A matter of equality
Recently I had to renew my passport so I went to the office with the form duly filled in. When I handed the form in I was told that the part stating that I was not somebody else had to be duly filled in and signed by a person of a higher standing than...
Recently I had to renew my passport so I went to the office with the form duly filled in. When I handed the form in I was told that the part stating that I was not somebody else had to be duly filled in and signed by a person of a higher standing than myself, a person with a university degree of sorts or a priest.
No one ever asked me such a thing, to vouchsafe for my identity, and the person at the counter would not accept my old passport as proof of my being the person who my passport said I was.
The passport office is ridiculing itself in not trusting its own declaration that I was the Joseph Mary Farrugia it had affirmed I was 10 years ago. My old passport is still valid.
The matter does not end there. It offends and violates my democratic rights and ideals. By expecting me to go and have a person of a high level of education state and verify my identity is in itself an insult not only to me but to every citizen of the country who is not a lawyer, a doctor, a priest, a professional etc. These people of profession can be as honest or as deceitful as the next person.
The law concerning the issue of passports must have been enacted when Malta was still a colony or still had a colonial mentality. The drafter of the law could not have had democratic ideals because he perpetrated the maxim that existed 70 years ago when not all people were equal and deserved a right to vote.
Does the passport office know that with the use of a legal document, such as the ID card and an E-connection with the registry, which is fully electronic, the system could be brought out of the Victorian era?