Unforgettable 2004

As I write, I am watching TV pictures of Sydney's firework displays welcoming the New Year. Ten more hours to go here. The celebrations were tempered by thoughts for victims of Asia's Tsunami as several major cities cancelled parties and Australia led a global minute of silence.

From a personal perspective, two events had a significant impact this year. Primarily, the trauma that hit my family when my sister's 16 month old daughter Miriam died in a tragic accident in February. Secondly, my participation in the first European Parliament elections in Malta last June. Ironically I was only able to receive the MLP's offer to stand as a candidate because I returned to Malta from overseas engagements upon being told of Miriam's death. That was just days before the deadline for nominations.

To capture the events in Malta over the past year read the annual Malta Review for 2004 produced by the MaltaMedia online network. It covers news events, sports, obituaries, films and technology as well as links to reviews for previous years.

Malta - A year in pictures by di-ve

A Global overview of 2004 by Infoplease

Helen Pidd has distilled the past 12 months in numerical form

New Year's Day from Wikipedia

Tsunami blogs

No mood for celebration this evening. The magnitude of the disaster is ingrained in our consciousness. The official death toll has now reached an incredible 135,000.
The New York Times says that for vivid reporting from the enormous zone of tsunami disaster, it was hard to beat the blogs:

Bloggers at the scene are more deeply affected by events than the journalists who roam from one disaster to another, said Xeni Jardin, one of the four co-editors of the site BoingBoing.net, which pointed visitors to many of the disaster blogs.
"They are helping us understand the impact of this event in a way that other media just can't," with an intimate voice and an unvarnished perspective, with the richness of local context, Jardin said.
That makes blogs compelling--and now essential--reading, said Siva Vaidhyanathan, an assistant professor of culture and communication at New York University and a blogger. Once he heard about the disaster, "Right after BBC, I went to blogs," he said.
"This notion that we now have eyes and ears around the world is more than something we've grown accustomed to; we've grown to demand it," he said.
Bloggers at Worldchanging.com, some of them living in the affected nations, began chattering immediately after the waves hit and began discussions of ways to help. South Asian bloggers created Tsunamihelp.blogspot.com to direct people to aid organizations. "I haven't seen this level of people saying, 'You know what? We can do something here. We can connect the pieces,'" said Alex Steffen, who lives in Seattle and edits worldchanging.com. "It's mind-blowing, and it's inspiring."

At a glance: Countries hit by Earthquake

Donating money to the Earthquake victims
Open your wallets here

Importing water from Turkey?

Canadian sources tell us that dry Malta may soon be importing water from Turkey:

Forget OPEC. Some experts say the next cartel will be an organization of water-exporting countries. Others see more danger in local privatization of water, which could restrict access to the poor within nations.

"Water is blue gold, it's terribly precious," says Maude Barlow, who chairs for the Council of Canadians, an Ottawa-based citizens' watchdog. "Not too far in the future, we're going to see a move to surround and commodify the world's fresh water. Just as they've divvied up the world's oil, in the coming century there's going to be a grab."

Signs of corporate interest are already popping up. Pipelines for bulk water shipments are reported under consideration between Scotland and water-short England. Similar plans exist for Turkey to pipe water to central Europe and markets in Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, and Malta, Ms. Barlow says.

This information has caught the attention of Bob Whitson's environmental blog as well as California based Gindy.blogspot.com who also runs a blog that monitors the activities of the United Nations

Oooh, look, that's me!

From Diverse Ramblings blog - MaltaGirl's adventures:

Oooh, look, that's me!

Well whaddaya know... I have been featured on Wired Temples. I hadn't heard of it before but it's a blog featuring all kinds of articles to do with Malta - some are posts excerpted from Maltese blogs, or from blogs referencing Malta, or local articles, or current affairs...
I found some interesting sites there including some Maltese blogs which I had missed the last time I tried to find some.

While I was at it, I updated my blogroll, adding Wired Temples and The Pirate's Blog, and removing a couple of blogs that I don't read any more. Also updated my booklist yesterday
(I get through books so fast, it's a pain to keep it up to date all the time, so I had given up).

A new teenager on the blog

Billy, a Maltese teenager - age 16 - has recently started to blog. He is sharing a few things about himself:

- Do you have a crush on someone?: Yeah, loads of girls
- Do they know?: I think one of them knows, but she doesn't seem to care
- What's his/her name?: Are you kidding me? Even my name is fake...
- What do you think of ouija boards?: Yeah right...
- What book are you reading now?: I don't read books
- What's on your mouse pad?: It's plain.
- Favorite board game?: Poker is way better than board games
- Favorite magazine?: I don't read magazines
- Worst feeling in the world?: Being in love (infatuated actually) with someone way out of my league
- What is the first thing you think when you wake in the morning?: I think about sex usually
- How many rings before you answer?: More than 10..sometimes I don't answer
- Future daughter's name: I'd choose Maxine, she was my first crush and the name is still kinda stuck in my head
- Future son's name: Billy
- Chocolate or vanilla?: Vanilla
- Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?: Now that's funny...
- If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be?: Screenwriter
- Are you a lefty, righty or ambidextrous?: Righty..wow this is getting soo interesting
- Do you type with your fingers on the right keys?: Huh?
- What's under your bed?: I have a storage with lots of toys and games..do you care?
- Favorite sport to watch?: Skateboarding. I hate all other sports.
- College Plans: I don't have any yet

Billy's favourite website

Sant and Gonzi

Support for the two most prominent political leaders in Malta, Prime Minister Laurence Gonzi (Nationalist) and Opposition Leader Alfred Sant (Labour) is usually evenly balanced according to most opinion polls. Not if you take the Google search engine as an indicator! If you look for "Alfred Sant" on Google you come up with 11,200 entries. If you google "Laurence Gonzi" all you get is 121. Yes just 121 entries. If you restrict yourself to pages from Malta the gap is even wider - 4,460 hits for Sant and 22 hits for Gonzi.
Sant has been leader of his party for a longer period but with the general elections three years from now Gonzi has a lot of catching up to do!

Escaping the rain on New Year's Eve

MaltaGirl, a final year Engineering student at the University of Malta, will not mind this weekend's rain predicted by the Malta Meteorological office. Her plans for New Year's eve are already set:

Me, I will be in Church for our Watchnight Service :-) We'll start at around 8:30pm with a potluck supper (I think I'll make some kind of dessert, yum!) and then have a little service, and the kiddies are going to do their sign-language/streamers/water pistols/torches thingy again, and then we'll pray in the New Year between 11:45 and 12:15 or thereabouts.

My favourite part is at midnight, because inside the church it's completely quiet except for whoever happens to be praying at the time, while we can hear all kinds of noises from outside - people letting off fireworks and the ships in the harbour tooting their horns! It's really cool. Then when the pastor closes the prayer time, we all get up and start wishing everyone a happy New Year.
Should be fun! (and it's inside out of the rain, and it's free, and you have an open bar (soft drinks only of course, heheheheh)).

Diverse Ramblings-MaltaGirl's adventures.

Freedom of Information

Malta is now one of only three European Union countries without a proper freedom of information law. A law that gives access to public information is finally being implemented in Germany:

The German Parliament (Bundestag) has completed the first reading of a new freedom of information law on 17 December 2004. Germany and Switzerland are the only 2 major Western European member states of the Council of Europe without such a law on accessibility of governmental acts and decision making. Within the EU, only Cyprus, Malta and Luxemburg lack this kind of legislation. The German green-red coalition cabinet promised to send such a proposal to the Lower House immediately after the summer recess.

'Freedom of Information under Maltese law' - a paper by Kevin Aquilina (pdf file)

In the middle of immigration woes

It is surprising that the Maltese Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg chose to be interviewed by the Washington Times (not to be confused with the mainstream Washington Post) the controversial newspaper founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, head of the religous movement The Unification Church.

Tom Carter, who interviewed Borg, wrote in his introduction that today illegal African immigrants are 'washing up', and Malta has become an entry point into the European Union. According to Minister Borg, Europe is taking a nationalistic and egoistic approach towards immigration. Wired Temples brings you the transcript of the interview published this week and largely overlooked by the Maltese media:

Question: Can you tell me something about Malta's immigration issues?

Answer: We are at the geographical center of the Mediterranean, at the center of very important sea routes as well — in this regard, the migration of everything. The problem with illegal or irregular immigration in Malta, the source of that migration is Libya, not in the sense that Libyan nationals are coming. The big problem is having sub-Saharan Africans using Libya as a steppingstone to cross over. At the beginning of June, there were only 100 detainees. [By mid-November], it had shot up to almost 800 detained, almost 52 boat arrivals. The pattern of this illegal migration is, they all leave from Libya. Whether they left Libya in the same boat is something we are investigating. Probably there are some larger ships, which take them closer to Europe and then release them in small boats, which contain 20 to 25 people. None of them arrive with documents. They claim to be mainly from Somalia. Since the beginning of the year, we've had 1,300 arrive, about 500 were from Somalia. If they succeed in proving they are from Somalia, they are granted humanitarian status. This is the current threat of illegal migration. There was only one arrival of more than 40 persons. Before, they used to come in large amounts and we could identify a captain. In a small boat, it is very difficult to identify an organizer. Probably there are no traffickers with them in the small boat. The worst year was 2002 — 1,608 [detainees], then it went down to 459 [in 2003]. It shot up again this year to 1,300 by the end of October. The problem is, what do you do with boatloads of people coming to Malta or crossing Malta to Italy? Very rarely are there immigrants who want to come to Malta directly. Usually something happens — fuel shortage, engine trouble, inclement weather. We only intervene or rescue them if they are in our rescue zone or in distress.

Q: Did Malta support the idea proposed by Italy and Germany to create refugee camps in Libya?

A: Yes. Unfortunately, it was completely misunderstood and it did not meet with the consensus of the European Union. The moment you use the word "camps," people automatically think you are talking about concentration camps. We consider them centers of assistance for channeling people for regular migration — not irregular migration. This was supported by Malta. Europe needs migrant workers, especially in the industrialized nations. Incidentally, even though there were a number of member states against, the idea has not been completely shelved. The real problem is, what happens with those who are granted asylum or humanitarian status? Shall they be redistributed? How many would Germany get? How many would France get? In my heart of hearts, I think this was the real problem. Now we have burden shifting, not burden sharing. In Malta, out of every two persons who arrive illegally, one gets some kind of protection — 50 percent. They are not refugees by the United Nations' [definition], but they come from areas of civil strife. They cannot be sent back. In the past two years, Malta gave protection to 1,000 [asylum seekers] and about 70 refugees. The ratio is very high. Malta is a small country with few resources.

Q: If professional smugglers decided to target Malta, you would be overwhelmed.

A: Malta is not targeted. The only problem we have is with Somalis. A small portion intend to come to Malta. Our resources are limited, but we are fighting for better joint patrols by EU states, and secondly, what happens to those migrants who are collected? The idea is to involve Libya in these joint patrols to prevent them from leaving the North African coast. What we are trying to do is help the North African countries become the first country of asylum — by assisting them financially. We repatriate about 600 a year. Libya always accepts back its own. We have never had a problem with North African nations, even Egypt. The problem is trying to persuade Libya to take back the ones who used Libya as a steppingstone. Libya considers itself a victim, as much as Malta and the European Union. Libya has a [4,500-mile] border, a [1,200-mile] coastline. Libya feels that it should not be held responsible for the others.

Q: Is there anti-immigrant sentiment in Malta?

A: Yes. Particularly in the last two years, and it worries me. It worries me because Malta is very firm with regard to illegal migration, but we give full protection to anyone who qualifies, half of those who apply, which is one of the highest [percentages] in Europe. It shows there is accessibility to the process and the process works. Those who are not granted asylum status are usually sent back. More important, those who enter illegally and apply are kept in detention. This has been the subject of controversy with [nongovernmental organizations], but we see this as in the national interest. If the [length of] detention exceeds what is reasonable, he will be released. After, one year, one year and a half, he should be released. Otherwise, we apply a law that goes back to 1970 that anyone arriving in Malta illegally is kept in detention. This is a way of preserving our interests. Imagine a boat arrives with 30 people. It is like a boat with 3,000 arriving in Sicily. When we had 1,600 arrive in 2002, it was almost half our birthrate. For every two persons born in Malta, we had one illegal immigrant. I am worried about this because, despite our firm stand, there is a xenophobic attitude, in all classes, transcending all political parties. You should see some of the e-mails I received after suggesting that we open a new [asylum] center.

Q: Malta has made a bid to host the European Union's immigration agency.

A: Apart from the prestige of hosting the agency, we argue that our geographic position at the periphery of Europe, on its southern border, getting the seat of the agency here would draw the attention of [the European Union] to the problem, the real problem on the southern border. You have millions of Africans who because of famine or war intend to cross over. They can use the Moroccan route into Spain, or they can use the central Mediterranean region. The first islands are Lampadusia or Malta or Sicily. Usually, the intention is to go to Sicily. Once you get to Sicily, it is very easy to proceed to Germany or France. Everyone knows, out of every four migrants, only one remains in Italy. The other three go further north. The agency here would organize things better for the European Union. The idea for the agency is not to control the border but to coordinate better our efforts in the fight versus illegal migration, joint repatriation flights, etc. The situation in the central Mediterranean is an issue. I think we [Europeans] are still taking a nationalist and egoistic immigration approach. The density of population in Malta is the fifth-highest in the world. Malta is bearing more than its fair share of the burden. Proportionally, we suffer the most of all European countries.

Surprise birthday present

Tom Gara came to Malta from Egypt to give a surprise birthday present to Thea Demanuele who is spending her vacation with her family in Malta. While waiting for Thea, he has been taking photos and discovering the island:

Malta is a really really unique place. Its kind of hard to describe in words - tiny and crowded but somehow still feeling like there is a lot of country to see. It has history in buckets, almost so much history that the really amazing parts are devalued by an oversupply. It has the strongest cuerrency I have ever used (1 maltese pound is 3.15 US Dollars) - changing my full months Egyptian salary (1000 Egyptian Pounds) and getting ONE NOTE in return was pretty soul crushing, especially given that it was only a fifty. I didnt even get the biggest note. But things are also fairly cheap in places - especially the incredibly delicious street snack pastizzi - which cannot be described in objective terms - just imagine the thing that you want all other small snack things to be - hot and crispy and fresh and cheesy and TEN CENTS.

A career from anywhere

Gary McLaren is the founder and editor of Worldwide Freelance Writer, and author of the eBook 'The Freelancer's Guide to Finding Writing Markets'. He considers the benefits of freelance writing and writes about Corinne Vella as an example:

Consider Vella Corinne, a native of Malta in the center of the Mediterranean Sea. From this island steeped in history - the Order of St John was based here and the temples are thought to be older than the pyramids - she writes travel and lifestyle features.Writers in locations such as these, far from being at a serious disadvantage, can actually enjoy a number of benefits. For a start, these writers are in an excellent position to write about their own locations, the people and the culture. Also, the living costs are often less expensive than for writers in major cities. And if that is not enough, how about fresh, clean air? Writers working from remote locations usually live in a cleaner, more peaceful environment, and may live closer to outdoor and recreational activities. Vella reveals how she enjoys the warmer days: "Once I pack up my computer, I just head to the beach. Distances are short and, the island being small, I'm always close to the center of whatever's happening here. I can control my own time in a way that I could not if I lived in a busy city."

'Blogs' give first person account of earthquake

The grief is too much to bear. Children could account for half the death toll which is now approaching 70,000. Weblogs worldwide are monitoring developments and giving first hand experiences of the disaster: Read personal accounts from Asia as well as numerous international links to blogs across the whole political spectrum.

Traditional media once again acknowledges the value of the blogosphere:

The Internet has quickly become the eyes and ears of the tsunami disaster. Over the past few days, news reports, amateur videos, dispatches from survivors and fundraising efforts have become part of the dialogue in the so-called blogosphere, the part of the World Wide Web that includes anything from personal diaries to political campaigns. Full article by Lisa Priest in Globetechnology on The Globe and Mail

In a generous gesture, Chatbar announces a free SMS service to help contact families and friends affected by Asian earthquake.

Kenneth Zammit Tabona appeals for Maltese generosity:

The world is responding and so must we. We are all in the same boat; today it's them, maybe tomorrow, God preserve us, it may be us. We are not privileged beings. We live in a seismic zone too. We therefore have no right to profess or have any sympathy for racist creeds that from time to time raise their ugly heads throughout our planet's sad history. These creeds are the personification of evil. As we clearly saw, despite our technology and power we are as weak as newly born kittens when compared to the infinite forces of nature.

The time for giving is indeed now. I am sure that there will be a national appeal to alleviate the sufferings and assuage the losses of all those thousands if not millions of people like ourselves who have been directly or indirectly affected by the disaster. This is the time to stand up and be counted by digging deep into our pockets without counting the cost and forgetting our usually rather depleted January budgets. This is a world tragedy and we must not fail to respond to it like we always have. We Maltese have big hearts and limitless resourcefulness; how else would we have survived and thrived throughout the millennia of colonialism as well as we did?


The Malta Independent reports on 19 Maltese people still missing.

Smoking Ban

Thea Demanuele was doing a traineeship in Egypt with International student organization AIESEC before returning to Malta this week. She is surprised that a law prohibiting smoking in public places was introduced during her absence:

The most agonising surprise is the banning of cigarettes in public places!!! How can you no longer have a cigarette with your beer!!! This is torture! I was quietly sitting in Dubliners ordered my Export and lit a cigarette, when a barman came running to me and told me that I had to put out the cigarette. The surprised me, sat up and told him since when???? Well obviously there was no arguing about that!!! Cigarette out!!! The barman kept on teasing me all throughout the night..... when I went up for a beer, the guy kept on telling me 'What would you like? A smoke??' - Ha Ha.... Its very hard to get used to, even today when I went out of coffee with friends, and I got suddenly bored and had nothing to say, I could not put a cigarette in my mouth.... I guess its good though..... less chances of lung cancer!

Pushing photography to the edge

American writer and thinker Susan Sontag died yesterday. She struggled with various forms of cancer for over 30 years including breast cancer. Her radicalism had an influential impact on generations of artists and critics including Maltese photographer Patrick Fenech. Inspired by Sontag's On Photography Fenech pioneered art and radicalism in Maltese photography. He gives an account of his career in this interview with Malta today:

In my young days I wanted to be independent quickly, so I got a job with a leading insurance company. I was very interested in the history of modern art and did a lot of drawing and painting with my dad and the late Esprit Barthet at the School of Art. When I was 20 my Indian girlfriend bought me a SLR professional camera for my birthday, and that was it. I'd found my medium. I set myself to learn the techniques of developing and printing and read "On photography" by Susan Sontag like mad. Now, I thought, I could really do some reasonably good photography.
An artist has to respond to his or her environment, current events, society, politics etc. I simply cannot sit down and paint pretty pictures. That is for Sunday painters. In the meantime there are other important issues to be dealt with, other media to use.

Read Susan Sontag's obituary.

Maria and Joseph Calleja

Following a year in the Czech Republic, Maria Calleja has been blogging and having a great time in Australia. Today she flies back to Malta to spend time with her family before she goes to Brussels in January for a stage at DHL. Her many international friends have blogs as well.
Maria's brother Joseph is the well known tenor who released his debut album Tenor Arias earlier this year:

For someone who had, until then, thought that music consisted of the likes of Iron Maiden (for those unaware of them: this is a British heavy metal band), it was quite a revelation that another kind of music existed that was highly pleasurable, whether he had the singing technique for it or not.
The turning point came when young Joseph, during a visit to his aunt in the UK, borrowed her CD Essential Pavarotti 2 and started singing Pavarotti arias. His aunt was so impressed with his voice that she urged the fifteen-year-old to become a professional singer. Upon his return to Malta, Calleja auditioned for the local opera choir there and was instantly hired as Second Tenor.


Read his profile and hear him sing (MP3 file) "Ella mi fu rapita!" from Verdi's Rigoletto (2nd Act): Joseph Calleja

As you listen read the original text in Italian with an English translation.

Cameron Barrett's Malta trip report

In January of 1999 Cameron Barrett wrote an essay called Anatomy of a Weblog, defining the concept and pioneering a new form of the personal Web site - the weblog or blog. In June, 2003 he launched WatchBlog, a collaborative blog about the 2004 U.S. election. A few months before, Cameron travelled to Southern Siberia followed by a trip to Malta. In Malta he learnt how to drive on the left side of the road, watched movies with intermissions and got lost on the way to the catacombs:

The second most annoying thing about the movie theatres in Malta is that they all have intermissions. Yeah, it was quite a shock. I don't think I've seen an actual intermission period at a movie in the U.S. since I saw E.T. In 1982 in Cody, Wyoming when I was 12 years old. The good thing about the intermissions was it gave everyone a chance to use the restrooms and buy more popcorn, which I suspect is the real reason why such an old practice is still in effect.

The best part of the trip to Malta was the visit to the Hypogeum, an underground stone temple built by humans in 5000 B.C. To 2500 B.C., making it the oldest human-built structure on the planet. Discovered in 1903, while digging a well for a new house in what is now the town of Paola, the Hypogeum has turned out to be one of the most important prehistoric archeological discoveries ever.

The hardest thing to get used to on Malta is the fact that 90% of the businesses are closed between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM every day, and most are closed on Sundays. Walk around the shopping hubs of the cities of Sliema and Valletta at 3:00 PM in the afternoon, and all you see are dozens of other displaced tourists wandering around aimlessly waiting for the shops to re-open. For a tourism-based economy like Malta's, this defies logic, yet only a few shop owners have bucked tradition and stayed open through the afternoon.

Read the full trip report.

The flag of Malta

Some information posted by Adrian Strickland about the history of the Maltese flag:

According to tradition, the origin of the flag has various sources. However the most credible but not in any way verified (as yet) is the two colours, white/red, were originally squares, giving a ratio of 1:2. And these two squares come from the last two squares of the chequered flag of the Norman family of Hauteville. The Hautevilles (or Altavilla as they are called in nearby Sicily) were the Norman family that under Count Roger, conquered Sicily (and in 1090 also Malta). Shields of arms carved in wood and stone may be found all over Malta dating from before the arrival of the Knights of Saint John, notwithstanding their domination of these islands and their continuous erosion of the rights of the Maltese, during 250 years of rule.

Movies filmed in Malta

Romantic website lovetripper.com is impressed by movies filmed in Malta:

You didn't realize that these little Mediterranean islands had starred in many top movies? With their good climate, picturesque settings, and many varied locations, the islands of Malta, Comino, and Gozo have starred in many films and television shows . Also, Malta is home to the Mediterranean Film Studios which, since 1963, has offered a shallow water tank for filming water scenes.


Films shot on location in Malta include Troy (2004) with Brad Pitt; Gladiator (2000) with Russell Crowe; Christopher Columbus (1992) with Marlon Brando and Catherine Zeta-Jones as well as James Bond movies starring Sean Connery and Roger Moore. The village built for the film Popeye (1980) can still be visited today.

The Rough Guide Malta and Gozo

EuroResort's holiday-malta.com reviews several books about Malta including the Malta edition in the Rough Guide series:

The author had the advantage of writing about a small country, which might explain why this book is so good. Alas, smallness is often next to greatness, as anybody who knows anything about Malta will tell you. Situated smack dab in the middle of the Mediterranean, it has been a cultural crossroads for thousands of years, from the time of the Phoenecians right down to British colonial days (Malta became an independent country only in 1964 and the British influence is still strong). Its famous siege by the Turks in 1565 was only a part of its rich and exciting history. This book includes a thorough section on Maltese history and culture, plus a list of other books if you want to learn more. As for the travel sections, it's replete with useful information, including details about admission costs, opening hours, bus routes, places to stay and eat, how to get there (not always easy), and where to go have fun in the sun. The maps are great, and it's also got a lot of useful information about Gozo and Comino, the beautiful neighboring islands 30 minutes by boat from Malta itself. This book was written with budget travelers in mind, but anybody will find it useful. And don't be turned away by the title: the only thing "rough" about Malta is the bus network, which is absolutely prehistoric and will beat even the most hard-core travelers down to an ichthyous, jelly-like pulp. Watch out. --- Five stars.

Mixing German and Maltese culture

The head of the Lufthansa German airlines in Malta is interviewed by Ingrid B Kidder for this month's newsletter of the German-Maltese Circle:

Today Valdis Dombrovskis enjoys the pleasant Mediterranean climate and flair, loves the fresh Maltese vegetables and sea food - something he missed in Russia and Turkmenistan -, and has established a good relationship to his company’s customers as well as many Maltese people, whom he may call his friends now. And one item he pointed out especially at the end of the interview: neither Riga, when he was there, nor Yekaterinburg or Ashgabad maintained a German cultural institute. While here in Valletta he soon found the German-Maltese Circle offering German books, films, and interesting evenings, - and a cheerful mixture of German and Maltese culture in a venerable sixteenth century palazzo.

Malta boat tragedy

Eight years ago on Christmas day, several young Indians lost their lives as they were being ferried illegally across the Mediterranean. It is unclear to this day how many of them perished. The Hindustan Times reports on the protests of family members:

Perturbed over the Centre’s decision not to become a party in any of the court cases pertaining to the Malta boat tragedy of 1996, family members of victims today held a protest.
Led by Malta Boat Tragedy Probe Mission chairman Balwant Singh Khera, they raised slogans against the Central as well as the state governments, saying they expected at least a monetary relief on humanitarian grounds for the lives lost on the night of December 25 that year.
“Even if the government has decided not to get involved, the least it can do is to help the families in retrieving the remains of those who died. Besides, it must come out with an official list so that it could be clear as to how many persons were actually killed,” said Khera.
Though the chances were bleak, there were many families who still hoped their wards might return, he said. “We agree that the youths were being ferried illegally, but since they were Indians, it is the duty of the government to procure the right information,” he added.
Khera contended that if the government could go all out to ensure the release of the three Punjabis taken hostage in Iraq, why could the same not be done in the Malta case.

Like a ballerina dancing on water

Maltese author Charles Flores writes about the Maltese dghajsa:

The picture of Malta's spectacular Grand Harbour is never complete without the colourful elegance of the dghajsa, the traditional passenger boat that has survived through the centuries incredibly from Phoenician times.
Like an ageless ballerina dancing on the water, the dghajsa may give the impression of fragility as it glides smoothly past the oil tankers and huge white tourist liners to cross the ancient harbour, from one special site to another... historical forts, bastions and underground silos, mediaeval palaces and winding wharves, busy shipyards and quaint little bays. But it is, in truth, quite a sturdy boat that can adapt itself remarkably well to both the oar and the modern outboard motor with a maximum of ten passengers if and when required.
That maximum was often mandatory during the British era when thousands of sailors used the dghajsa services to go ashore and back on board the Royal Navy ships of the Mediterranean fleet that used Malta as a strategic base.
The dghajsa is known to have offered the same reliable service to the fleets of the other imperial nations that once ruled over the Maltese Islands, from the French and the Knights of St John to the Arabs and the feudal lords of Europe.
One just can't help comparing the dghajsa with Venice's gondola which is known to have evolved from the same Phoenician prototype. That the two boats are sisters is a fact testified in the maritime records of the Venetian Republic.
In modern times, the dghajsa has for many years had to face an uncertain future. The only new boats being built were those for the annual 8th September Regatta, a series of races that go back to the time of the Knights and in which feature, sometimes rather too boisterously, the ardent crews from the towns and villages on the harbour coast line, Marsa, Kalkara, Vittoriosa, Cospicua, Senglea, the current Aggregate Shield Holders and Marsamxett (Valletta).

Don't blame everything on Brussels

In his last days before early retirement, the representative of the European Commission in Malta has suggested to the Sunday Times that fingers should be pointed at the Government's policy measures rather than at Brussels:

The outgoing head of the European Commission Delegation to Malta, Ronald Gallimore has urged the Maltese to distinguish between local and EU-related issues before pointing fingers at Brussels. In his last and perhaps frankest interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Gallimore advises the Maltese to check whether any tough measures being taken by the government were in any way related to the EU acquis or if they were local policy measures needed to reach local political or economic objectives.
"When I read the newspapers it seems that everything is Brussels' fault, wherever Brussels is. Sometimes it does suit governments to do that. People should check the facts before they speak out," he said. It was natural for a country to go through a period of "deflation" right after EU membership, he said, adding that he was optimistic Malta would start reaping the benefits of membership within two or three years.
He also augured that EU membership would dilute some of the political fanaticism in the country - a slightly lower voter turnout would actually be a healthy sign.
Mr Gallimore speaks of his bafflement as he saw both the Yes and No camps celebrate in the aftermath of the referendum - minutes after opening his champagne.

Read the full interview.

Maltese Vagabond

Jess flew from North America to spend nine months in Malta studying at the University. Having a break from her studies, she is spending her Christmas vacation touring Europe with her friends. She misses the sunshine but not the excesses of Maltese drivers:

Tomorrow we are going to Belgium. I'm pretty excited about that. I cant wait for the waffles! I'm not very excited to return to malta though... the people around here are so nice. they dont try to kill you with their cars and they dont walk into you on the sidewalk. the food is much better here too. oh well... the cold weather is getting a bit tiring and i do miss the sunshine. I dont really have much else to report. its been kind of slow because of christmas and all... hope you all had a merry christmas. enjoy your new year!

Christmas without Christ

Expressing his dejection at having to spend Christmas day without a religous service, English Cardinal John Henry Newman wrote this poem during a stay in Malta in 1832. It is included in Verses on Various Occasions :

Christmas without Christ

How can I keep my Christmas feast
In its due festive show,
Reft of the sight of the High Priest
From whom its glories flow?

I hear the tuneful bells around,
The blessèd towers I see;
A stranger on a foreign ground,
They peal a fast for me.

O Britons! now so brave and high,
How will ye weep the day
When Christ in judgment passes by,
And calls the Bride away!

Your Christmas then will lose its mirth,
Your Easter lose its bloom:
Abroad, a scene of strife and dearth;
Within, a cheerless home!

Malta.
December 25, 1832.

The Maltese Crib

Gorg Mifsud-Chircop describes the presepju:

Tiny Malta has its own way of presenting the crib, in Maltese “il-presepju’’. There are two kinds of cribs: "il-grotta" (lit. the cave), a small children’s crib (with very small statues), and “il-presepju" proper, a large elaborate crib found in churches, homes, hospitals, youth centres, etc. There are various actors in the crib, falling under two group types: one, biblical universal actors including Our Lady, Baby Jesus, St Joseph, angels with/without musical instruments, the three kings, a beast of burden, normally a donkey, and a cow; and the other actors dressed in Maltese popular style of dress and representing traditional crafts and pastimes and scenes depicting everyday life in Malta and/or Gozo, such as musicians (e.g. “taz-zaqq" (the bagpipe player), “tat-tanbur’’ (the hand drummer) and “taz-zavzava" or “tar-rabbaba" (the friction drum player), “l-ghannejja" or “ix-xrik" (lit. the two partners in folk singing, or, impromptu singers), weavers, farmers, fishermen, fishmongers, bakers, hunters, “ix-xabbatur" (lit. the climber), “l-ghageb" or “l-imghaggeb" (lit. the simple man full of wonder), and “ir-rieqed" (lit. the sleeper). As in the various aspects of Maltese life and world-view variations dominate Maltese Christmas culture, explicitly to be discovered in the pasturi or Christmas statuettes.

Christmas is served

Max L. Fly discusses Christmas gift wrapping in Maltese stone houses heated by paraffin:

There is a slight chance there will be snow in London, but no hope of that in Malta. Instead, the temperature has dropped to 15 degrees, but it feels like zero because stone houses are not made for winter. People with paraffin heaters make financial computations in their head to ration usage. The fat cats with fat cars cruise by Cafe Oasis and overfeed their designer children. Gift wrapping is a national obession.Max has bought Jacob a plastic digger, three Percy the Park-keeper books, and Pinocchio and Lion King DVDs. Max has bought Liz a blender and Jamie Oliver's latest. Max has bought himself a string on DVDs which he will probably never watch, but which look great, still sealed in Play.com packaging.Tonight, Liz will leave a glass of wine and a mince pie, to solicit Santa's visit, to fill socks, kiss sleeping angels and bring good luck to a household that needs it like millions of others. And for Max's friend Maurizio, living the darkest of Christmases... may he find a way out of the abyss, and realise that things come in cycles, and there there is only one way to go.Up.

Malta - an introduction

Malta from wikipedia:

The Republic of Malta is a small and densely populated island nation in southern Europe. It consists of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea directly south of Italy. These strategically located islands have been ruled and fought over by various powers over the centuries.

Malta has been inhabited since around 5200 BC and a significant prehistoric civilization existed on the islands prior to the arrival of the Phoenicians who named the main island Malat, meaning safe haven. The islands later came under the control first of Carthage (400 BC) and then of Rome, before being conquered by Arabs in AD 870, who would greatly influence local culture, notably in the Maltese language. In 1127, they were finally replaced by the Sicilian Normans, after which Malta became Christian again. After this time, the Maltese nobility was created; it dates back to the Norman Conquest in 1090. The nobility is still around today. 32 titles are still used by the Maltese, of which the oldest is: Barons of Djar il Bniet and Buqana.
In 1530 the islands were given to the Order of Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem by Spain (Aragon having owned the island as part of their Mediterranean empire for some time), who had been driven out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire. This militant monastic order, now known as the "Knights of Malta", withstood a siege by the Ottoman Turks in 1565, after which they increased the fortifications, particularly in the new city of Valletta. Their reign ended when Napoleon conquered the islands in 1798. The British then took the islands in 1800, when French commander General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois surrendered. The country was presented by several Maltese leaders to Sir Alexander Ball.
In 1814, as part of the Treaty of Paris, Malta officially became a part of the British Empire and was used as a shipping waystation and fleet headquarters until the mid 1930s. Malta played an important role during World War II, owing to its proximity to Axis shipping lanes, and its people’s bravery led to the awarding of the George Cross now seen on its flag. After the war, Maltese independence was granted on September 21, 1964. Under its 1964 constitution, Malta initially retained Queen Elizabeth II as sovereign of Malta and a Governor-General exercised executive authority on her behalf, but on December 13, 1974, Malta became a republic within the Commonwealth, with the President as head of state. Although Malta had been fully independent since 1964, the British services stayed on until March 31, 1979, when the last British troops left the island after the British government refused to raise the rental fee (for its forces to stay on the island) to the expectations of the Maltese (Labour) Prime Minister of the time, Dominic Mintoff. This event is celebrated as Freedom Day. It joined the European Union on May 1, 2004. The maltese breed of dog has originated from here.