Threats and intimidation in public life

Late last week, The Times carried a disturbing article, vividly illustrated, about the suspected arson attack on the home of the chief executive officer of the Water Services Corporation. The previous week, another, less prominent report informed readers of a suspected attempt to burn down the house of the director general of contracts.

These incidents coincided with the initial stages of criminal proceedings against two men accused of murdering a Gozitan local warden while she was on duty, for motives apparently connected with the exercise of her authority.

They were not isolated incidents. With dismaying frequency, our news media inform us about "incidents" at the homes or persons of heads of government organisations, customs officers, police officers, teachers and others - using verbal abuse, anonymous telephone calls, fists, paint, fire and bombs. In every case, the evidence that is publicly disclosed points towards calculated acts of vandalism and malice directed against public officers.

The motives for this are not clear. The slender body of publicly known evidence - and the administrative rumour mill - suggests two pre-eminent motives: attempts to influence the exercise of authority that is lawfully vested in officials, such as customs officers and chief executives, and vengeance for real or imagined grievances attributable to such officers.

With rare exceptions, the incidents are not given prominence. Those exceptions mainly concern incidents in which teachers are subjected to threats or violence by the parents of their pupils. They appear to be given prominence because, rightly, the Malta Union of Teachers and the Ministry of Education have publicly declared their intention to deter them by bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The same cannot be said about acts of violence perpetrated against many other public officials. Yet, without in any way discounting the horror of violence directed at teachers at work, how much more reprehensible are incidents perpetrated at the homes of officials, which place both the members of their immediate families and their private property at risk!

It is disturbing to observe that these incidents do not attract public displays of sympathy for the victims from politicians, still less categoric condemnation. Yet, leading political figures rush to the scene when exploding fireworks factories bring death or serious injury - milking the publicity value of accidents that are caused by the foolishness of the fireworks enthusiasts! The comparison is a distasteful comment on the country's scale of values!

One wonders at the reason for the politicians' reticence about numerous incidents of intimidation. Perhaps they do not recognise the pattern of violence. Perhaps they do not appreciate the threat that this poses to administrative integrity in the long term. Perhaps - except where union pressure is strong! - they instinctively side with aggrieved "citizens" against officials, even when cowardly and despicable mechanisms are used.

From time to time in the receding past, some politicians themselves used violence or the threat of it to intimidate civil servants. They set a deplorable example to ordinary citizens. Perhaps, all things considered, in a country that regards neighbouring Sicily with some disdain, citizens and politicians prefer to overlook the fact that the pattern resembles the intimidation practised there!

During the past decade, under the leadership of both Nationalist and Labour governments, measures were taken to secure the accountability of corrupt, dishonest or incompetent public officials. That is good, but not sufficient. For the integrity, reliability and efficiency of public administration also requires effective protection for officials who are just, honest and competent.

The cabinet can set the tone by roundly condemning the recent incidents and declaring the government's determination to deter them.

It would raise the morale of these (and earlier) victims if the ministers concerned made a public gesture of support for them. A successful investigation and prosecution against at least one paint splasher, bomber or arsonist would have a salutary effect. Out of simple humanity, and in its own long-term interests, Malta must protect public officials from its citizens' darker instincts.

Dr Warrington is director, Institute of Public Administration & Management