I am not originally of this land.  But over the past fifteen years, this land and its people have become a part of me.  Malta and Gozo are now indelibly woven into my life’s fabric and journey.

There is so much to like and even love about this land and everything associated with it. 

But right now, my heart bleeds for Malta as it falls downwards into a sinkhole of evil. 

I am grateful to Malta and the Maltese for what they have given me – the chance to enjoy aspects of the very best this corner of the Mediterranean has to offer.  Snippets include a landscape, sea and sky that is world class.  Textures, colours and tastes that are breathtaking.  Festas suffused with walls of sounds all competing with each other to be heard alongside early mornings and late evenings of thunderous silence. 

For me, the sea that surrounds our islands is worth a three-volume love poem, to say nothing of trefoils in spring.  The opportunity to sit, alongside a hundred plus others (nannas and nonnus, children, families, neighbours and friends) on a restaurant terrace in Ghajnsielem, Gozo has been a real joy.  I have also been granted the privilege of teaching here.

But my joy in the choice I have made to live in Malta (and Gozo) has been routinely undermined and even shattered by that other Malta.  On almost a daily basis, it is obvious that very many Maltese have, at best, an a la carte approach to justice and the law.  And that approach is often matched by an aggression that brooks no opposition. 

This dark side characterises much of Maltese society and institutions from ground level to its upper reaches.  Even those charged with shaping, implementing and upholding the law believe in this a la carte-ism.  The result is that you not fully trust all business, political and legal structures and representatives.    

This is deeply unsettling.

And now, this dark Malta has come to dominate in the most ugly and vicious way imaginable, one that involves the heinous crime of murder with all its associated violence and cover-ups.  Almost hour by hour, we are treated to the sickening images and words of those who have pillaged Malta and the Maltese.  We are expected to accept at face value the handwringing and weasel words of those who have colluded, stayed silent or turned away.

As so many others have said, we are now faced with very stark choices indeed.

It is clear that regime change is no longer enough.  It is but the first and vital necessary step in salvaging Malta.  Something more fundamental is imperative beginning with a sea change in the thinking and world view of all of us who live here (locals and foreigners alike).

Without question, Malta is worth saving, even from itself.  We have no choice but to struggle (and it is a struggle in the best sense). We have no choice but to oppose tyrants and murderers, their funders, followers and apologists.  The alternative is too dark to even contemplate.

Change is inevitable and it will be change for the better.  As someone who has lived through and participated in the Irish peace process, I know this.  It doesn’t have to be this way.

The struggle is literally against evil and for good.

Keeping in mind what it is we are struggling for as much as what we are struggling against will help sustain us in the difficult days, weeks and months ahead.