The truth about convenience

truth_akkuza

Saviour Balzan’s performance at yesterday’s Public Accounts Committee must have been a sight for sore eyes and Lord do we have sore eyes on the island. In many ways Balzan has become the champion of all the “hekk hu go fik” stalwarts who will never get enough of (as Ian Borg put it) getting an orgasm out of imagining worse places in their hell that would be reserved for what is left of GonziPN. Part of the reason may very well be that more often than not Balzan gives the impression that he operates on the very kind of substance that fuels (excuse the pun) this kind of voter.

Of course your average voter has every prerogative to elect to vote on the basis of partisan zeal, inbuilt prejudice and repressed anger. The urge to wave the flag in the face of opponents and yell about some tkaxkira is also a prerogative protected by the constitution and the right to universal suffrage. Yes, we are doomed to have the fate of our nation determined by the insufferable partisan who will go on weighing the aptitude of a party to govern not by its potential but by contrasting it to what is perceived as the virulent other.

Not Saviour though, he is a public person as in he is an editor of what for all intents and purposes is a newspaper. Yesterday Owen “the law” Bonnici kick started the waltz of connivance with this “editor” with what he called a “preambolu” (preamble). He informed all and sundry that as the editor of a paper Balzan would not be obliged to divulge his sources. True. Very true. Also redundant. It was just Bonnici’s way of tucking Balzan comfortably in his seat short of providing tea and biscuits and a nice warm cover. I switched off the radio at that point and have the various newspaper reports to go on for what happened after.

First a preamble of my own. What follows will surely provide the various sycophants of the Taghna Lkoll litter to call this blog a “nationalist blog” or a “poison pen” (though we may be older and wiser as a blog but not as important in the machinery and cogs of the system). Experience has shown that worrying about this form of accusation is like worrying that it is raining: best to put on a good waterproof jacket and not get mixed up in the mud that inevitably forms. Let the future be my judge.

Speaking of judges, that was the first impression that Balzan’s deposition seems to give: Judge Balzan was in court. Comfortably seated and welcomed by Bonnici he dispensed opinions as though they were edicts from a judicial platform. “George Farrugia should have been tried in court.” “Lawrence Gonzi lied.” “Tancred Tabone was a scapegoat.” “Tancred Tabone might have been Austin Gatt’s cousin”. In what he probably believes to have been his finest moment he spun and linked story after story, confident in the fact that “his sources are protected” to lead to the culminating “bombshell” (not my words, but one of the papers chose this term). The Shell out of court settlement with the PN government as compensation for having missed out on some tenders. The big news? Simon Busuttil was the lawyer for Shell.

Now, not having the benefit of Balzan’s disgruntled sources (I will assume you can see that for yourself – the disgruntled bit I mean) I can still try to piece together the “facts” provided by Balzan and ask a few honest questions.

  1. There seems to be sufficient evidence pointing to a network of information that led to a skewered oil procurement policy that took place under a nationalist government watch. So far so good. We did not even need Balzan to see that far.
  2. The conflicting evidence as to who was in it up to his teeth and who was not seems to arise from the fact that it all depends on who you accept as source. Would it be George Farrugia the whistleblower? Would it be the Farrugia brothers who according to Balzan’s song were approached as whistleblowers but later dropped in favour of their brother?
  3. Light bulb – as Gru would say. Could it be that those who are now claiming to be victims and unwanted whistleblowers have found a place to vent their side of the story in Balzan?
  4. Could it be that the convenience of these internecine wars and shady suspicions falls right in the lap of Bonnici’s Labour – happy enough to tag along with any mud that is thrown inter partes so long as some of it can be made to sound like it sticks to GonziPN?
  5. And in the light of 4 above, what better manna from heaven than a non-sequitur about a retainer held by the current leader of the nationalist party for an oil company with regards to an out of court settlement related to procurement of AVIATION FUEL that has nothing to do with the procurement of Farrugia’s oil? The important thing for Bonnici and his party is that Busuttil’s name was finally dropped in the context of the Oil Procurement scandal – no matter how vaguely. For the man in the street busily “orgasming” (Ian Borg again) on the GonziPN links this must be heaven. For Muscat a welcome distraction from GaffarenaGate, ChinaGate, ChrisCardonaGate, PremierGate, ODZGate, SandroChetcutiGatesandTowers… heavens where do I stop?
  6. Then there was that bit of magic about Gonzi lying that he did not know Farrugia’s wife – because he regularly received chain prayers from her. Which of course would make me best friends with most Nigerians who insist on trying to send me money at every opportunity they get. The Prime Minister passed on whatever information was received to the secret services but apparently, according to Judge Balzan, they went about their work maladroitly. Of course that should raise questions about the secret service, the police and more but we are not in the PAC for that are we? We need to find mud that sticks.
  7. Finally there’s Austin Gatt. Never a beloved minister. Neither he nor his minions and now MPs were ever going to be seen in a good light of even the most moderate of PN supporters let alone the “hekk hu go fik” brigade. It gets a bit confusing because at one point Tancred Tabone is highlighted as being both the “scapegoat” of the situation as well as the (possible) cousin of the minister. Claudio Grech is guilty of arrogance – I wonder if it is of the same type that we get whenever PM Muscat gets asked an uncomfortable question.

There are worrying implications that result from the Oil Procurement Scandal. In my opinion the most worrying of all the things that Balzan implied yesterday was in fact the weather-vane approach adopted by the police depending on who is in government. That something was definitely amiss in the oil  procurement methods is not hard to deduce. That it is all being lost in a desperate attempt by the government and people bearing grudges against Gonzi’s PN (and now the current PN) to change this into an anti-PN crusade is shameful to say the least.

Our class of politicians – all of it – is what we have as representatives. They are obliged to perform their representative duties in full respect of the mechanisms of democracy, particularly by ensuring that the guarantees of constitutional checks and balances are strong and fully functional. The PN’s efforts at changing and morphing into a party that has left behind the malaise of GonziPN must stick within these parameters. Labour has by now shown clearly that it has no intention to follow the rules of the accountability game.

Moments of “glory” such as these for Saviour Balzan will go down well with the Taghna Lkoll crowd. His convenient (though mostly irrelevant) name dropping will be applauded in most circles. Such moments will do close to nothing to further the cause of solving the problem of corruption that has been clawing at the heart of our system under bipartisan blessing. Worse still they will do nothing at all to open the eyes of the people to the rampant corruption that is taking place daily before their eyes.

So long as the Pied Piper can play the tune….and it seems that it’s an LP… a 10 year tune in fact.

 

 

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Like China in their hands

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Prime Minister Muscat has constantly shot down all criticism of his well-rooted tryst with all matters Chinese. The tryst goes a long way and includes the now-you-see-it-now-you-dont consulate in Shanghai manned by ‘person of trust’ and wife of Minister Consul-non-Consul Sai Mizzi. In his latest attempt at belittling any form of criticism Muscat referred to the fact that while people in Malta criticised his sale of Malta’s power source to China, the very next day George Osborne was parading a similar investment in the UK, also by the Chinese. The peddler of words is brilliant at yelling out slogans and words in controlled circumstances – such as a parliamentary monologue – and his Clever Hans effect spurs him on to entertain the gullible public. Any naysayer will  immediately be shot down with brilliant repartees such as “You’re obviously nationalist” or as I have been told recently by an arse-licking political appointee “You’re finally out of the closet”.

But back to the Chinese and Osborne. First of all the Chinese investment in the UK is not all over the place and not dependent on government guarantees, nor is it a sale on the cheap of public land. Our National Salesman is only brilliant in the way peddlers of knock on fakes in the street are brilliant. He sells because his product is sold cheaply or on the border of legality. In the UK a special economic set up was made to cater for the Chinese investment – nothing of that here in Malta were we are slaves to the sons of Ming in every possible transaction.

Not just that. Questions are being raised in the UK as to whether the Chinese have not bought into more power than simply economic investments. The Independent reports that the UK has been “accused of doing China’s bidding” after a police raid into the home of a man who had survived the Tiananmen protests:

Chinese democracy activist and Tiananmen Square survivor Shao Jiang, 47, was arrested in the street outside London’s Mansion House where a reception was being held for visiting Chinese Premier Xi Jinping.

Campaigners say Dr Jiang was “brutally manhandled” by police officers after he attempted to block the motorcade by standing in front of it – in a scene reminiscent of a famous image of a lone protestor standing in front of Chinese tanks used to crush peaceful protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.

He was holding two banners, which read “End autocracy” and “Democracy now”.

There are now strong accusations that British police and Scotland Yard are bowing to pressure from China. It’s no laughing matter when the police of a nation are subject to the whims and fancies of another nation – and one that is not too fond of liberal democratic methods to boot.

Muscat might have little reason to laugh now, especially when events similar to those that went on in London have occurred closer to home. The dossier of Chinese Slave Labour is not yet closed yet in Malta though little seems to be done about what appears to be China government sanctioned activity in the matter. The Times of Malta reported on the 20th October that a Chinese man who had reported a case of abuse and exploitation at work had been arraigned on charges of assault.

It’s not funny. Not funny at all Prime Minister Muscat. There is a limit to the lack of accountability to the public when engaging in dealings with nations that are, let’s say, not too happy with democratic methods. One can only hide for so long behind the spurious excuse of economic sensitivity. The charades of budget speeches that are only extended monologues of cool-aid distribution peppered with antiquated FEMA catchphrases can only impress the accolytes and the gullible in much the same way that a hypnotist has his way with those who are easily impressed.

The fourth estate has a huge responsibility here in keeping up the pressure and asking more and more questions of this government and its dealings until it gets the answers that are required.

 

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Anne Fenech and Zammit Lewis

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This Zolabyte is actually taken from an intervention by someone in a facebook thread discussing Anne Fenech’s reply to Minister Zammit Lewis’ allegations about her consultancy contracts with the government in the past. The discussion had veered out of point with people discussing whether Anne Fenech was right in opposing the citizenship program and law while working in a law firm where lawyers offered services under that law. Some observers claimed that Fenech had some cheek taking the “moral high ground” with Zammit Lewis. I was not impressed by this confusion of facts and opinions. The guest blogger intervened in the thread with this comment that I am reproducing with the commenter’s permission.

I find talk of moral high ground laughable in this context for a myriad of reasons:
1. It has sod all to do with the discussion at issue – I guess our dear Minister has forgotten that notwithstanding his role as a politician and his immunity in parliament, his utterances should bear some remote semblance to reality and less to slander;

2. Ann Fenech is a partner in the law firm she works in, she is in fact managing partner of that law firm. Any of you who have actually sampled life in a law firm which is made up of more than just a combo of father, son, daughter, uncle will realise that even as managing partner she is not in a position to influence unduly decisions of the firm, including the fields through which the firm generates revenue – it is a collective decision where she does not have a majority vote;

3. By her firm peddling assistance for citizenship she is assisting in relation to law … Not the subversion of a law. She fought that law before it became law. Now members of her law firm are providing services relating to that law. Now we’ll be talking about that lady in America refusing to issue a marriage licence to a gay couple … All for the sake of the moral high ground. This is a firm decision, it’s legal and its business. Grow up.

4. We now bring up the moral high ground every time Ann Fenech makes a statement. I see zero utterances about moral high ground when the current government calls the opposition “distruttiva”. The hypocrisy of that makes me gag. I recall all the constructive criticism PL indulged in while in opposition. Let’s start with the constructive criticism on EU membership shall we? And the moral high ground taken by this government with each application for EU funds or when our ministers and especially our Prime Minister smile gleefully at their own self-importance when they line up for photo ops in front of buildings they advocated against a decade ago. Oh the moral high ground there is so elevated I’m getting altitude sickness … Again … A certain amount of ageing (I’m trying to be polite here) is required.

If you don’t like the woman say so. I am not a particular fan. She is good at her profession (lawyering not politics) and she works a room in a manner most of us secretly admire but that smacks of being fake. In many ways she makes a pretty decent politician. But enough of the moral high ground bullshit. There’s plenty about her to criticise without indulging in those fallacies.

*****
Zolabytes is a rubrique on J’accuse – the name is a nod to the original J’accuser (Emile Zola) and a building block of the digital age (byte). Zolabytes is intended to be a collection of guest contributions in the spirit of discussion that has been promoted by J’accuse on the online Maltese political scene for 10 years.
Opinions expressed in zolabyte contributions are those of the author in question. Opinions appearing on zolabytes do not necessarily reflect the editorial line of J’accuse the blog.
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A horse for Prime Minister

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Let me tell you about Clever Hans. A few years before the end of the 19th century, 1895 to be exact, a horse who would be named Hans was born. Hans was owned by an eccentric guy called Wilhelm von Osten who had taken it upon himself to prove that given the right education animals could be as intelligent as humans. His didactic experiments kicked off with a bear, a cat and, of course, Hans the horse. The bear and cat soon fell back in their studies but Hans was very promising.

In fact, as Wikipedia reports, “Hans was said to have been taught to add, subtract, multiply, divide, work with fractions, tell time, keep track of the calendar, differentiate musical tones, and read, spell, and understand German. Von Osten would ask Hans, “If the eighth day of the month comes on a Tuesday, what is the date of the following Friday?” Hans would answer by tapping his hoof. Questions could be asked both orally, and in written form. Von Osten exhibited Hans throughout Germany, and never charged admission. Hans’s abilities were reported in The New York Times in 1904.” (see here for more)

Hans’ prodigious efforts attracted much attention, especially among the scientific community eager to see whether it was true that a horse could be as intelligent as a human being. Based on the type of problems Hans solved it had been estimated that the horse had acquired the intelligence of a 14-year old human. Fascinating. Better still, a panel of scientists and experts tested Hans (twice) and reported that they could find no evidence for fraud. That is until a psychologist named Oscar Pfungst studied Hans a little more and found the “trick”. There was no fraudulent intent really and everyone involved had simply been duped by a very, very clever horse. In fact what Hans had been actually doing was not answering problems but watching the reactions of human observers.

Whether answering by tapping his hoof or nodding his head, Hans had learnt to “read” whoever was watching him. The psychologist observed that whoever was testing Hans gave off “indicators” whenever Hans was approaching the right answer. Hans’s interrogators actually prompted his actions by the movement of their heads for example. When the interrogator’s head bent forward, Hans kicked off his “answering”, when it went back to being straight Hans stopped. The more the interrogator inclined the head (probably out of curiosity to see the horse at work) the faster Hans’s answers were tapped. Hans was really clever – not intelligent though, simply able to read body language in an incredibly efficient manner. Pfungst noticed that the interrogators were not conscious of the fact that they were actually leading the horse to the right answer. Hans’s fame suffered the consequences of this discovery and the poor horse died during in World War I – enrolled as one of the many war horses.

The “clever hans” effect remains cited in psychology circles and led to the development of double blind tests where both the interrogator and the person replying would not know the answer to the questions being posed. I have a strong suspicion that our current Prime Minister’s first two years in charge have been greatly infused with a strong Clever Hans effect. In our case it is Clever Joseph. With a “promise the world” campaign combined with an efficient grumble machine, Muscat got elected to power with a landslide victory. His promises then needed delivering. The self-avowed salesman has been hailed as a sort of saviour of the economy and of Malta’s state of affairs notwithstanding the fact that the facts actually prove rather the contrary when examined with a long-term ruler in mind.

Yesterday’s budget reply by Simon Busuttil was yet another step in the direction of countering the Clever Hans effect that Muscat has been (and will try to continue) milking. Busuttil’s speech was criticised because apparently it did not say what alternatives a nationalist government would offer. Aside from the PN pre-budget document, which did just that, Busuttil’s speech served as the umpteenth “Emperor has no clothes” speech which is badly needed in a country of blinded interlocutors who are still strongly convinced that the horse pulling the front of the chariot is intelligent and knows what it is doing. All the while all that Clever Joseph is doing is reading their faces and telling them that what they want is what they see… and this couldn’t be further from the truth. From Magritte (ceci n’est pas une pipe) to Clever Hans (the not so intelligent horse)… a kingdom, a kingdom for a real prime minister!

Clever Joseph’s salesman antics will work for a time yet. So long as this government for a few can throw pepper in the eyes of the electorate with a few more circus acts he will go on riding the Clever Joseph wave. Simon’s litany of figures and facts will hopefully not only serve as a stern “I told you so” when it is already too late. The ominous idea of the end of EU funding in 2020 will be no laughing matter. By then Clever Joseph will have pulled out of his circus, probably having risked one trick too many.

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Colour me Bad

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“Three foreigners with a dark skin” are the latest to make the news in Malta following a hit and run incident in Dragonara Road, Paceville. Obviously when the police description hit the press, as it did with the Malta Independent, the comments section becomes a free for all for the “foreigners go out” brigade. We also have a new term “irregular migrants” that seems to have replaced the former blanket term of “illegal immigrants”.

Once again a crime that is deplorable whoever commits it and whoever is the victim has been tainted and coloured with additional news value – as though the dark skin of the perpetrators makes it any worse. You cannot blame the police who issued Malta’s version of a BOLO though it does somewhat fail on the side of vague. Dark skinned? In Malta? With the last vestiges of the hot sun tans not exactly gone yet? Was there nothing else in the description of the perpetrators that might have been signalled? Hoodies maybe? Track suits? As for the TMI running with the headline “three dark skinned men”… surely someone should be asking what is the usefulness of this specification in the title given that this description does not help narrow down the search in any way.

What it does helpto do is fan the flames of the intolerant bunch of ignoramuses who will automatically take to imputing any kind of criminal statistic to the influx of “illegal immigrants”.

So help us God.

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I.M. Jack : The one about the WYSINWYG

La Trahison des images (Ceci n'est pas une pipe). 1929. Oil on canvas, Overall: 25 3/8 x 37 in. (64.45 x 93.98 cm). Unframed canvas: 23 11/16 x 31 7/7 inches, 1 1/2 inches deep, 39 5/8 inches diagonal. Purchased with funds provided by the Mr. and Mrs. William Preston Harrison Collection (78.7).

La Trahison des images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe). 1929. Oil on canvas,

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a quick I.M. Jack take on the major news items. The theme this week is about WYSINWYG or what seems to be the apotheosis of the governmental policy of What You See is NOT What You Get. This blog has for some time now described Muscat’s government’s actions in terms of Magritte’s “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” We are used to having this or that government representative exhort us to look for the facts beyond what our eyes can see – “what you see is not what really is” they seem to tell us. Thus the traffic clogging the sick arteries of our nation is just a question of perception, we only see lack of qualification in government appointees because we want to and the price of oil in Malta is actually cheap today if we consider that it could be cheaper in the future. Hence WYSINWYG – what you see is not what you get.

Will the real budget please stand up?

The speaker hath ruled. The real budget is not the one that was physically tabled in parliament or the one published on the government website. No the real budget is the one read by Minister Scicluna in fits and starts. The speaker’s ruling is actually an apotheosis of all that has been Taghna Lkoll until now. Do not believe the facts and figures. Only believe what we say. Anyway we have to make do with the new mantra of “genuine mistake” that seems to be as permissible with this lot as it was anathema with the previous lot.

We are genuinely mistaken

Such was the excuse when Minister Cardona once again committed a “genuine mistake” appointing a person from the bench to a government entity. The euphoria of appointments to this and that chair is such that sometimes the Ministers or their minions for whom they are directly responsible get carried away and end up signing up people who are not fit for the purpose. In this case such lack of fitness was not due to incompetence (that actually is allowed – just look at our ambassadorial appointments) but due to the fact that the person being re-nominated for a bit of the parastatal company gravy train had already been fit comfortably in the puzzle of judicial appointments – and judges and magistrates are not allowed to sit on government entities. Plus ça change.

Get him to the Greeks

Cuschieri junior is being nominated ambassador to Greece is he? And there was Tsipras thinking that he had faced his greatest challenge yet. This is the same Cuschieri whose position on the Greek debt crisis was largely influenced by very personal issues of whether or not he would be allowed to take up his seat in Strasbourg. “in the midst of the Greek bailout talks, Cuschieri called on Malta to deny the debt-afflicted state money under the EFSF lest they green-light the enlargement of the European Parliament.” (MaltaToday). Sweet isn’t it? What better man to send to Athens if not this genuine Floriana FC (and, alas, Juventus) fan?

What you did was very spiteful, but it was also very brave and very honest and I respect you for doing that. But the content of what you said has made me hate you. So there’s a layer of respect, admittedly, for your truthfulness, but it’s peppered with hate. Hateful respect. (Alduous Snow – Get Him to the Greek)

X Arab Bank

Peppi Azzopardi tried to act smart with the “patriots” of Malta. He must have reasoned that the chicken-brained reasoning that is normally spouted by intolerant bigots can be easily countered on his show. For my sins I watched the whole show on streaming. It was a disaster in many ways. It was once again a testimonial to the lack of civic education and by that I am not referring to the patriot’s lack of knowledge of the words of our national anthem. Take Peppi’s bold assertion that it is up to members of parliament to interpret the law – and that since a member of parliament has stated publicly that wearing the burqa is not illegal then so it is. Not it isn’t Peppi. Members of parliament form part of our legislative branch. They legislate. What they do not do is interpret. That is up to the courts to do. It’s part of this little game called separation of powers. You could be forgiven Peppi, with this government the whole concept of accountability and respect of the separation of powers is fast going up in smoke. We are left with a nation that is in search of its basic values and still trying hard to understand how the whole “liberal democracy” thingy works.

Labels

Labels tend to help us understand who we are and who our interlocutors are. It has become a common occurrence though to maliciously use labels for sweeping statements and assumptions. When an arab loses his mind in Paceville and goes on a stabbing rampage then it is a cue for “immigrants out” and for patriots to charge through Valletta or Birzebbugia like a bunch of oafs on a xalata. If an assembly of Croats and Serbs decide to re-enact part of the Balkan issues on St Rita Steps in Paceville the same reaction is not forthcoming. We have said it many a time: a crime is a crime is a crime – irrespective of who is committing it and irrespective of who the victim is. The confusion that results out of trying to define aggravations based on colour, race or gender (or lack thereof) of the aggressor or victim only serve to compound the melting-pot of intolerance that our country is fast changing into. We have now had news of a priest who was arrested on charges of pedophilia. Cue the hypocrite anti-frock crowd to once again come out en masse barking agains “the church”, “religion” or “priesthood”. What a load of bollocks. The crime would be a crime if the person accused were a plumber, a nurse, a footballer or whatever other profession you may think of. It is heinous, punishable and condemnable. What it is not is testimony that one particular profession is more prone towards it than others. Pointing fingers at “the church” is tantamount to accusing “arabs” after a Libyan goes on rampage in Paceville.

Traffic

It will never be solved. Not without a fascist unelected government of wise men and women. Only then could the Maltese “suffer” the imposition of a car-free island where most money is spent on an efficient common transport system. Reducing the car amount to a bare minimum can only be dreamt of so long as politicians pander to the perceived “needs” of a population that has been bred to be “hurt” (read: throw a tantrum) whenever it does not get what it wants.

Maybe that is why Taghna Lkoll fares so well among the Maltese. More often than not they are led to believe that they are getting what they always wanted – irrespectively of the fact that what they see is not actually what they had hoped for.

Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain. – Nicolo Macchiavelli

 

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