As the New Year begins, we carry forward unfinished business from 2020, with the pandemic in pole position. But one of the most important political happenings of the last days of 2020 was Bernard Grech's challenge to Robert Abela to publish his pre-2017 tax documents and clarify whether he has ever spoken to the taxman about his tax situation.

This is probably the first time I saw Dr Grech really on the warpath, and I truly like what I saw. We certainly shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that Dr Grech's serene temperament precludes the proclivity to fight for what's right.

 

The will of the people

I never imagined I'd agree with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. But when the former MP who had spearheaded the introduction of divorce in Malta expressed himself on the proposed changes to the divorce laws in December, I had to agree.

When the divorce referendum was held 10 years ago, the Maltese electorate was asked to answer Yes or No to this question:

"Do you agree with the introduction of the option of divorce in the case of a married couple who has been separated or has been living apart for at least four (4) years, and where there is no reasonable hope for reconciliation between the spouses, whilst adequate maintenance is guaranteed and the children are protected?"

Robert Abela's Government's idea to reduce those 4 years to 6 months has raised many eyebrows. Including JPO's. He rightly commented, "Referenda are the most reliable democratic tool when it comes to political decisions which will have a significant impact on our society. They give the electorate the opportunity to express itself on a single, important issue. Will our politicians feel as comfortable overturning other referendum results in the future? EU membership? Hunting? The divorce law in existence was supported by 123,000 citizens [who] gave their backing, specifically, to its salient features."

The six-month waiting period made JPO add wryly that the government might as well “do away with marriage.”

This is a glaring case of a liberal who realises that once you open the door, even slightly and ajar, there's nothing keeping it from opening further. Not even the supposedly sovereign will of the electorate in a democracy.

 

Aaron Farrugia

But 2020 did give us something good from the Government side: from 2021, the Maltese State will ban the importation of single-use plastic problem. Kudos!

Abortion and capital punishment

Despite Robert Abela's unambiguous pledge not to legalise abortion, it seems the abortion debate is nowhere near being over, as if to demonstrate that people don't give a hoot about Dr Abela's pledges.

An argument has recently been made in the Maltese press on these lines: the outgoing US President was decidedly anti-abortion but then allowed the execution of criminals in his last days in office. The implication is clear: how can you be against abortion but in favour of capital punishment?

The implied argument is wrong.

The two cases have a different nature. Whereas one can be anti-abortion on the basis of the sanctity of life, one can be anti-capital punishment on the basis of the dignity of the human being. One can disagree with the American Religious Right that is anti-abortion but pro-capital punishment, and still see why the two issues are distinct. Capital punishment can be justified – but I am not justifying it – on the basis that, having taken the life of another, a convicted murderer has lost the right to have his/her own life treated with dignity. On the other hand, abortion cannot be justified – and I am unequivocally condemning it – on the basis that a mother wants to kill her own child, when that child's life, like every human life, is sacred. As I said, the two are different concepts.

There's a further consideration.

Humans are intrinsically selfish. This could be why in the US, where people see themselves first and foremost as taxpayers, certain conservatives who are anti-abortion and pro-capital punishment will tell you, “So you behaved as you pleased (fornication, murder) and now I have to foot the bill, by paying for your abortion or for your stay in prison with my tax money?” This is a sort of conservatism I do not subscribe to.

There have been American Presidents, like George W. Bush, who tried to mitigate this harsh, money-based conservatism by advocating compassionate conservatism.

One pertinent question relating to the abolition of capital punishment is: do we really believe that keeping people in prison will transform them into law-abiding citizens?

 

Law Students and Abortion

The Għaqda Studenti tal-Liġi publishes a journal called Id-Dritt and I've had a few essays published in it. I met this year's editor and she left a good impression on me. So it was certainly not with gaiety that I withdrew my submission this year in protest at the Għaqda's pro-abortion position taken a couple of weeks ago.

The Għaqda's President sent me a number of lengthy emails to convince me to change my mind, but I cannot have an essay published in the journal of an association that has made it its official position to support the legalisation of abortion in this country. The Għaqda's President told me that not all Executive Committee members agreed with the position paper. I think the members who disagreed should resign en masse to distance themselves from the Għaqda's position.

But what struck me most in the President's emails is his belief that there can be a compromise on abortion. Liberals fail to see that the pro-life and pro-choice positions are not two equally valid positions. They are mutually exclusive.

They also fail to see what JPO has finally seen. Once you open the gates, it's over.

 

The Six-Hundred-Thousand-Euro Man

James Piscopo won't be starting the new year in his former role. Apparently for six hundred thousand reasons.

Six hundred thousand’s the figure for which Joseph Muscat’s Best Buddy Two is being investigated. Muscat’s Best Buddy One, Keith Kasco Schembri, told the Police that Muscat’s Best Buddy Two “squirreled away” €0.6 million while “serving” as head of Transport Malta.

It would seem that Best Buddy One passed on this information in a handwritten note to Yorgen Fenech – the note had been allegedly written by Best Buddy Two himself.

Now why would Piscopo jot down and then hand over to Schembri a handwritten note detailing money hidden in an offshore bank? Either it’s not true or else Schembri too had money similarly hidden (or intended to hid money in similar fashion).

It’s obvious that some people worked hard to win the elections not to serve the Nation but to make a killing and hide the booty in offshore structures similar to those discovered in the Panama Papers leak. We cannot be so naïve as to think that these Servants of the People opened secret offshore structures only in Panama!

But when you think about it, you realise how pathetic these people are. Piscopo ran TM for five years. If it’s true that he stashed away €600,000, that’s just €120,000 a year. Had these people really been worth their salt – as they so unabashedly repeated over and over – they could have managed a legitimate business. It’s not impossible to make €120,000 a year if you're a good businessman. That’s only €62.50 an hour if you work 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. Not an impossible feat for people who bragged about their extraordinary ability to win 10 elections in a row. So why didn’t they try their hand at legitimate business instead of putting their hands on the state apparatus and ruining an entire country's reputation in the process?

The reason is quite self-evident. Because when you make money the crooked way, you not only make the money, but you get a kick out of it too. You feel superior to the dolts who make their money through legitimate hard work.

It’s the adrenaline rush you get from thinking you’re better than the rest.

It’s the hubris begotten by ill-gotten money.

Sometimes you meet people and you say to yourself, “But why is this punk so full of himself?” The answer: he thinks he’s better than you because he’s making money the cunning way. He sees you as a dimwit several steps down the hierarchy of financial doers, a simpleton who works hard, pays taxes, and treats clients with respect. Whereas he does. He does the taxman; he does his competitors; he does his clients. He’s a top doer.

Just think of that self-important smirk on Muscat’s, Kasco’s, and, now, Piscopo’s faces.

What’s more, they probably think that, irrespective of anything and everything, they are superior to Robert Abela too. If it’s true that Dr Abela won the leadership race thanks to Muscat’s backroom plotting and manoeuvring, then they see Dr Abela as another dupe who’s unable to do. They think they’re doing him. And, in more ways than one, they probably are.

 

My Personal Video Library (9)

New Year Blues is a Korean movie, directed by Hong Ji-young, issued a few days ago. I thought of using its name to introduce a certain type of nostalgia, or sadness, that knocks on the door at this time of year, the nostalgia caused by the years rolling by and by the You you lost along the way, and you can't remember where and when. It's the kind of nostalgia film-makers love capitalising on, reminding you of your childhood and that beautiful innocence that will never come back.

One such movie that plays on nostalgia in a fairly intelligent way is the Italian movie They Call Me Jeeg (2015), directed by Gabriele Mainetti. It obviously plays on the memories of those my age who remember the Japanese anime Steel Jeeg (or, Jeeg Robot). Truth be told, it's more of a transposition of the American superhero movie.

The protagonist is a petty criminal who falls into the Tiber, gets contaminated by some radioactive material lying on the riverbed, and comes out endowed with superpowers. The daughter of his murdered accomplice, a mentally-ill, but pretty young woman, convinces him that he's been given his superpowers to be like her favourite cartoon hero, Jeeg Robot: to save the world from evil.

As in other superhero movies, there's a positivist notion from 19th-century criminology: as crime is a symptom of mental illness induced by society, criminals shouldn't be held responsible for their misdeeds. This was one of the themes in The Joker of 2019. In They Call Me Jeeg, which pre-dates The Joker, the idea seems to be that even being a world-saving superhero owes much to mental illness.

What's really crazy is that it never occurs to the criminal-turned-superhero to alert the authorities to the radioactive material buried on the riverbed that's contaminating an entire city!