The present stand-off across the sea near the coast of Lampedusa is tragic and unworthy of the two countries involved, Malta and Italy, and of Europe as a whole. Human beings cannot be used as pawns in brinkmanship games between countries that claim a rich Christian and humanistic heritage.

Whatever the outcome over the next hours or days, such a crisis, following other equally serious cases, brings to the fore the issue of illegal immigration and asylum seekers in which Malta finds itself, despite itself, right at the centre.

The issue has now become one of the prime worries of the Maltese nation, as survey after survey of national opinion shows. From being the fringe concern of a minority, it has now become mainstream. The past weeks have shown one main party and an MP from the government side trying to tackle the issue. As happens in similar cases, any clarity is soon clouded by the inter-party and intra-party debates.

People, nevertheless, are getting very worried and defensive, even to the extent of forgetting any innate human sympathy and expressing themselves in gross xenophobic terms.

The present deadlock just off Lampedusa also shows that while Italian news websites are full of people wanting to help the poor stricken human beings massed on a ship without the bare necessities, most contributors to Malta’s only news website with comment (the term weblog is inappropriate) urge sending them back to where they came from. This is not Malta as many of us know it: it is a poor version and more checks and controls are called for to ensure that only comments attributable to real existing persons with real addresses are allowed, and that racist and xenophobic comments are weeded out since they are illegal anyway.

Nevertheless, the country is right in perceiving that its very core is being slowly but surely eroded by this massive influx, which in truth has been going on for some years. It is not just the boat people that keep coming in and who end up having to stay in Malta for some years at least. Beyond that, there is a wider stream, a far wider stream.

For we have in our midst whole networks that operate under our very noses, especially in the case of people with pale skins. The networks, perfectly organized, get people in on an entry visa or a student visa but then they simply disappear into thin air. Some come purportedly to study, others to work in what they call ethnic jobs, such as ethnic restaurants and so on. There are also instances where religion, not the Catholic one, is unfortunately being used as the reason (some would say excuse) to get people in. Then they just disappear, after which more come in, and more and more.

More than the boat people, who mostly remain in the environs of the open shelters, it is this massive influx that is infiltrating our towns and villages. Malta, or at least some of its key centres, is becoming multicultural.

We hold, and we feel responsible enough to be able to declare this, that most of this is happening with no control at all: there is no one who can be held responsible for this, no one who is checking, no one who knows what’s going on. It may be well to argue that we need to lose some of our insularity and defensive attitude, which is fine, but only as long as we know what’s going on, where this is leading, and that adequate safeguards are put in place to preserve what we all hold dear. It is unacceptable that some of these networks are in place and kept out of the public gaze with the help of Maltese persons and people in key places.

Some of the suggestions or supposed remedies that have been made are indeed crude and unworkable in a world where Malta’s good name must not be once again humiliated by stupid, crude, inhuman attitudes. That does not mean, however, that Malta has to be at the beck and call of other nations, especially, in this case, to conform to the Lega Nord’s attitude towards anything south of Florence for internal Italian political reasons.

The way forward, the only way forward, is to implement the law, the whole law, and nothing but the law in whatever is done. Even as it is, the law is more than enough, as long as it is really implemented. If need be, after due discussion, the law must be improved and safeguards introduced to ensure that human rights are respected but also that Malta’s safety and that of its people is ensured.

First of all, the key decision makers, that is, Parliament and the political parties, must have a correct and exhaustive picture of what is going on – something that is still sketchy and partial. This is no call to turn Malta into a police state, but more power and more resources must be given to the police to be able to investigate and to enforce respect of the law, especially with regard to the unscrupulous Maltese citizens who either exploit the people with no papers or who profit from this modern slave traffic.

Next, the Armed Forces must be helped far, far more to cope with this responsibility for which it was never prepared. As has been recently written, it is sheer madness to have the closed centres right next to the army’s weapons stores. Even more to have plus or minus 1,000 asylum seekers in the closed centres “watched over” at night by something like 30 soldiers. Again, this is not an appeal to become a police State, but simply prudent common sense.

There are, of course, wider issues that eventually can necessitate changes in the law. Should not wilfully losing one’s passport be made a crime? Or lying about one’s identity? And should we continue to dole out citizenship status if there is not the slightest sign that one knows what Maltese culture means and acceptance of the main principles of democracy and respect for the laws?

At the same time, but this obviously goes far beyond this issue, crucial though it is, the forces who stand for humanity and reason, if not for religious ideals, must come together to stem the ever increasing tide of xenophobia and worse that is turning us, in international eyes at least, into uncouth pariahs.