My wife and I attended a vigil at the joint Great Siege/Daphne Caruana Galizia Monument in Valletta. This was the 55th time that a group of people gathered to mourn the loss of a murdered journalist and mourn the loss of the rule of law in our beloved Malta.
These are great losses for all Maltese, even if a great majority of them pretend not to notice them.
One loss which we can never recover and bring back is Daphne herself. I remember one dinner we had with her and her husband at home where we did not talk politics or discuss the scandals and corruption cases she was working on.
I had known Daphne much earlier when she was working as a PR consultant to industry and she helped General Electric of the US – at that time still the largest and most valuable company in the world - to hold a successful conference in Malta.
At this dinner, we spoke of beautiful houses in old Malta and the need to restore them and to highlight their intrinsic beauty of design made especially for Malta’s weather conditions and the Maltese way of living.
Houses with thick stone walls made from locally quarried blocks treated and shaped by expert stone masons. Built for the local weather conditions with light, air and shade planned by the height of the ceilings, the location of windows with their persjani and decorated with coloured tiles in delightful and synchronised patterns. Smallish gardens with wells to retain the valuable but scarce rainwater and lovely flat roofs with their balustrades.
She was also editing the magazine Taste and Flair at the time and our dinner table discussions apparently inspired her because, a few months later, she published a reportage on our own house after its restoration.
This was in 2015, two years before she was brutally murdered. How can our own supposedly 100 per cent Catholic country, known for its sense of hospitality and peacefulness to the extent of declaring itself neutral in wars, carry out such a brutal senseless and self-damaging murder?
That fateful afternoon on October 16, 2017, Malta committed a partial suicide. A good part of its population, led by political leaders, had theoretically murdered her spirit of journalism and her economic independence with their successive numerous court injunctions on her accounts by starting libel lawsuits.
Years have passed since October 2017 and, soon, in four months’ time, five full years would have passed and still the full truth about who was behind the murder has not emerged. This is why people including myself still gather every 16th of every month.
Yet… and here I am ashamed to say this, too few people of goodwill and of Catholic faith, or of love of truth and justice, or just out of respect for Daphne, attend such gatherings. The numbers dwindle even though there have been surges in numbers, especially in 2019 before the successful ousting of Joseph Muscat by the crowds.
Yet, I miss too many of my acquaintances, friends and relatives. I miss my old school friends who are now successful doctors, lawyers, teachers, bankers, contractors, shop owners, importers and civil servants. I miss all the university and MCAST students who should be thinking about the fundamental issues of learning, life and death. I miss the clergy – I have never seen a priest there except for when Mass is said for Daphne.
It is a shame that we do not congregate and demonstrate in our thousands from time to time- John Vassallo
I miss politicians of both parties. I miss the prime minister who never once placed a flower or lit a candle or paid respects at Bidnija. The president has at least been to Bidnija and paid his respects.
It is a shame that we do not congregate and demonstrate in our thousands from time to time.
Therefore, for some of you to make amends, for others to repent for failing to participate for reasons not worthy to mention like a boat trip, a dinner party, a football match, a day at the beach, bad weather or rain; for some because they are happy, yes happy, that Daphne was killed; and for others because of guilt; it is my request that you all take a decision to attend the vigil in Valletta once this year.
On October 16, it will be five full years, 60 full months, since Daphne was blown up into small pieces on a sunny afternoon in Bidnija.
Think of how you would feel if it had been your wife, mother, daughter, sister, cousin, friend or acquaintance. How would you feel to see her still being despised and reviled by some on this island? How would you feel when the general population appears to forget you?
Let us all take a note in our smartphone calendars beside the trip to Sicily, the dinner at a fashionable restaurant, the sports event, the wedding, funeral or birthday party, to attend at 6.30pm in Valletta on Sunday October 16, the vigil for Daphne five years on.
Please take this seriously. Tell all your circles of friends and enemies to attend. Let’s make a national statement that Malta still believes in the rule of law, in justice and the thirst for truth. We are a decent country and we need to show it to each other by attending in numbers.
Parents, bring your children and children, bring your parents. Students, organise yourselves this time to show your elders that there is a thinking brain and a pure soul in our younger citizens. All political colours should attend because this is a national not a partisan issue.