Flashback

Burma is today's top story. Led by the monks and the students, the people of Burma have been marching demanding a democratic voice and a decent living.

An eccentric military junta has denied them democracy for decades. The self-imposed isolation has accentuated Burma's economic problems where the per capita income is $200 per year - a mere Lm60 a year.

In the elections held in 1990, the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi was victorious. But instead of being driven to the prime minister's office, she was driven to jail. Seventeen years later she is still under house arrest, held incommunicado with her people and the international community.

Our own story

The graphic images of the monks and the people of Burma marching through the streets of Yangon (formerly Rangoon) in the midst of clouds of tear gas and flying live bullets bring to my mind horrific flashbacks of the events that we were put through in the Eighties by an oppressive Socialist regime that was led by the people who are leading the Labour Party today.

Those of us who were politically active 20 years ago remember the mass gatherings that were repeatedly interrupted by police firing suffocating tear gas on the crowds. They remember the masked and fully armed and armoured "police" who used to be paraded at the entrance of the areas where we were supposed to be holding our meetings.

We remember the brutal police and hooligan attacks at Tal-Barrani, Zejtun, and then the indiscriminate shooting orgy at Rabat.

We remember the systematic burning and looting of our clubs, the burning of our houses, and the shootings that left one of our people killed.

Every time we witness the excesses in Burma, let us remember that an illegitimate Labour government that had usurped power through gerrymandered elections had applied the same violent tactics in this country against the people. As we see the images of what is happening in Burma, let us tell our children that we also marched in the streets in the same circumstances and for the same reasons. Let them learn that the democracy we enjoy today was hard won and was also washed in blood.

Labour has not shown any repentance for what had happened. It has not yet apologised to the Maltese people for these atrocities.

EU experience

Now we are more than three years through our EU experience. The road to accession was difficult, the adjustments needed to bring our institutions, systems and process in line with EU standards were not easy. But the effort was made, the negotiations were concluded and today we can sit back and see that it was worth it.

Over the last three years the change process continued. In fact I would say that on many issues our adherence to EU declared policies conforms to a greater degree than that of countries that formed the original core of the Union.

It is exhilarating to see that our forecasts of the benefits of EU membership are being felt in our economy. EU membership has put Malta on the map as an investment location for many companies seeking an operating base. EU membership has given Malta the perception of a safe investment location in the eyes of the investor.

Our experience is that many companies are looking at Malta and are investing here because we are part of the EU. I can say this from first-hand experience and I am sure that it can be corroborated by many professionals working in the economic sector.

This applies especially to the financial sector which has become the main motor of our economy and which, if properly nurtured and protected, should continue to guarantee well-paid jobs for our people and a steady stream of tax revenue which alleviates the need to tax the local population.

Riding the wave

We are presently benefiting from the success of the EU economy. We should be monitoring and managing this situation to understand the dynamics of the economic stream and ensure that we reap maximum benefit for the country by tweaking our practices as and where necessary to facilitate and widen the flow.

We should also be putting in place the necessary structures to capture some of these initiatives which can be transient and temporary, and harness them to create longer-term economic activity.

Whoever in Government is responsible for the economy must not sit back relaxed with this good fortune, but he must be very busy and active to convert as much as possible of this providence to permanence.

One of the areas where we stand to gain by our accession to the EU is the guarantee of human rights in Malta. No more will we have a repetition of events like we had in the early Eighties. Even on an individual basis, we have access to claim redress for any case where we feel that our personal human rights are being threatened.

The Auditor General

More than three years ago, the Prime Minister took up my suggestion and instructed the Auditor General to make a comparative analysis of the air ticketing purchase practices within the public sector. I made this suggestion when faced with the ludicrous camouflage of air tickets purchase by the foreign ministry as the reason why "I could not continue in Cabinet".

Recent events have continued to show how ludicrous this was.

At the time I did not know of the existence of the Zahra report which was in Dr Gonzi's hands weeks before my forced resignation. According to PN secretary-general Joe Saliba, my resignation was instigated by a report that was to be handed to the Police Commissioner for investigation. The only report that was in the hands of Dr Gonzi and Mr Saliba at the time of that ominous saga, and which was to be handed to the Commissioner of Police for investigation, was the fabricated Zahra report.

Three years later, the Auditor General has not yet published his findings. I have it from political party sources that this report has been sitting on the Auditor General's desk for months. Also, some days after the court decision on the Zahra fraud case last November, Mr Saliba, on Super One TV, stated that he was sure that even this report on the air ticketing issue "will find that John Dalli was above reproach". Was this an invention or was it an informed statement? 

I ask: what or who is keeping this report from seeing the light of day?

This is a case where EU standards of respect of human rights are not respected in the least.

jd@dbms.com.mt