Leave party politics out of country's heritage

The contribution "Just how serious is this government" (July 24) by Labour MP Joe Mizzi contains some confusing statements when referring to the Malta Centre for Restoration. Gross mistakes of fact are compounded by unfounded insinuations of "horrendous mismanagement", "disasters at MCR" and "purely political appointments".

Mr Mizzi describes MCR as "one of the entities under Heritage Malta". This confusion is remarkable given that Mr Mizzi was in parliament throughout many of the sessions during which the Cultural Heritage Act was debated.

In fact, MCR is now entrenched by law under articles 10 and 11 of the Cultural Heritage Act and is completely distinct and autonomous from Heritage Malta which is a separate agency established under different provisions of the same Act.

MCR was founded as a partnership between the University of Malta and the ministry responsible for Cultural Heritage in 1999, almost four years prior to Heritage Malta which was established in 2002-2003.

The functions of the two agencies are complementary but quite different: Heritage Malta is primarily concerned with rendering sites and collections in Malta accessible to the public in the best manner possible whilst MCR is the national agency concerned with the provision of teaching, research, conservation and restoration services to both the public and private sectors.

Mr Mizzi declares that: "The disasters at Mepa, MCR... stem from the government's insistence to have purely political appointments at every level to the exclusion of technically-minded persons who can do the job better". Mr Mizzi is wrong on so many counts that it is difficult to know where to begin answering these wild accusations.

There is no disaster at MCR. On the contrary, MCR is one of the best-managed and most successful agencies in Malta. The chairman and one of the members of the board of governors at MCR are not political appointments but tenured academics nominated by the university.

None of the members of staff at MCR, at management level or otherwise, is a political appointment. They are all persons from the public or private sectors who were chosen after rigorous selection procedures either in response to public (and often international) calls for applications or after being referred by ETC.

All of the members of the board of governors as well as the management team at MCR are "technically-minded" persons, many of whom are nationally or internationally recognised to be among the best in the field. They all have different competencies which complement each other and when welded together make a formidable team.

Mr Mizzi then draws incredible conclusions from a distortion of facts: "MCR receives half a million liri of taxpayers' money annually but fails to be commissioned on major restoration projects, except for a few minor ones intended as face-saving propaganda scoops". The facts tell a completely different story.

In its four years of existence, MCR has never received "annually half a million liri" for recurrent expenditure. On the contrary, as explained to the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament, MCR has been chronically under-funded (e.g., Lm100,000 in 2000, Lm150,000 in 2001, Lm300,000 in 2002) with 2003 being the first year when MCR has been voted Lm500,000 (and which, in any case, is not enough to run the institution).

MCR is not merely an agency which provides restoration services. Its seven divisions include one which is the equivalent of the medical school in the heritage sector, i.e., the Institute for Conservation and Restoration Studies. There are today more than 100 students following courses at all levels within ICRS, some at vocational level in courses organised jointly with MCAST and others in courses which lead to degrees conferred by the university.

Half a million liri is what it costs, on average, to run a medium-sized school in Malta. With less than half a million liri, MCR runs a school which is the equivalent of a university faculty and much more: it operates diagnostic science laboratories, a documentation division, a conservation intervention division, a conservation and restoration project management office and an international office (which maintains relations with 30 institutions in almost as many countries).

More than 500 pages of details about these divisions and activities at MCR are available on the website, www/mcr.edu.mt.

MCR was set up in 1999 to, among other things, meet the crying need for professionally trained conservator-restorers in the cultural heritage sector. The national seminar of February 1999 identified conservation education as one of the three main priorities in the sector.

Human resource capacity-building has therefore been MCR's number one priority during its first four years of existence. You simply cannot seriously undertake restoration projects without properly trained personnel.

MCR should be congratulated for producing its first batch of graduates from Malta's first four-year degree course in conservation and restoration within only 56 months of being set up. These graduates are coming on stream only now and they will help to build up MCR's ability to take on major restoration projects as well as continue its teaching activities.

Despite the priority accorded to education, MCR has actually been commissioned on several hundred projects, many of which are used for educational purposes with carefully structured and supervised student involvement. MCR's CRPMO has over three hundred projects on its books; many have been completed while others are works in progress.

MCR has been commissioned to do some of the major restoration projects in Malta. The restoration and refurbishment of MCR's own premises within the Bighi complex is one of the largest restoration projects undertaken in Malta since 1999.

MCR is also responsible for prestigious and technically very challenging projects, such as the mural paintings at Verdala Palace and St George's Church in Qormi as well as the interior and exterior of the Salvatur Church at Kalkara.

Mr Mizzi also fails to mention the dozens of paintings, sculptures, vases and other artefacts from the public and private sectors that have been successfully restored by MCR. The Maritime Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Archaeological Museum provide a steady stream of artefacts for conservation in MCR's state-of-the art laboratories.

Although much of MCR's work may be unseen since it is done within the laboratories at Bighi, its presence may be seen in many communities around Malta.

Churches in Birgu, Bormla and Zurrieq have had paintings or sculptures restored; it has also restored fountains in Zabbar and Zebbug, an done work at the Wignacourt Museum in Rabat and at the Argotti Gardens. It has also worked on a number of works by Sciortino. All these and many more have benefited from MCR's expertise.

MCR also collaborates with the ministry of resources and infrastructure in architectural restoration projects. A good deal of the work on Ball's Monument in Valletta, the Auberge d'Italie in Valletta, San Anton Palace in Attard, the Couvre Porte gate at Birgu, the Gnien tal-Kmandant at Zejtun was carried out by MCR students as part of their structured on-site "scuola cantiere".

MCR is also in the process of concluding agreements for other major projects both in Malta and abroad. Details of these will be published at the appropriate moment.

Apart from confusing matters to an unacceptable degree, it is sad that Mr Mizzi fails to take pride in a Maltese success story, such as MCR. Art. 10 (b) of the Cultural Heritage Act established that MCR's mission is to be a centre of excellence. Quite simply, MCR is the only institution in the cultural heritage scene in Europe (and possibly world-wide) to have a proven track record in:

Creating a world-class 16,000-square metre conservation centre in a war-torn building complex inside 24 months; creating the world's first Sewan (Satellite-Enabled Wide Area Network) which is purpose-designed for the cultural heritage sector; creating a V-Sat technology network linking 10 museums, conservation and university institutes, in eight countries in North Africa, Middle East and Europe for database creation and distance-learning purposes;

Developing TheaLasermetry and successfully testing this in Unesco World Heritage archaeological sites to produce the world's most accurate 3D documentation of such sites; creating desert-going Field Expeditionary Teams equipped with V-Sat technology intended to enable on-site conservation and documentation anywhere in North Africa and the Middle East; creating the most advanced ICT systems for application in cultural heritage;

Creating the world's first degree level courses on documentation of cultural heritage; incorporating an integrated university-level teaching facility within a national conservation agency; having a truly international and multi-dimensional approach to conservation of cultural heritage with 10 different nationalities forming part of its full-time staff.

It is odd that someone who is apparently so fond of technical competence and "technically-minded" people as Mr Mizzi does not congratulate those at MCR who are responsible for conceiving, designing and winning three million euros of EU funding for the technically-advanced Ikonos project.

Does Mr Mizzi know what it takes to set up such facilities across six countries with circumstances as diverse as those in Algeria, Greece, Jordan, Morocco or the Netherlands? Why does he find it so hard to pay homage where it is due? (If any reader wishes to check out the Ikonos project, he may turn to the website www.Ikonosheritage.org).

How can Mr Mizzi speak of "horrendous mismanagement" when MCR has undergone audits by at least five different entities, none of which has found any major problem?

While there is always room for improvement, MCR remains a model of cost-effective public spending and a minor miracle in resource management.

During MCR open days, any member of the Maltese public has had the opportunity of touring MCR's facilities and appreciating where and how public money has been spent. I publicly challenge Mr Mizzi to name one public-funded project which has demonstrated better resource-management and is more cost-effective than MCR.

Mr Mizzi has never once visited MCR, and as is clear from his article, has not got a clue as to what MCR is, what it does, and what is actually going on inside its premises at Bighi. He is being cordially invited to retract his words and accept this open public invitation to visit MCR and see for himself what is undoubtedly one of Malta's best-managed facilities.

Moreover, Mr Mizzi's remarks are blatantly partisan, incorrect and unfair and are a dishonour to the political class in Malta.

As chairman of the board of governors of a national agency such as MCR, I am personally proud of the fact that MCR is governed without fear or favour. At all levels of MCR's staff, what matters is competence and commitment not political beliefs. That is why MCR is a success story. That is why all the workers know that MCR's management is committed to the education and personal development of every member of its staff.

The calibre of MCR's board of governors and its management team is such as to guarantee a professional approach as well as national and international success, irrespective of who is in government or in opposition.

What is important is that the politicians unite in a common front to increase public awareness and funding for cultural heritage.

From the very beginning, since 1999, I have written in the media publicly inviting the politicians on both sides of the political divide to abandon partisanship when dealing with MCR and cultural heritage.

There is no place for party politics in a sector as important as the country's heritage. Objective criticism is welcomed and shall be respected but unfounded allegations shall be refuted.

Dr Cannataci is chairman, board of governors, Malta Centre for Restoration