Pulizija

Qed jagħmel tajjeb il-Ministru Karmenu Abela li ma jiknisx il-problemi fit-tmexxija tal-korp tal-pulizija taħt it-tapit. Smajtu jispjega fuq programm tal-One Radio kif qed jiżviluppaw l-affarijiet fi ħdan il-korp. Kien eċċellenti.

Jidher sew issa li f’pajjiż bħal tagħna huma fażulli l-pariri li kienu jingħataw lil partit politiku li dieħel ġdid fit-tmexxija tal-pajjiż. Aqbad u neħħi l-kapijiet tal-pulizija u daħħal tiegħek. Jew: Żomm lil dawk li ssib u ħalli lilhom jibdlu bil-mod għall-aħjar.

Il-korp hu mgħobbi wisq bi drawwiet u attitudnijiet qodma, miruta mill-imgħoddi. M’għadhomx jgħoddu għal żminijietna. Imma huma parti integrali mill-mod kif il-mexxejja kbar u żgħar tal-pulizija jaġixxu. Hu mfassal wisq skont l-imbuttaturi tal-partiġjaniżmu politiku, ħafna drabi fl-agħar forom tiegħu, imma mhux biss.

Forsi għalhekk, il-korp baqa’ wisq nieqes minn titjib professjonali mifrux, li jkun mitqies bħala meħtieġ biex tingħaqad miegħu, u biex ittejjeb imġibtek wara.

L-organizzazzjoni baqgħet wisq antikwata. Malli tipprova tibdel u taġġorna, se tqajjem kontrik tsunami ta’ antipatiji.

Bżajt għal Karmenu Abela meta smajt ta’ xiex sar ministru. Għedt: se jkollu jġorr piż ministerjali tqil wisq. M’għadnix ta’ dik il-fehma.

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Faqar

Wasal iż-żmien li jkollna rapport serju u komprensiv dwar il-faqar f’pajjiżna. M’hemmx dubju li l-gvern qed jirnexxilu idawwar il-mewġa lura: il-faqar relattiv u assolut m’għadux javvanza, kif qed jiġri f’ħafna nħawi tal-Ewropa. Ta’ dan, il-gvern għandu jingħata kull rikonoxximent.

Madankollu, tassew għandna f’idejna t-trufijiet kollha tal-isfida? Minn pajjiż għal pajjiż, il-kondizzjonijiet tal-faqar huma differenti.

F’pajjiżna x’aktarx li f’ħafna każi għadna b’definizzjonijiet qodma ta’ x’inhu jew x’mhuwiex il-faqar.

Fuq kollox, meta nitkellmu dwar l-abbużi li jsiru mis-sistema tal-benefiċċji u ta’ taxxi li teżisti fil-pajjiż, nitkellmu ħafna dwar l-abbużi tal-fqar. Ftit li xejn insemmu dawk tal-għonja.

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Emigranti

Illum għandna strutturi uffiċjali li bħal qatt qabel, jappoġġjaw il-vuċi tal-emigranti Maltin fostna.

Min-naħa l-oħra, ftit li xejn din l-istess vuċi ma għadha tidwi jew tissemma bħalma kienet f’deċennji oħra. Għaliex?

L-aktar raġuni li tidher tagħmel sens hi li l-ġenerazzjonijiet inbidlu. Fost l-emigranti Maltin fl-Istati Uniti, il-Kanada u l-Awstralja, ngħidu aħna, ħallewna ħafna li kienu telqu minn Malta u baqgħu jżommu fil-għoli l-identità Maltija tagħhom. Uliedhom u wlied uliedhom jafu jsemmu l-oriġini tagħhom imma dan il-fatt m’għadux ċentrali f’ħajjithom. Assimiljaw ruħhom bil-kbir fil-ħajja tal-pajjiż fejn twieldu minn ġenituri Maltin.

X’ironija! Fostna llum insibu għadd sostanzjali ta’ nies li jiċħdu bil-qawwa kull idea li barranin fostna jistgħu jintegraw magħna.

English Version – Police

Minister Karmenu Abela is doing the right thing when he holds back from sweeping under the carpet problems in the management of the police corps. I listened to his explanations during a One Radio programme regarding how police corps issues have been developing. He was excellent.

It now seems quite clear that in a country like ours, the advice that used to be given to a political party about to take over the administration of the island was simply fallacious. Just remove leaders at the top of the police structure and put in your own nominees. Or: Keep all the people you find in their positions and allow them to slowly improve matters.

The police corps finds itself too loaded with old habits and attitudes, as inherited from the past. They no longer fit our present. Yet they remain an integral part of how police leaders at upper and medium levels react to circumstances. They’re shaped by the tugs and pulls of political partisanship, sometimes in their worst version, but the problem goes beyond this.

Which might be why widespread professional improvement has been allowed to take a backseat for too long, both for induction purposes, as well as to improve professional performance post-entry into the corps.

Overall, the organization has remained too oldfashioned. Attempts to reform and update, would immediately provoke a tsunami of antipathies, all against.

I was apprehensive when I heard that Karmenu Abela was named minister of police. I told myself: he’s been given too early a very tough ministerial assignment. I don’t think so any more.

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Poverty

The time has come for a serious and comprehensive report to be prepared about poverty in Malta. No doubt the government is succeeding in rolling the wave back: relative and absolute poverty is no longer on the advance, as is still happening in many parts of Europe. The government should be applauded for this.

Nevertheless, do we really have all the different strands of the ongoing challenge under control? For as it happens, the conditions under which poverty is experienced vary from country to country.

Here, we probably still go along with outmoded definitions of what constitutes poverty.

Above all, when we clamour against the abuses that are committed against existing state benefits and taxation systems, we refer mostly to the abuses of the poor. What the rich do, rarely gets mentioned.

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Migrants

We have at present official structures that as never before, give support to the demands of Maltese emigrants.

Yet on the other hand, their voice hardly resonates or is taken into account like it was in previous decades. Why?

The answer that seems to make most sense refers to the change of generations. Among Maltese emigrants to the US, Canada or Australia, for instance, many have died who after leaving Maltese shores, still kept proclaiming their Maltese identity. Their children and the children of their children can still indicate their origin, but it plays no central role in their lives. They have become integrated with society in the country where Maltese parents gave them birth.

It’s quite ironic. Among us today we find a substantial bloc of people who deny that foreigners living in our midst could ever integrate with us.