A subversion of democratic principles

It is with great concern that I read how, prior to the National Youth Parliament discussion on abortion, the anti-choice gained an unfair advantage by publishing the names of pro-choice students which led to the majority of these students dropping out for fear of repercussions.

What is worse is that the same individual who published the names which led to students dropping out later had the audacity to claim that the vote is a win for the anti-choice and reflects what youths want. The cheek!

Regardless of one’s views on the subject of abortion, it is clear that this episode was a subversion of basic democratic principles and process and was an insult to parliament.

Unless the parliamentary institution – specifically the speaker – condemns what has happened, the message we are sending to youths and the public at large is that harassment and intimidation can get you the results you want in Malta.

CHRISTOPHER BARBARA – Naxxar

Who cares?

So, as we just look on, a little four-year-old girl, Loujin, is allowed to die in her anguished mother’s arms, adrift in a boat in the scorching sun, while whispering: “I’m thirsty”. Once more, it is the cry of Jesus on the cross, “I thirst”, as they all looked on.

The so-called ‘wise’ politics of the powerful let a little helpless girl die in agony. Nothing is ‘wise’ that kills people, that kills little girls. So, who cares? I am doing my hair and nails today. I’m eating out tonight. Loujin who?

Who cares? I have my own problems.

Who cares as long as we make money choking Malta and ourselves into oblivion in concrete?

The truth is that no amount of conscience-calming charitable donations, no amount of political considerations can justify our collective responsibility in playing around so callously with the lives of so many.

Shame on us all but, especially, shame on those of us who can actively change things and, yet, do not because of misguided, ruthless policies that break all the boundaries of basic humanity.

Loujin, can you ever forgive us?

CARMEL ZAMMIT – Naxxar

‘She was like a gift from God’

The Bearer Party of The Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle. Photo: AFP

I heard this beautiful remark, together with many, many others while watching BBC’s 24-hour daily transmissions after Queen Elizabeth II’s death on September 8 at her favourite residence – Balmoral Castle.

She was queen of the United Kingdom and led the Commonwealth for 70 years – the longest reign of any British monarch. The respect she enjoyed could be seen from the hundreds of thousands of people who thronged the streets of London and elsewhere and spent hours and hours queuing up to pay their last respects to their beloved queen.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, during Mass at St John’s Co Cathedral a week after her death, said: “The queen had a great personality. She was a witness of loyalty and faithfulness to her people.”

“She was like a gift from God,” was the best remark I heard about her. Her deep faith in God could be seen since her childhood years and more evident when, unexpectedly – as she was not born to be queen – on her coronation day, she knelt and prayed to God, while promising to serve her people and not be served.

“She was really and truly an inspiration to the world,” one message read. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby commented that her life was one of duty and service to the nation. He ended his speech at Westminster Abbey by saying: “People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer.”

EMILY BARBARO-SANT – Mosta