One beautiful and wise Maltese proverb goes: “Everybody measures with his own hand’s breadth” (Kulħadd ikejjel b’xibru). It must have been created for Labour.
It’s inconceivable for Labour to imagine somebody with huge power wouldn’t, ever, abuse that power for personal advantage. Labour thinks everybody elected to high office “makes hay while the sun shines”.
KullĦadd, Labour’s newspaper published an editorial entitled ‘Dan huwa l-Partit Nazzjonalista’ (this is the Nationalist Party), with a photo of me. The ruling party’s paper dedicated an editorial lying about me to smear my father-in-law, Eddie Fenech Adami.
KullĦadd claimed ex-President Fenech Adami took his entire family to the Vatican out of taxpayer’s money.
That’s a blatant lie, a lie Labour knows is malignant. The state funded the costs of the president and his wife. None of the family members were funded by the taxpayer.
A statement by the director of information in the Times of Malta of July 23, 2004, revealed the total cost of the visit – Lm3,743. It covered the costs of the president, his wife, the president’s private secretary and his ADC. It also covered gifts to the pope, Fra Andrew Bertie and President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, and air tickets for the accompanying press and the charge for the official photographer.
The state covered none of the costs for family members for those trips. President Fenech Adami even paid personally by cheque for the photos of the family taken by the official photographer during the audience with His Holiness Pope Benedict.
All the documentation was left at the Office of the President at the end of Fenech Adami’s term. It is available to confirm the facts. But Labour isn’t interested in facts.
Fenech Adami spent two decades occupying the country’s highest offices. Yet, he continued to live in a humble dwelling in Birkirkara and an even humbler apartment in Buġibba. Labour cannot understand how someone with so much power never abused it.
Money and personal wealth never interested the former president. He harbours a distaste for ostentatious luxury and an even deeper one for greed. He lived his life in selfless service, thinking only of his country’s interests.
He’s a stickler for rectitude and correctness. While prime minister, he required specialised treatment at the Mayo Clinic. He paid for it out of his own pocket. Whenever he invited the family to lunch at the presidential palace, he paid for the food out of personal funds.
When he went to Manresa House, Gozo, for his annual three-day retreat with the Jesuits, his official car stayed in Gozo while his driver travelled back to Malta by bus and ferry to avoid unnecessary fuel costs to the state. When his wife died at Mater Dei’s ITU, he didn’t allow his driver to fetch the black dress in which she was buried. “That’s not what the official car is there for,” was his gentle explanation.
KullĦadd lied about the former president. They also made false claims about me to denigrate him: “It wasn’t the first time that this Cassar benefitted from the national coffers, from the taxes paid by Maltese and Gozitans.” They implied that my wife and I travelled with the President and his wife from Malta to visit Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral Castle in August 2005 out of taxpayers’ money. That’s another blatant lie.
My wife and I lived in Aberdeen with our three children. I worked as a consultant vascular surgeon at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. The President and his wife were invited to Balmoral by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth while visiting to see their grandchildren. My wife and I were invited too.
Robert Abela has the power to stop his own party station and newspaper pumping out appalling lies- Kevin Cassar
We didn’t travel from Malta, we lived in Aberdeen. We didn’t even join the president and his wife in the official vehicle for the 47-mile trip from Aberdeen to Balmoral. I drove there with my wife in our Fiat Doblo. The official car was there for the president, not his daughter and son-in-law.
Labour isn’t interested in the truth. They’re interested only in persecuting critics. I am not the Nationalist Party as their editorial falsely claims. I hold no position in the PN. I write articles highlighting abuse. For that, Labour is relentless in its campaign of harassment and intimidation.
Labour regularly broadcasts photos and footage of myself and my children while denouncing and ridiculing me on ONE. Justice Minister Jonathan Attard called my actions “deplorable” for writing articles. The prime minister made pejorative comments about me simply for lodging a complaint with the standards commissioner. The party’s official paper wastes its editorials lying about me.
Joseph Muscat’s protégé, Neville Gafà, irate at my exposé of his shenanigans, attempted to intimidate me with phone calls and messages. He’s falsely claimed that my father-in-law intervened personally to get an annulment for my wife, in order to marry me. My wife was never married before, she never got an annulment. And her father would certainly never intervene. Gafà also lied about Richard Cachia Caruana's writing my articles.
Gafà questioned whether I work full-time at Mater Dei Hospital. I’m proud that I dedicate all my energy to the public sector. For 15 years, I was the only Maltese consultant surgeon dedicated to vascular surgery. I’ve treated presidents, prime ministers, ministers, MPs from both sides and thousands of citizens. And I’ve treated all of them the same – to the best of my ability.
Labour won’t change. It spent years persecuting Daphne Caruana Galizia, paving the way for her assassination. It accused her of being “the true opposition”, of being a key part of the PN, splashing images of her on ONE news, party billboards and the party’s newspapers.
Labour fomented such hatred for her that many Labour supporters celebrated her horrific death. Some posted offensive comments. Jason Micallef mocked her last words. Owen Bonnici swept her memorial. Robert Abela refuses to implement the Caruana Galizia inquiry recommendations.
Labour’s still hounding those who dare denounce Labour’s abuse. They’re still smearing critics with blatant lies. They’re still vilifying Fenech Adami, trying to cast crude aspersions on his unblemished record.
Abela might not be able to stop Gafà but he has the power to stop his own party station and newspaper pumping out appalling lies. He could stop the vilification and harassment. But he doesn’t. Instead, he leads it. He viciously attacks the judiciary, journalists and critics. He incites the public against those “pretending to be journalists”.
Sometimes, people deride politicians, stating “they’re all the same”. Believe me, they couldn’t be more different.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.