A friend of mine who was racist wouldn't remain a friend for long. Sure, a minority of people are racist - doesn't mean you have to be friends with them - not a matter of living in a monastery. If you allow friends to express racist comments and you do or say nothing, are you any better than them ?

Don't you think trying to change their attitude is much more important?
Or should it just be ignored and swept under the carpet?

quite agree shouldn't ignore, but have the courage to confront (easier said than done tho) - thats what I meant by"If you allow friends to express racist comments and you do or say nothing, are you any better than them ?"

This is going round in circles and to avoid the topic having to be removed please agree to disagree.

Thanks.

GozoMark

quite agree shouldn't ignore, but have the courage to confront (easier said than done tho) - thats what I meant by"If you allow friends to express racist comments and you do or say nothing, are you any better than them ?"

Didn't you also say if a friend of your's makes a racist remark he would no longer be a friend of your's?

As a Maltese National and resident I would like to express my opinion on the matter. I would like to be explicitly clear that I am in no way racist towards race colour or creed.

I have read through all of the 'opinions' posted in this subject and whilst some made me quite irate others also made me laugh. No disrespect to anybody here, but I do find it hard to comprehend certain comments made by people who I am sure love the island but at the end of the day do not live on the Island and surely cannot understand all of the issues at stake.

Yes the Maltese government has requested help from certain EU countries to help with the repatriation of the droves of Illegal Immigrants landing on Maltese Shores. My First point is they cannot be called asylum seekers till they step foot on the Island and request politcal or economic or any other form of Asylum. The reason being that they are arriving illegally without passports, documentation or a valid entry visa, so thier status is Illegal. Once the vetting process gets underway they may or may not request asylum, this is the point tht they become asylum seekers. Secondly, yes if one was an inhumane person and could not careless what happens to these poor people, we could tow them back from where they came. BUT and I emphasise the BUT, could you live with the fact that you could have made a difference for a person wherever he/she may be from and knowlingly sent them back home where they face a sure Death Sentence without a fair trial? Ask yourselves this question first before answering. AT the end of the day it does not matter what colour their skin is they are of flesh and blood same as our children and parents. So think about it properly.
Somebody mentioned that Malta will soon realise that they will have a problem same as England....the only difference is that in the 80's residence and work permits were given out willingly in the UK which has resulted in mass migration from other countries, so strictly speaking you cannot compare the situtaion on a like for like basis. We have two options in Malta, we can offer as much help as possible to these people or let the boats pass us by or tow them back out as somebody said and leave to die out at sea, as happened only last Saturday (Not that we towed them out) but a boat did not make our shores and so far we have had 8 dead bodies wash up on our shore line. Can you honestly live with yourself if you ignored their please and as you were walking along the beach you come across the body of a 5 year old child. I ask what has an innocent child done to deserve such a sentence....come on all open your eyes, Africa is in serious trouble and it is only the storng countries that can do something about it. Is that not what Live 8 was all about in summer, creating awareness of the desperate situation many countries are in.

Somebody mentioned that the amount of immigrants arriving in Malta would be equivalent to 250,000 hitting the UK shores every year. Unfortunately Malta is too small to handle all of these and which is why help was sought in repatriating the genuine cases. I am not saying that all of the immigrants have a genuine cause, but the genuine ones, (The Majority) have a right to live and I think that as a Union we can all help.

What I agree with is that these people should be given the right for life. They should be given a set period of time to seek work, and adequate living conditions for them and their families. If they are not interested in working then yes send them back to their country. Some of them are after a free ride, and if they think they are going to get it they have something else coming. But if a person is prepared to work for a living and not expecting handouts for the rest of their lives, then I would be the first one to send them back from where they came.

In the begining, a boat laod of 160 immirgants landed in malta from Sierra Loene (I may be mistaken about the country of origin) the Maltese Government decided not to help and immediately put them on a plane back to their country. Reports a couple of weeks later showed that the persons who were sent back were persecuted, had their homes taken away, thrown in prison and some were also shot by their own government. So I ask you what do you do??

It is a very delicate affair and that is why we have politicians to make these decisions for us. Yes we may not agree with certain decisions taken, but that is what a democracy is all about. We elect them and they run the country for us. The issue of Malta joining the EU has absolutely nothing to do with this since EU Countries were already helping before we joined. Come on all lets be positive and give these people a right to life or do we not value life as much as we should anymore.

Again as stated at the begining, this is my opinion and I do not mean any disrespect to anybody and apologise in advance if anybody feels offended.

Have a nice day all.
Trev - The Maltese One

Very well put.

I agrre with what you say BugibbaHC, but my opinion is that these people are not fleeing from a tyrannical regime that wants to put them to death but for the sole purpose of improving their economical well being. That is the reason why no papers are found on them to identify who they are or from what country they originate from.

That said if I were in their shoes I would probably do the same. At the end of the day more and more will come.

<Bangs head against brick wall>

Just my opinion maybe I'm wrong Macca67 you ought to know eh!:oops:

mark&nicky

Just my opinion maybe I'm wrong Macca67 you ought to know eh!

Well it's obvious you don't, isn't it?
I mean you are all for sending them back regardless of their reasons for fleaing their own country.
Talk about being heartless.
I suppose your motto is 'Out of sight, out of mind.'
Or is it just 'Not in my back yard.'?

you are the oracle
Why do they lie?

http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=203675

Mark & Nicky

You seem to know everything.
But could these people be going through Libya because they can't get to Malta or Europe any other way. Duh! They have to go through Libya or another neighbouring country?

I don't think you really think up your own opinions, just use someone else's.
Just say you don't really care what happens to the Assylum Seekers and maybe you will still be taken seriously. I mean that was what your original post said. Or have you changed your mind so you can still appear to be caring?

Macca 67,

It looks like we will never see eye to eye on this matter basically you believe all of the boat people are running for their lives, and I don't. The subject has gone on for far too long so let's just agree to disagree.

Exactly.

Time to lock.