Opinion: Disgust at the prime minister

The Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM) has said it was “disgusted” at Prime Minister Robert Abela, who ordered his MPs to vote against anti-SLAPP measures to protect journalists.

What did the IGM expect? Abela is not interested in protecting journalists. He’s intent on destroying them.

He can’t stand them because they keep exposing his appalling greed, his shocking abuse of office, and his shameless protection of the interests of his wealthy friends.

Wasn’t the IGM disgusted when Robert Abela viciously attacked The Shift, calling the online news platform “fake news” and falsely claiming that 90% of its reporting contained lies?

I don’t recall reading any statements from the IGM defending their fellow journalists, and I can’t remember the IGM denouncing the prime minister for his anti-democratic violent outburst.

Abela has been on a mission to discredit and demonise journalists.  He accused them of being part of the establishment.

He accused respected senior journalists of conspiring with opposition officials and publicly humiliated journalists who dared ask him valid and legitimate questions.

He stubbornly refused to implement any of the recommendations of the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry intended to prevent a repetition of what happened in October 2017.

He’s got his ONE media organisation to attack The Times of Malta journalist Jacob Borg simply because he’s done a brilliant job of exposing Labour’s lies, corruption and hypocrisy with meticulously researched documentary evidence.

Wasn’t the IGM noticing all of this? Is it just now that they’re disgusted with Robert Abela?

Abela didn’t lift a finger to protect journalists.  Even worse, he’s determined to institute measures to silence journalists.

He wants to terrorise journalists to ensure they censor themselves and stop publishing stories that damage him and his party.  That’s precisely why, out of all people, he chose to co-opt Ramona Attard into parliament.

Attard, the former Labour Party president, called for the reintroduction of criminal libel in her farewell speech at the party conference.

She demanded that journalists who slander politicians be imprisoned. The OSCE, in its 2004 document ‘Ending the Chilling Effect,’ said punishing libel with a prison sentence was a disproportionate measure and an obsolete overreaction in the 21st century.

But not for Ramona Attard. “We must act because we are in government,” she yelled at the Labour Party delegates.

Most people ignored her repressive rant, thinking that she was on the way out, thankful that they would never have to listen to her regressive calls for retribution against journalists.

The IGM spoke up then. They urged the government not to turn back the clock and pleaded with Abela to ignore Attard’s demand for reintroducing criminal libel.

They pointed out that criminal libel has a chilling effect on free speech and journalists and that it has often been used to silence journalists. That’s exactly what the prime minister wanted.

So, instead of ignoring Ramona Attard, he elevated her to parliament.  He made her a legislator.  He gave her the very power she needed to implement her threat of introducing criminal libel and silencing journalists.

“The country should be implementing reforms to offer journalists greater protection and to strengthen freedom of expression,” the IGM said.

It called for the prime minister to make an unequivocal declaration that his government would not reintroduce criminal libel or increase penalties for civil libel. Of course, Abela made no such a declaration.

The IGM noted that in parliament, “government MPs… were more interested in speaking about increasing libel damages”. Why is the IGM surprised?

Abela and his Labour Party want to stifle criticism; they aren’t interested in the truth. Abela wants to strangle the truth because it is his greatest enemy.

Abela’s priority is protecting himself, his cabinet ministers, and his wealthy friends from the truth.  That’s why he’s got his MPs to shoot down the proposed anti-SLAPP amendments.

Robert Abela wants to protect the right of the wealthy and powerful to use their money to intimidate, silence and financially ruin those who reveal the truth, who expose their corruption and their crimes.

That’s what SLAPPs are – they’re the rich man’s weapon against the truth. They’re a firewall against public participation, a shield against scrutiny, an impenetrable bastion against accountability.

That’s Abela’s mission. He wants wealthy developers, politicians, party funders, and business moguls to have the weapon of choice against truth sayers at their disposal.

He’s changing the law to make it nearly impossible for citizens to demand a magisterial inquiry.  He’s introducing legislation to provide immunity to senior public officials for any wrongdoing, crimes and corrupt decisions. And he wants to destroy those who dare reveal what Labour’s up to, what he is up to.

The IGM is right to be disgusted.  We should all be disgusted.  When the man trusted by the nation to protect the interests of ordinary citizens instead defends the power of his wealthy friends and colleagues, we should be disgusted.

When the prime minister seeks to give himself and his colleagues a veritable arsenal against journalists exposing the truth, we should be horrified and repulsed.

From bitter experience, we know too well the lengths to which some will go to cover up their evil deeds.  We’ve seen with our own eyes what some will do to bury the truth. Abela knows it, too.

Instead of choosing to do the right thing and implementing all possible measures to encourage transparency, expose the truth, prevent abuse and punish corruption, Abela creates an environment of repression.

Abela seeks to produce such a chilling effect that nobody dares expose wrongdoing. Abela imposes silence but elicits disgust.