On 21 September 2015 the MCCV held a reception at the Maltese community centre in Parkville to celebrate the 51st anniversary of Malta’s Independence. The Consul General of Malta in Victoria, Mr Victor Grech, was the special guest at the event, which was attended by a large number Maltese community members.
Among those present were Fr Edwin Agius mssp, Rector at Parkville; Sr Doris Falzon OP, Administrator of Rosary Home aged care facility, which is run by the Dominican Sisters of Malta; members of the MCCV Executive Committee, and Presidents and committee members of Maltese associations affiliated to the MCCV.
Following the playing of the Maltese and Australian national anthems, Mr George Saliba, MC for the evening, introduced MCCV President Mr Victor Borg to address the audience.
Mr Borg welcomed those present to the celebration of 51 years of Malta’s independence. “It is often said that the history of Malta is very exciting, gripping and you can really get value from reading history books to discover how many nations and foreign powers had dominated the island over the centuries,” said Mr Borg.
He referred to the tragic parts of Malta’s history in which the powers of the time who arrived in Malta and took a fancy to it, just took it over. He said that he often wondered how much suffering the local community in Malta went through over the centuries, not to mention how many inhabitants were taken as slaves to row on the ships of the foreign power.
Mr Borg said that, while we celebrate Malta’s independence that was obtained in 1964, we need to remember that, for many centuries before, the Maltese were subjected to foreign dominations. He then briefly went through the list of foreign powers who had ruled over Malta over the centuries.
He spoke about the role that Malta played in the two world wars last century, becoming known as “the nurse of the Mediterranean” for the provision of hospital and medical services it provided to the wounded service personnel who served in the theatres of war. Malta also played a critical part during the Second World War. Several of those in the audience had themselves served in that war.
Mr Borg then spoke about the road to independence that started in the 1950s and included an unsuccessful bid for integration of the Maltese islands with Great Britain made by the then Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff. In the early 1960s Prime Minister Dr George Borg Olivier’s Nationalist government proposed a constitution that would lead to Malta’s independence.
On 21 September 1964. Malta became an independent state as a Constitutional Monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its Head of State and a member of the Commonwealth. That same year Malta was admitted as a full member of the United Nations.
Having won the General Elections in 1971, the Mintoff government introduced amendments to the constitution to establish Malta as a republic. These were approved by the required two-thirds majority in Parliament, after some Opposition members voted in favour. Malta became a republic on 13 December 1974 within the Commonwealth, with a Maltese President as head of state.
After a change of government in 1987, Malta’s foreign minister, Prof Guido de Marco, applied to join the European Union in 1990. A referendum on EU membership was held in March 2003, which resulted in a favourable vote. The result of the General Elections held the following month gave a clear mandate to the Prime Minister, Dr Eddie Fenech Adami, to sign the Treaty of Accession to the European Union on 16 April 2003 in Athens, Greece. Malta joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 and Eurozone on 1 January 2008.
Mr Borg said that for many centuries the Maltese did not have much say in their country’s future as it kept moving hands from one power to another. Our islands were too small to have any prospects to defend ourselves. But the Maltese people are resilient and with strong Christian religious beliefs, particularly with a keen devotion to Our Lady, who came to our rescue at various critical times in our history.
Mr Borg observed that Independence Day of itself did not resolve Malta’s problems. Independence brought with it great responsibilities for the leaders of the nation and the people. It’s not much good having independence if one cannot give a just account of what is going on, as there were still matters of concern to be dealt with.
“As a sovereign state free of all external restrictions, save, of course, for the rules and regulations of the EU, Malta must govern itself with a great amount of self-discipline and subject itself to various checks and measures to ensure that the political process is not corrupted and is accountable to the electorate,” he said.
Mr Borg further observed that legal processes are to be free of manipulation and direction. Any corruption must be exposed and eliminated. Past experience had shown that small countries generally find it difficult to maintain a respect for the law and the political process to the disadvantage of the community.
Mr Borg said that he believed that, while those in the audience were no longer residents of Malta, we need to keep a watchful eye on Malta’s progress and be prepared to expose any abuse of process and what, in our view, is not working in the interest of our great nation.
He referred to the stand taken in early 2014 by the Maltese community in Australia over controversial introduction of the sale of Maltese Citizenship. Mr Borg said that gathering over 3,000 signatures on a petition over a three week period and having our petition presented to the Maltese Parliament as part of the debate on the topic, was a great effort. It showed that we are still interested in our country of birth and demand that we have a say.
Mr Borg said that it is too easy sometimes to let things happen and adopt an attitude of everything will be all right. But, unless we stand for justice, accountability and the advancement of our country of birth, we are simply cast off and not part of the process.
Mr Borg congratulated the people of Malta on the 51st Anniversary of Independence and hoped and prayed that Malta continues to prosper in the future. There have been great advances since the grant of Independence, excelling in the field of education, tourism, trade, health, information technology, financial and other services.
Mr Borg concluded his address by saying that he hopes that Malta can move on to another year of success and trusts that the legal and political processes in Malta proceed on a proper basis and done for the advancement of the nation.
The Consul General of Malta in Victoria, Mr Victor Grech, then gave his address. He spoke about the period of British rule which significantly influenced the Maltese economic, social and cultural life. Despite becoming independent in 1964, Malta has continued to maintain a strong relationship with Britain. The British highly respected the Maltese for their bravery, especially during the Second World War, particularly between 1940 and 1942 during the Siege of Malta, had led King George VI to award the George Cross to the Maltese people in 1943.
After World War II Britain started to reduce and downsize its military presence in various parts of the world through the process of decolonisation and Malta also formed part of this plan, although the process was very slow and painful.
Self-government in Malta was restored in 1947. However, the decision of the British government to dismiss workers from the dockyards led to massive unemployment and uncertainty and pushed Maltese workers to emigrate in large numbers to the USA, Canada and Australia where work was available.
Following extensive negotiations with the British government, the call made by the Maltese political parties for independence was approved in 1964. Malta became independent on 21 September that year and also a member of the United Nations. Maltese diplomatic representatives overseas were appointed in the various countries and Maltese embassies and High Commissions overseas were established, including in the UK, Italy, France, USA, Australia and other countries.
In terms of population shift, during the ten difficult years preceding independence, about 35,000 people emigrated to Australia. Due mainly to emigration flows from Malta, the population of Malta fell by about seven percent or about 21,000 people in the ten years immediately after independence. The population, however, grew by 50% or over 100,000 in the last 40 years.
Mr Grech said that the post-independence years brought much progress to the Maltese islands, initially through the development of the tourism industry.
He said that we celebrate Malta’s Independence Day not just as an important milestone in Malta’s history but also as a celebration of the values of Maltese society – our strong family ties and the sense of solidarity and beliefs. These values are also implanted in the Maltese migrants who continued to embrace the same values and beliefs.
Mr Grech said that over the years the Maltese migrants were successful in all spheres of life, including business and the professions. Despite leaving Malta, they have remained still in love with Malta and highly value Maltese culture. This is found not only among those born in Malta but also among their descendants born overseas who are proud of their Maltese heritage. This can also be considered as an economic resource both in the short and long term.
Mr Grech said that Independence Day is celebrated not as a point of arrival but as a point of departure, when Malta turned a new page in its history from a long history of colonisation.
Since independence, Malta has become an economic success story. From a fortress economy that depended crucially on the UK military budget, Malta’s economic structure was transformed into a much diversified and a fairly independent set of industries. The Maltese labour market was also affected by a transformation in the role of women in society. Raised education levels combined with changing social norms resulted in an increase in the level of participation of women in the labour market.
In the first three years of independence Malta was among only six countries in the world to achieve an annual average growth rate higher than 5 percent.
Tourism in Malta has also increased considerably since independence. Over the past 10 years, the number of tourists to visit Malta reached the figure of 1.7 million, which is almost 45 times the number who visited Malta in 1964.
Mr Grech said the transformation of the Maltese economy since independence make us feel proud that successive governments in Malta have made a treasure out of its independence and built a truly strong and bright future for its future generations. We are grateful for all the political figures who contributed over all these years to this success.
Mr Grech said that the role of the State has also changed dramatically, although as in other open and small economies, it continues to play a relatively more active economic function.
Mr Grech finally spoke about the events that will be hosted in Malta in November relating to the EU-African Summit on the refugee migration and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). These two meetings will bring together many nations of the world from the EU, Africa and the Commonwealth, which consists of 53 member States jointly representing 2.2 billion people.
Fr Edwin Agius mssp then addressed the gathering. He spoke about the reference to St Paul’s shipwreck in Malta in Chapter 28 of the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible. St Luke reported that they learned that the island was Malta. Unlike many countries, Malta got a mention in the Bible.
Fr Agius said that when St Paul came to Malta he gave us the greatest gift – the gift of the Christian faith. He came providen-tially and from the time of his arrival, there was a big change in the history of Malta. While the Maltese were religious before St Paul’s arrival, as the ancient Neolithic temples show, St Paul gave Malta the Christian faith that the Maltese still cherish to this day. Today there are over 365 churches in Malta. This means that one can go to a different church every day of the year.
Fr Agius paid tribute to the many religious leaders who made a positive contribution to the history of Malta. He then introduced Fr Lonnie Borg mssp who recently arrived from the Philippines to serve the Maltese community in Australia. Fr Borg is originally from Mosta and attended St Paul’s Missionary College in Rabat before joining the MSSP. He served for several years in Pakistan before recently serving in the Philippines.
Report by Edwin Borg-Manché
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