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Showing posts from November, 2013

Lingwa ġdida - Newspeak

Qed naqsam magħkom l-editorjal ta' Radio 101 minn John Zammit, tal-lum il-Ħamis 28 ta' Novembru 2013. Fir-rumanz  ' 1984 ',  George Orwell  j iddeskriv i  kif  reġim   soċjalista   jagħti tifsiriet ġodda lil kliem qodma b'mod li n-nies ma jkunux jistgħu jikkritikawh. Il-vokabolarju l-ġdid jissejjaħ 'newspeak'. Dil-ħaġa suppost tiġri fil-pajjiż fittizju Owelljan ta' 'Oceania'. Imma issa, fl-aħħar xhur, qed jiżviluppa 'newspeak' ġdid f'pajjiż ta' veru. F'dal-pajjiż, il-kelma 'etika' issa saret tfisser li tkun ministru u tagħmel ukoll xogħol privat. In-'newspeak' ta' dal-pajjiż jagħti ħafna tifsiriet għal dil-kelma biex żgur tifhimha. Per eżempju, tfisser li 'tkun ministru u ddaħħal il-mara taħdem miegħek fil-ministeru tiegħek stess'; jew 'tiddikjara li ma qlajtx lanqas il-paga minima mill-professjoni'. Tifsira oħra hi: 'il-gvern iħallsek biex tikri l-karozza tiegħek lilek

Intervent waqt il-Kunsill Ġenerali PN - Novembru 2013

Intervent tiegħi waqt il-Kunsill Ġenerali tal-Partit Nazzjonalista "Xogħol - Serjeta - Identita", fis-17 ta' Novembru 2013

More of civil society against the sale of citizenship

While our doublespeak Prime Minister has secretly gone to Miami to sell Maltese citizenships on the same day he hypocritically called for more talks to reach a consensus, more sectors of civil society are expressing themselves against the sale of Malteses citizenships. The Federation of Lanuage Schools (FELTOM) said that “Malta’s success as a regional centre of excellence in the global Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) sector, is largely based on the reputation we have managed to build together as a country. But the citizenship scheme as proposed by Government has drawn significant negative international attention to Malta. The federation believed that the citizenship scheme would impinge negatively on Malta’s reputation, which will also affect numerous economic sectors Malta has a stake in. ( News item link ) UHM has also taken a position after it convened its general council to discuss the issue. UHM said it was "categorically against the sale of citize

No folks, the secrecy clause is not yet gone

Following a week in which Malta was put to shame across the globe for "finding new ways of human trafficking", coming up with a scheme "fit of a late night show", and being the ideal place for "traffickers looking for a solid base in Europe", "Chinese investors seeking to break through the EU's customs barriers" and "terrorists ready to take advantage of the Schengen zone", the Maltese government has announced it will backtrack on one of the most controversial aspects of the newly approved Citizenship Amendment Bill: the secrecy clause. The inability of this government to anticipate that the new law would unleash a rampage of media onslaughts that would irreparably tarnish Malta's reputation, shows their dismal ability to govern the country seriously. The Opposition warned very clearly what the law would do to Malta's reputation. Whole sessions in Parliament were dedicated to this law. Amendments were moved to chan

Last Tuesday in front of Parliament

I am proud that last Tuesday I participated in the appeal we made in front of Parliament for our representatives to vote against the sale of our citizenship for cash. We could not remain passive faced with this insult to our Maltese identity and what citizenship signifies. We appealed to our representatives on both sides of the House to choose common sense, and reach a consensus for a scheme that is based on long-term investment and residency, such that Maltese citizens are people who have a relationship with our country and participate in its social and economic life. We also appealed for this scheme to be more transparent and not have citizenship applicants hide behind anonymity. A Maltese citizen should be proud to be a Maltese citizen. The lack of disclosure does nothing but harm our long-term reputation. We ironically used Labour's same campaign theme visual of painted-faces and 'Kburi li jien Malti' placards, to remind the Prime Minister that this scheme goes c

Malta's international reputation

Malta's reputation in foreign media: "Malta set to sell citizenships for €650,000 a pop" (Euronews) "Maltese Citizenship for sale for six big ones" (Netherlands) "NO TAX, NO LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT AND NO RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT!" (Business Investor Immigration) "The most attractive program in the world for getting a citizenship" (Russia Real Estate Agents) "Maltese government offering special 70% discount for Maltese citizenship for family of 5" (Russian magazine last week) Thank you Labour. Thank you Joseph. Let's collectively hang our head in shame.

Statement by the Chamber of Commerce on citizenship sales

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has followed with interest the recent debates in Parliament and elsewhere regarding the Individual Investor Programme (IIP). Without wishing to enter into the arguments as to whether citizenship should be exchanged for a monetary consideration or otherwise, the Malta Chamber notes that the Programme as outlined and debated in Parliament continues to leave serious doubts and unanswered questions. The Chamber’s main concern centres around the Programme’s impact on the country’s economic reputation. So far, successive Administrations have, rightly so, gone through great lengths to protect the country’s reputation because its importance for future economic development was always recognized – especially in sensitive sectors such as financial services. The Malta Chamber believes that, as things stand, the Programme can affect Malta’s reputation because it can raise questions about the soundness of the country’s fiscal and financial credi

Top comment on the Citizenship-for-sale law

Comment by Andrea DeMarco on facebook: Malta is for sale. Anybody outside of Europe can now become a Maltese citizen if they have €650,000. That is how 'talent' is judged. Not by open competition, not by free trade. But by being rich. - No, you do not need to pass a language test as required in Belgium. - No, you do not need to form office and provide employment as required in Belgium. - No, you do not have to have lived in the country for 3 years as required in Belgium, or 5 years in Portugal. In fact, you do not even have to be in the country. You just have to be rich, and anonymous - identity protected by the "liberal" government. - No, we did not learn from the Canadians after a number of abuses were uncovered. - No, we do not know the criteria for 'due diligence', whereas they are public in democratic and transparent countries like Canada. - No, would-be citizens do not have to spend 2/5 years in the country to maintain their citizenship a

L-ahhar appell lid-Deputati

Onorevoli Deputat, Nindirizzawk b’dan it-titlu għax int iġġorr privileġġ. Privileġġ li bil-vot tiegħek tibdel il-liġijiet ta’ pajjiżna, liema tibdiliet għandek tagħżel li tagħmel fl-aħjar interess ta’ pajjiżna. Privileġġ li tak il-poplu Malti, poplu li biex jissejjaħ “Nazzjon” u biex jissejjaħ “Malti” u jkun jista’ jġorr dan il-passaport, għadda minn storja u minn mixja li bdiet snin ilu. Mixja li ratna nissieltu għall-Indipendenza, inwaqqfu r-Repubblika u nissieħbu fl-Unjoni Ewropea, u li fiha l-mexxejja ta’ dan il-pajjiż dejjem żammew quddiem għajnejhom il-veru interess nazzjonali. Aħna kburin li aħna Maltin għax aħna parti minn din l-istorja, għax aħna u l-antenati tagħna imxejna din il-mixja. Oħrajn kburin li huma Maltin għax ingħaqdu fiż-żwieġ ma’ Maltin u bdew jaqsmu din il-mixja magħhom. Oħrajn kburin li huma Maltin għax qattgħu snin jgħixu f’pajjiżna, tgħallmu l-lingwa tiegħu, saru jafu l-istituzzjonijiet tiegħu, ipparteċipaw fil-ħajja soċjali u ekonomika tiegħu, u

Human rights cannot be bought

I'm really enjoying listening to every speech and interview our Prime Minister gives, they keep giving us important insights about his flawed lines of thought and amoral behaviour . The Prime Minister said that repealing citizenships acquired by naturalization is an act of a "totalitarian regime", and that such a repeal "would be in clear violation of the Constitution and of the European Charter on Human Rights." ( link to article here ) Never mind that decisions by the European Court of Human Rights actually contradict the Prime Minister's statement. What he said translates to one thing: according to Muscat, human rights and constitutional rights can be bought! Read it again: according to our Prime Minister, there are human rights which can be accessed by the rich and bought, and are not within reach of the poor. That goes against the very definition of what constitutes a human right. No, a citizenship you BOUGHT is not a human right, because hu

Budget 2014 - my initial reactions

These are my first reactions after having read the budget measures at a glance. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow the whole Budget speech as I had to attend our local council meeting. The most positive measures in my opinion were the waiving of stamp-duty on the first €150,000 for first-time property buyers, the continuation of the income-tax reduction first announced in 2012, and the incentives for private pensions (though details still need to be announced). As for the reduction in electricity bills, it seems that this is going to be made up for by an increase in car licenses (which has unfortunately hit also small low-emissions vehicles). It's certainly not happening thanks to the unnecessary gas power-station project. As for the references to the Alice-in-Wonderland comment, they are certainly uncalled for, mostly for the fact that the project has changed so much from what was promised before the election that Alice-in-Wonderland is not the same project anymore: there

Labour's line of thought on the citizenship-scheme

I think we really need to expose Labour for what they really are and what their reasoning is. Here's the opinion of Ghaxaq Labour mayor Darren Abela after I shared a post in which the Nationalist Party is rightly claiming that it would repel the senseless Citizenship-for-sale scheme and repeal every citizenship granted through this law. He states: "Hekk sew, klandestin illegali, li rridu nipprovdulu kollox, naghtuh cittadinanza, persuna li jrid jinvesti u jaghtina il-miljuni, nkeccuh!!! simon always on the wrong side......" Here's what I replied: Darren Abela, l-ewwel nett bħala Sindku ma naħsibx li dak l-istatement jixraqlek. Bħala bniedem b'moħħ, suppost taf li biċ-ċittadinanza jew mingħajrha ma titkeċċiex mill-pajjiz, u b'din l-iskema qas biss għandek ghalfejn tinvesti jew tiġi hawn. Bħala politiku, missek taf li il-'klandestin' (la trid issejjaħlu hekk) ma ntuhx ċittadinanza. Bċala laburist, missek tkun l-ewwel wieċed li tiddefendi l-

The root of our Prime Minister's amorality

You have to read the report of Joseph Muscat's speech in London where he launched the government's citizenship-for-sale scheme for non-EU nationals (before the law is even approved by Parliament, arrogance anyone?). There are two points in his speech which caught my attention: This relationship is a collective one. It means being able to rely on each other in difficult times and being there to celebrate the good times together. It means making individual sacrifices for the greater good, and knowing that no matter what happens there is a safety net – Maltese society that will always help you get back on your feet. What is our Prime Minister intending here? How is Malta going to provide a safety net to those who buy Maltese passports? Are the Maltese people, and our national coffers, to act as guarantors should the millionaire go bust or his business get into trouble? This needs to be further explained, because it heavily stinks. The second point: The Government’s c