Every once in a while, probably when in desperate search for topics, leaders, media people and representatives of Maltese communities overseas bring up the case for dual citizenship holders to have the right to vote in our general and European elections, even citing, I assume in between breaks from Aussie Rules and rugby fixtures on the telly, European Parliament decisions on the question of distant voting.

My old friend and colleague Lawrence Dimech gave his perennial contribution to the one-direction debate on l-Orizzont last Tuesday. To be fair, his article was a very balanced affair, featuring all the pros and cons involved in the issue which, in reality, has understandably never really been taken in anyway seriously on this side of the globe. And you can’t blame the resident Maltese citizen who is more than aware of the implications of such a decision, if it is ever taken in what would be a moment of utter madness.

It is not the first time I have expressed my complete opposition to having thousands of overseas Maltese citizens voting and profoundly influencing our general elections and any other call to the hustings. The Maltese electorate is just too small and too polarised to absorb the enormous input from overseas voters who, obviously, not only do not experience firsthand the positives and negatives of Maltese everyday life, but also, and perhaps more important, do not pay taxes, tariffs and other de facto charges which, ironically, they could cause to increase simply by voting for a candidate or a party and not the other.

The same goes for the quality of our social benefits, working conditions and other no less vital aspects of  Maltese life, such as public holidays, traditions including the thorny questions of hunting, development and the environment.

In a small island where a party can get into power on the feeble wings of a majority of a mere few thousand votes (forget March 2013), it certainly does not make sense to have the clout of a massive overseas vote that can tip the balance one way or the other. It may make sense in the case of bigger countries like Italy and the UK where overseas voters normally do not impact on the eventual result, but here it would be an unfair intrusion into the day-to-day affairs of the resident population.

I find it absurd for someone, the oft-mentioned citizen, to have the opportunity to vote in the elections of two different nations. If you’re living in Australia and quite obviously enjoying the right to vote in all kinds of elections there, I do not see why you should also have to have a finger in the pie of a Maltese election.

There is no doubt both major parties on the Island are highly aware of the political, social and electoral dangers of giving such rights to Maltese communities in places like Australia and Canada, whatever the EU says, and only a Constitutional change – always a rare and highly inflammable issue to protract – can make it happen. 

So it’s a big no thank you, Lawrence et al.

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It’s raining jokes

Like the dancing, twisting, chanting witch-doctors of old, some people still have every right in this day and age to pray for rain and no one should begrudge them that privilege. That it is easier for it to rain in February and March than, say, July and August, is a fact of life as regards our climate, so I would not be surprised if there’s a deluge by the time this piece appears. As to who or what causes it, I leave it to my readers’ imagination.

The reality, however, is that world climate is changing and no one is going to stop it, so whatever action the world leaders may eventually convince themselves to take, humanity has to be ready and willing to adapt to the new conditions in between trying to alleviate the physical and economic repercussions.

Some may find the public processions and prayers a trifle amusing, but certainly not as hilarious as recent claims made by Cyprus and other dry places that world powers are causing most of the general drought as a result of their tampering with the weather. The Cypriots have even accused the British services there – why the hell they still have a foreign military base I really cannot fathom; it certainly did not prohibit the Turks from invading and seizing the north of that island in 1974 – of experimenting and interfering with the skies.

The urgent need here is for us to catch, when it after all rains, as much rain water as possible, to re-impose or re-activate laws on wells and other catchment systems, and to make sure that our natural underground reserves are replenished and the quality of their water improved. The very idea of digging bore-holes to obtain free water, as if it is some God-given right to farmers and profit-making, private water suppliers, has to be given up and a purposeful appointment with nature seriously fixed.

It may already be too late, but the Gozo bishop may still have some other trick up his lacy sleeve.

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Logic is not one of our attributes

I honestly believe logic is not one of our attributes as a nation. Less so at the Law Courts and other fora where verdicts, decisions and individual pretensions oscillate in a bewildering manner. I will treat with just two cases in point.

1.    A Żurrieq man unsuccessfully took the Commissioner of Police to court, challenging him to take action against the chairman of EneMalta for having suspended his electricity supply. The police had earlier justified the corporation’s action after it transpired that the man’s electricity meter had been tampered with and therefore had not been paying the correct bills as per normal consumption. I really cannot see why and how his lawyer had not seen the logic of one being refused a service when he was found to be cheating.

2.    Some people in our national football association want to increase the number of teams from 12 to 14 in an already obese Premiership. Logic tells you there are already not enough good-quality, professionally-run teams to sustain the current set-up, let alone increasing it and making it just six short of the English Premiership! It is why attendances have continued to decline and our minuscule football scene reduced to a weekend packed with boring fixtures. Who wants more of that, the gambling companies?

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Reality check

While rival politicians throw trust fund files at each other, it is good to learn that Malta has once again hit a historic minimum level of unemployment, with the third lowest level in the whole European Union.

Let the infants play, it is this kind of trust that helps a nation grow.