An opinion piece by MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant which appeared to dismiss the despair faced by migrants was "obviously parodic and sarcastic" he has said, reassuring activists who were left confused and dismayed by the article.
The piece, titled Migrants in Despair, and published in The Malta Independent on Monday, left some readers wondering whether the MEP actually meant the words he penned literally, or whether he was employing a sarcastic tone.
The article begins by saying that “the despair and mental health difficulties that ‘irregular’ migrants experience constitute a problem which is not receiving enough attention. Or better, the problem is not considered as one that should concern us.”
The piece then takes on an apparently sarcastic tone as Dr Sant talks about the harsh language used towards migrants “by members of all social categories, from people in low income brackets to the most affluent and the most sophisticated.”
To some, he says, migrants are ‘the others’ and so "the difficulties they face in life are of no interest to us... The hopelessness of others should not be a matter of concern to us – that is the general verdict... Our family comes first, followed by the families of other Maltese and Gozitans... so long as the latter’s problems do not affect us and our own families too badly. If so, it also stands to reason we would not care for them as well."
But the last line left some readers with a sense of doubt over the the tone of the article as it states: “And this is how things should be.”
Confused readers
One reader commented: “Is the last line on the piece on migrants intended as published?”
Human rights activist Maria Pisani was among the incredulous readers.
"Despicable opinion piece by our MEP Alfred Sant," she wrote on Facebook.
"So wrong on so many levels, I don't know where to begin... a total disregard for human rights and basic human dignity, completely misguided vis-a-vis national and geopolitical security... and totally out of synch with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament...Or sarcasm gone totally wrong?? I hope so."
Asked to clarify the tone of the article, Dr Sant told Times of Malta: "This article was obviously parodic and sarcastic."
That clarification reassured Dr Pisani.
"We got a lot of comments from people who admire Dr Sant who were confused and shocked by what he said. If it's sarcasm, it's perfectly fine, especially because the points he raised are actually important to discuss. We hope Dr Sant will address them himself in his next opinion piece or public speech," she said.
Last month a riot at the open centre in Ħal Far was met with a public outrage that also exposed disturbing violent and illegal hate speech on social media.