The state of our heritage and the environment

As I end my tour as executive president of Din l-Art Helwa, there are, in my judgment, three over-arching themes which must underpin the efforts that Malta makes for improving the state of its cultural heritage and the environment. You may, like me, see in the following three themes a common thread which runs through other aspects of our national life.

First, the longer I have thought about it the more convinced I have become that education and enforcement (the two Es) are the keys to improvements in this whole area. The government must embark on a sustained, focused and concerted public education campaign. The key word is sustained. Major policy changes in public attitudes happen only slowly. Flash in the pan campaigns are not effective. A greater sense of civic responsibility towards our heritage and environment can only be inculcated through education over time.

Concomitantly, we must acknowledge that the application of the rule of law and its enforcement can, and must, play a major part in education. It reflects the hard way of learning. But sharp lessons about safeguarding and respecting our cultural heritage and natural environment can be learnt from it.

Secondly, we must halt the uglification of Malta. We are savaging our past through over-development. We must ask ourselves seriously whether we want what is left of Malta's beauty to perish. And if the answer is no - as it surely must be - then we must take the necessary steps to do something about it.

The cardinal first step is for the government to exercise the political will to make changes to the way we use and share this tiny land. We must ensure that the long-awaited new Structure Plan for Malta imposes a halt on further construction development outside specified, very tightly defined areas.

We must also re-introduce a recognisably Maltese "grammar" into our vernacular architecture by ensuring that the aesthetic merits of a planning application meet specified criteria.

Coupled with all of this is for the crisis in our litter, untidiness and shabbiness, the gross dumping across all parts of the islands, to be tackled with the seriousness which the Prime Minister promised several months ago.

Sooner or later there must a government with the courage to acknowledge that further large scale building development, urban sprawl and filth and litter are not tolerable or sustainable if Malta is to remain a civilised and attractive place to live. Halt the uglification!

Thirdly, but certainly not least, we must obtain improvements in the structure and machinery of government. This applies to all aspects of our governance as a nation, not simply heritage and the environment. But in these areas we see only too clearly the result of a civil service culture and ethos which has raised obfuscation and delay, lack of decision and avoidance of implementation into an art form.

No democratic government can operate unless it has a public service with the energy and drive to carry out government policy. To get things done. The core of the problem here - as I saw at first hand when I was at Castille - is organisational and systemic. There is a clear disinclination to take responsibility for decisions. A shying away from taking ownership of projects and implementing government policy. The prime deficiencies lie in public service leadership, organisation and coordination.

A national commission into improving the ethos and culture of the public service is long overdue. It is badly in need of severe electric-shock treatment.

I have recently drawn attention to two case studies of legislation being passed and the resultant follow-up - the Cultural Heritage Act 2002 affecting cultural heritage and the Environmental Protection Act 2001 affecting the environment. Both laws were passed three or four years ago. Both have as a key by-product the emergence of a strategic plan: the National Strategic Plan for Cultural Heritage and the National Plan for Sustainable Development. Both affect directly the value and standards of our tourism. Both therefore are of vital necessity to the economy and the future well-being of our country. Yet, both plans remain uncompleted.

What is remarkable is that in both the cultural heritage and the environmental fields there were during the same 30-month period which I reviewed three different ministers responsible for following up each of these pieces of legislation. Moreover, culture and the environment were moved to three different ministries in the same timeframe.

The administrative building blocks of cultural heritage and the environment have ricocheted around like coloured balls on a snooker table from ministry to ministry three times in as many years. Is it any wonder that the delay in implementation has been disappointing? Good administration and good organisation require stability and continuity, as well as dynamic leadership.

In conclusion, it is Din l-Art Helwa's role to try to change for the better the way the government approaches our cultural heritage and environment. We try to help the cause of good government in these areas. Good government means bringing to bear all the knowledge and all the arguments you can from inside and outside. Debating and arguing them as frankly as possible. To try to reach the best solution. This is what we have tried to do and will continue to do. Impartially - with boringly inconvenient arguments to the government if need be.

For ultimately we have to ensure that when it comes to doing something about the state of our cultural heritage or the environment we, as individuals, are not treated as insignificant by those who have the power to change things. When I was young there was the Soviet Union, Hitler's Germany and Mussolini, White Supremacy in South Africa, Franco in Spain, Salazar in Portugal. Closer to home, there was colonial Malta and the nihilism of the 1980s.

Now, they are all gone. It is individuals who, in fact, changed things. This is why it is important for us all, as individuals, to be prepared to give voice to our concerns. Not to connive or acquiesce at the degradation of our islands through our idleness, or simply a wish for an easy life. This is why you should speak up. This is why Din l-Art Helwa speaks up. And shall continue to speak truth unto power as it has done over the last 40 years.