy themselves by making very short, zig-zagging, internal trips from bar to bar. Theyvisit many bars fast, as they are efficient, and others less fast as alcohol  blocksthe mind and legs while reducing arms and fists to the caressing behaviour of others.

Some immigrants seek the company of us natives and tell us that the Maltese language is very difficult, taking years to learn how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ which, one must humbly agree, take so much time and energy to learn in a language laboratory. It’s not laziness and indifference at all.

Then there are immigrants from various countries, including Europe, whose best talent is to tell the Maltese how they are doing everything wrong. The Maltese usually find the advice of persons who pour expertise all over Malta very entertaining, especially as they are not even asked for a penny or cent for the great divertissement. Malta’s Minister of Finance has every right to charge the Maltese a hefty chunk of income tax yearly for the huge cabaret from immigrants who have struggled at primary school in their country but insist they have had a tertiary education. They may have thricefailed exams at kindergarten, repeated several years of schooling and courageously stayed on their obligatory basic education till the age of beards and moustaches. At about seventy years of age, they are accepted at a university as mature students. Some of these come to Malta to offer expertise to the natives whose education is by far inferior to theirs. The best joker I have met was one who told me how the infrastructure in Malta needs a total shakeup and radical reconstruction. I took him very seriously because, out of humility, he had previously accepted a small employment requiring no education in a small European village with an impressive infrastructure but where rubbish was not collected daily.

There are Dutch groups in Malta who are the sweetest of people and they are among my favourites. They laugh at our crude and clumsy jokes and we guffaw at theirs. They encourage us to visit their places of origin which impress with flowers, fragrance and magnificent art museums. Sweet Dutch persons in Malta are sad to hear about the rare misadventures of any of us when we return the visit. Because they know they are treated very well here, and I am sure they say this to their friends and families.

I sometimes have to take a break from sense of humour when camaraderie turns nasty and itself takes a break to aim darts at us. Some clumsy, intellectual guests climbed onto the statue of our national hero Professor Guido De Marco right in front of our Law Courts and put a lifejacket on him, thinking this was clever. My friends and I are angry at these people, and an apology is due. You cannot go to a country and insult what is dear to them.

Our gentle Minister of Justice and Culture, Dr Owen Bonnici, while in Holland, was roughly and arrogantly treated by sundry self-righteous,emotional journalists etc of a superior nature. Their main complaint was related to Malta’s moralistic record. Since, hopefully for only a short period, this is the way it’s going to be, I am obliged to describe grandiose holiness.

Some Dutch emotional, finger-wagging writers may be interested in re-visiting their colonial past, not as an example of top moral behaviour, but as a determination not to let certain things happen again. You may wish to search: “Dutch atrocities in colonial times” where you will find plenty of beautiful stories entertaining the persons who were bitchy at Dr Bonnici. I have selected a few lines from The Independent (UK) of 29 May 1994: “Colonial Atrocities Explode Myth of Dutch Tolerance”. These facts are a reason why emancipated Dutch of today read about just to reinforce their determination to condemn them and block them from repeating themselves. But the sore truth must come out before it is eliminated, or else it will remain agitated in its grave:

“….in the Dutch city of Groningen, a trial took place of a sort that is only supposed to happen in despotic, Third World countries. In the dock was writer GraaBoomsma…The Dutch, quick to moralise about human rights abuses by other nations, have never properly examined…the unpleasant history of their own experiences in the colonial war…Young conscript soldiers, acting under orders, put numerous hamlets (in Java) to the torch and butchered men, women and children.” The Independent (UK) 29 May 1994. These were realities which the emancipated Dutch of today condemn with all their hearts, especially since they adore romantic writers.

If you are not too sensitive, please read the whole article above and similar others; maybe you will feel strangely convinced that angry journalists etc. were justified in their aggressive verbal attitudes towards Maltese Justice and Culture Minister Owen Bonnici. This anger is very rare in The Nederlands and one is surprised to come across it. Please search ‘Great Dutch Romantic Writers’ bringing out the best of Dutch characteristics.

Now I have never shied away from criticising the Justice Ministry in Malta (see my previous article). But I have never, either, shied away from searching the truth about the history ofpeople who enthusiastically wave the flag of pure virginity at the face of a visiting foreign politician.Which is hardly diplomatic anyway.We have made mistakes but nobody will tell us that they are morally superior.

Immigrant virgins in Malta are in a minority – I guess. The vast majority of immigrants, even from European continental areas, are the nicest of people. The few exceptions are experts in everything. They include Puritanical moralisers and lovers of emancipated civilisation, who want our good.

When you ask what they are doing in such an under-developed country, they often solemnly declare that we need their assistance in all fields and they will be staying a while longer. This could perhaps include the teaching of infrastructure for red light districts where women are for rent behind transparent glass shop windows. Transparency is so politically beautiful.

How can we possibly not appreciate these humanitarians and philantropists. If they suddenly decidedto leave, it would be total disaster. PLEEZE DON’T GO!

 

Dr Anthony Licari has an academic background of Human Sciences from various French universities