“If I walked across the Gozo Channel my enemies would still call me a bad swimmer!”
These pages: Waugh in Malta, The Ups and Downs, Ian and Xandir Malta, The Island Sound Fiasco, Malta and Me, Malta Links, Charles Arrigo Tribute
For me the attraction to Malta isn’t the weather … sun, sea and sun and sea! The culture and history fascinates me, but so does culture and history generally. The Maltese food is good, very good.
The main attraction for me is the Maltese. I really like the Maltese on so many levels. I like the way they are. Passionate, interesting, Latin, European and not afraid to speak their mind.
Maltese are creative, artistic and clever. Maltese are forward thinking, independent and yet open.
They cling for their lives to anything and everything which is Maltese – from language to culture. They are welcoming and they mean well. You can argue with them until you are blue in the face – but don’t expect to win, especially if its about anything to do with Malta. For all these reasons I respect the Maltese and will always give them credit for what the Maltese stand for. But hey! Don’t tell them … its between me and you!
During my initial time on the islands I made it my business to remain silent on the internal affairs of Malta contrary to comments from both sides of the political divide. Indeed I remained fervently impartial on most issues. Despite my efforts invariably I found myself dragged from one side to the other. I was (and still am actually) frequently reminded … “this is Malta” – an expression I find constantly annoying in an amusing way.
Over the years various controversies have been on the agenda in Malta – some of which I have had certain personal and very private views of myself. I have hardly ever openly commented on any of them from power stations to shooting birds. Being branded an ‘interfering foreigner’ from day one was in a way baptism of fire despite being in Malta originally as a contracted broadcast adviser to the state broadcaster.
Politics
Malta is a country polarised by politics. When I turned up in 1988 the right wing Nationalists (blue!) had recently won an electoral victory over the left wing Labour party (red!). The mood in the country was one of understandable smugness on the right and annoyance on the left. As for me – I was just doing a job. I didn’t care who was ‘red’ and who was ‘blue’. In fact from a professional point of view I was fairly determined to keep my personal politics out of all this and just keep my head down.
The way it was:
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| above – Dr. Karmenu Misfud Bonnici Prime Minister of Malta from 1984 to 1987. Dr. Mifsud Bonnici narrowly lost the 1987 elections serving as Leader of the Opposition until 1992. |
above – Dr. Edward Fenech Adami Prime Minister of Malta from 1987 until 1996 and from 1998 until 2004. On 16 April 2003, Dr. Fenech Adami signed Malta’s Accession Treaty with the European Union. |
What privately annoyed me intensely were the assumptions that both political parties dare to make about me. Had anyone actually asked me face-to-face what my personal politics were then I would have been only too pleased to give them the gruesome or good news (depending on which side of this fence you sit). So instead in the beginning the ‘reds’ assumed much to my disgust that I was a ‘blue’ supporter and a few years later when things weren’t quite going their way in my books the ‘blues’ accused me of being a ‘red’ supporter! And this wasn’t restricted to small town gossip … this was full-blown press tittle-tattle!
The way it is:
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| above – Dr. Lawrence Gonzi The incumbent Prime Minister of Malta. He became Prime Minister on 23 March 2004, following the resignation of Dr. Fenech Adami. Dr. Gonzi was re-elected in March 2008. |
above – Dr. Joseph Muscat Leader of the Labour Party and is currently Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives of Malta. In the Maltese European Parliament Elections, held on the June 6th, 2008, Muscat faced his first Election as Party Leader. The Labour Party managed to win these elections by landslide. |
Right now I think it has never been more politically interesting as the country seems to be heading to yet another crossroad – only this time I think I am fairly sure who the clear winner will be. Sitting from the outside looking in gives quite a good view.
Broadcasting
I came to Malta in 1988 as an adviser for the state broadcaster, Xandir Malta (more here). In 1990/91 I was quite vocal regarding the future of broadcasting and the proposed deregulation. The state broadcasters’ monopoly was about to be be broken which was good news and in a way bad news.
(image: Xandir Malta (now PBS). Built by Rediffusion Malta in 1957, this building replaced former facilities in Valletta. Rediffusion was replaced by the state broadcaster, Xandir Malta in 1975)
With a population of about 404,000 with about 100,000 households the commercial market was always going to be relatively small. As such a few of us in the real world were realistically anticipating one other additional national commercial television channel and say another three commercial radio stations with one dedicated to Gozo. Even to the outsider these numbers seem high for the Maltese micro-market. The danger was that any more stations than that would seriously dilute the business prospects, make a mockery of any business model and spread available experienced talent even more thinly.
When the infamous Broadcasting Act 1991 was a Green Paper I was satisfied that all logic had been blown into the wind. The fall-out which became the law eventually created an irreversible and quite extraordinary media situation which unfortunately is still being felt to this very day.
I was involved in a radio consortia bidding for a licence. I was an ‘adviser’ for them. You read about my experiences here.
Broadcasting in Malta became an ‘industry’ in 1991 following the breaking of the monopolies. It was thought that all the problems that beset broadcasters (mainly from politicians) would be solved if the political parties and the church were each given there own station!
Today Malta is swamped with radio and television stations. Programme companies come and go. Licences are bought and sold. For a country smaller than rural Devon in South West England, one wonders how these stations stay financially above water … but “this is Malta”!
The Opera House Bomb Site
At the end of 2008 Malta’s Prime Minister, Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, announced to a bemused and astonished electorate that he planned to build a Parliament in place of the bombed out Opera House building in Valletta. This is Europe’s most visible World War Two bomb site at the entrance to Valletta. I joined the thousands of Maltese and foreigners opposed to this plan and created a website to give this issue greater coverage (here). This is the only time I have ever taken sides in an actual debate!
In June 2009 the Prime Minister reversed his decision and theatre status was once again restored, much to the relief of many Maltese to say quite a few onlookers from outside Malta. The Times of Malta reported that it wasn’t the thousands of Maltese protesters who persuaded the PM to do a u-turn but a foreigner to Malta – the architect appointed to oversee the redevelopment of City Gate of which the Opera House is part of. So victory (if that’s what you want to call it) was bitter sweet. Now the former campaigning website which drew attention to this issue is now following the developments of what will become the new theatre on this famous piece of land. So watch this space! (Image: Simon Gornall)
