Get the facts right here: now THIS is a story. Unbelievable.
Love the belt-buckle: Mintoff with Mrs Mintoff and Anne McKenna Mintoff, returning from England in the early 1970s. He didn't kick out the British - he tried to get them to stay as long as he could, and managed another five years until they sent him to hell.
My friend the history buff has just emailed to say that there is far more to it than my blog-post about how Mintoff begged the British to renew their lease which expired on 31 March 1979, and how they left him hanging high and dry when he tried to screw them over for more money, which sent him begging-bowl in hand to Muammar Gaddafi instead.
There is far more to it, too, than Wenzu Mintoff’s ridiculous celebration of the signing of that seven-year lease in 1972 as the first step on the road to freedom from the military base which kept us afloat financially.
My friend told me something I hadn’t known, me of all people, leading me to wonder why in God’s name everyone including the Nationalist Party and the functionaries of state have swallowed up and continued to propagate Mintoff’s face-saving propaganda lies of 1979, that he ‘kicked out the British’.
He didn’t kick them out. They sent him to hell. And now listen to THIS: Borg Oliver had agreed with Britain in 1964, in terms of the Independence Agreement, that it would give up its military base in Malta within 10 years. So if Mintoff had left things as they were, the British would have been out by 1974.
BUT MINTOFF RENEGOTIATED BORG OLIVIER’S AGREEMENT, IN 1972, AND GAVE THE BRITISH ANOTHER FIVE YEARS, ALLOWING THEM TO LEAVE IN 1979 INSTEAD, AND THEN IN 1979 HE AGAIN TRIED TO RE-EXTEND THE LEASE.
In my friend the history buff’s words:
So, what we really celebrate on Jum il-Helsien is not the closure of the military bases – BUT THE PROLONGATION OF THEIR PRESENCE IN MALTA BY AN EXTRA FIVE YEARS – THROUGH MR MINTOFF’S CONCESSION. He gratified the British and allowed them to keep their military bases in Malta for five years over and above what they were entitled to, if the Independence agreement had been respected.
Mr Mintoff extended the “occupation” of Malta by the British military by five years, and then celebrated the ‘liberation’ of Malta from the five-year bonus that he had himself yielded.
Had it not been for Mr Mintoff, the military bases would have closed down FIVE YEARS EARLIER.
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And 31st March was chosen by the British , because it is the end of their financial year.They close the books on that date.
Silly me. And there was I, thinking that it was great old British humour, having the Maltese report the celebrations on April Fool in 1979.
Not to mention the fact that he needed someone to take their place… he spent the years 1974 – 1979 going to several European and Arab capitals begging for alms.
I just hope that the real story will be able to get out there without having dotty Yana threatening everyone with law suits and all that nonsense.
The real story has been there for all to see.
But we are a nation of cowards.
I’m waiting for the bronze monuments and memorial gardens to go up when Mintoff dies, after state funeral, and the throngs of PN politicians lining up to pay their respects, plus the revisionist obituaries.
Il-Labour fuq haga wahda ghandhom ragun: meta jghidu li l-PN bla bajd.
Yes; but now there are documents and cables to back all this up.
I don’t think it is all about cowardice though. The sort of abuse and humiliation Malta suffered under Mintoff crosses party lines.
We need another Dear Dom documentary to show us not just the vindictive heartless man, but to reveal to us all the master manipulator that he was.
We should all celebrate on the original day, APRIL FOOL’S DAY, because that was the day we were all fooled by Dom.
This ten year grace to change our economy from that based almost entirely on the British services to a more diverse one is not uncommon knowledge, and it has been mentioned by PN speakers on a few occasions that I remember. But there will be swathes of the electorate who are entirely ignorant of it.
At the time, the propaganda spewed out of the media was that Mintoff was successful in his demand for cash, as payment for their continued presence here, whereas Borg Olivier had demanded none.
These transcripts may well shed new light on the real situation Malta was facing with Gaddafi and what Mintoff had led us into.
I believe that John Manduca wrote quote extensively on this issue in his book ‘ A Flavour of the Mintoff era’.
Lord Carrington’s autobiography gives extensive coverage to this episode. He also mentions that he and the then prime minister, Edward Heath, were instrumental in getting Mrs. Moira Mintoff to make a “semblance” of peace with Dom at 10 Downing Street.
[Daphne – She had left him, returned to England and prepared to file for divorce earlier than that. It was a great scandal in the British newspapers.]
I have always given this interpretation myself whenever I had the occassion to discuss the matter. It always gets my goat that the PN does not give due regard to this fact. What I didn’t know is that Missier Malta Hielsa tried to extend the agreement even further.
[Daphne – You couldn’t have known. The truth was out only three years ago, when Britain released the relevant documents (minutes of meetings, transcripts of telephone conversations between Mintoff and British prime minister Jim Callaghan) under the 30-year rule. The telcon transcripts have Mintoff begging Callaghan to please, please fly to Malta for the ceremony, please, at least, please, while Callaghan, in the middle of an electoral race against the woman who would succeed him that year, brushed him off as a nuisance. I believe it was David Lindsay, now my editor at The Malta Independent on Sunday, who reported on this.]
But the independence agreement was public knowledge, surely the PN knew about it (in 1979 Gorg Borg Olivier was still alive). So yes, it was a big PR error for the PN at the time not to expose the scam of Jum il-Helsien. Even worse was the decision for the 31st March to become a national day.
Worse still was the decision to keep it that way. Again, PN, the party of complacency.
Quite extensively.
I was aware of his belt buckles, but what, in heaven’s name, is that? The belt must be at least three inches wide, how did he manage to find those trousers with loops to fit?
First the Ambre Solaire, now this. What is it with 70s realsocialists and virility?
I do not know who your history buff but he certainly knows his job. Mintoff did not free Malta from anything on All Fools Day, 1 April 1979.
Mintoff’s true ignominious place in the history of Malta’s struggle for independence is NOT the achievement of our Independence Constitution – that was achieved during the premiership of Dr George Borg Olivier.
Mintoff’s unworthy contributions were initially his (mercifully failed) attempt to integrate Malta with the United Kingdom and his later humiliating extension of the foreign military base in Malta (against payment of rent, of course) for an additional five years beyond the original defence agreement.
Mintoff’s subsequent failure to extend the life of the foreign military base in Malta still further was the prelude for years of humiliation for Malta and its Prime Minister begging Gaddafi(!) to provide finance to pay the salaries of Malta’s civil service and for four unconsulted neighbouring countries to undertake the defence of the island in case of need.
Freedom Day indeed!
From what I read (Simon Smith, 2006 – British Documents on the End of the Empire Series B Volume 11, Malta) it seems that (a) the discussions started in Borg Olivier’s time and (b) Richard Nixon had a say in keeping the British in Malta (1971) because of the Libya and Soviet Union. Mintoff wanted the Brits to leave in 1971 (he actually wanted more money). Nixon seems to have applied some pressure.
From my understanding, it seems that it paid Mintoff to keep the Brits because he could get money from them and one NATO official of the time commented on what a tough negotiator he was.
However I am basing this on one book and I am not a historian.
It would be interesting to get the sources of your history buff friend.
[Daphne – No sources are required, AJS. We know that Borg Olivier negotiated the departure by 1974 of the British military, and that this is in the Independence Agreement. And we know that in 1972 Mintoff signed an extension of the lease by five years post 1974. Not much room for confusion there. The source for his attempts at persuading them to extend the lease even further after 1979? In 2009, all the relevant British documents became available under the 30-year embargo ‘freedom of information’ rule. They were reported on extensively in at least one Maltese newspaper, but I haven’t looked for the link. They reported on Mintoff’s really pathetic begging with Callaghan, and how desperately he tried to persuade Callaghan to come to Malta for the 31 March ceremony, and how he asked Gaddafi instead when Callaghan, busy fighting an electoral battle with Margaret Thatcher (she won), fobbed him off.]
@Troy, according to this book, he was a manipulator and he may have deployed a friendship with Gaddafi to get more money from the Brits because he knew that Americans tend to be rather paranoid if you don’t wake up ever morning respectfully saluting Old Glory.
[Daphne – No, in fact it was quite different. He tried to get the British to extend their lease in 1979 and to pay more money for it. When they called his bluff and hung him out to dry, he panicked because he had created a really desperate situation. Not only had he lost the ‘rent money’, but he had also lost all the Drydocks’ business (they serviced and repaired Royal Navy vessels almost exclusively) and had all those thousands of employees who had to be kept on and paid, otherwise he would lose face. He chose to magnify the financial catastrophe exponentially rather than lose face. Instead of closing down the dockyard and admitting to the mess he had made, he turned a disaster into a celebration, called it Jum il-Helsien, championed the dockyard and its workers who would go on to bleed Malta dry and cost hundreds of millions of liri over the years, and immediately Callaghan refused his invitation, he took desperate measures and called in Gaddafi, trading Malta’s vassalhood and promising ‘neutrality’ in return for a three million US dollars in an initial handout which he spent on children’s allowances.]
Thanks for the clarifications, Daphne … fascinating stuff.
Il-Mument, Il-Hadd, 2 ta’ April, 1989
Qata’ l-ktajjen li rabat hu stess
Minn Peter Darmanin
Il-bierah kien l-Ewwel ta’ April: “April Fool”. Jum li fih wiehed jistenna xi cajta zghira, kbira jew goffa. L-Ewwel ta’ April ifakkarni fl-Ewwel ta’ April 1979 meta l-HMS London halla Malta ghall-ahhar darba. Skond Mintoff, Jum il-Helsien kellu jkun dak il-jum li fih l-ahhar suldat jew bahri Ingliz ihalli Malta.
Jekk taqra l-orizzont tat-Tnejn, 2 ta’ April 1979 (bhal-lum ghaxar snin) issib rapport miktub il-Hadd, l-Ewwel ta’ April, 1979. Dak ir-rapport jibda hekk: “L-Inglizi anki llum zammew hinhom. Fil-11 a.m. preciz HMS London bdiet miexja minn nofs il-Port il-Kbir lejn il-breakwater”. Mela, skond Mintoff, Jum il-Helsien sehh ezatt fl-Ewwel ta’ April 1979. Ghalhekk, zgur li hadd ma jlumni jekk nghid li Jum il-Helsien kien cajta goffa Mintoffjana.
Nhar il-Hadd li ghadda ghedt car u tond li l-31 ta’ Marzu, 1979 ma jfisser xejn ghajr tmiem ta’ ftehim li kien ghamel Mintoff f’Marzu ta’ l-1972. Dak inhar, ghidt fl-artiklu tieghi ta’ nhar il-Hadd li ghadda, Mintoff kien biegh lil Malta b’cens ghal 7 snin lil Ingilterra. Ic-cens ghalaq fil-31 ta’ marzu 1979 u l-Inglizi hallew Malta b’kumbinazzjoni l-ghada, fl-Ewwel ta’ April.
Waqt li kont qed naghmel ftit tar-ricerka biex nibni l-artiklu tal-lum, qallibt l-orizzont tas-Sibt, 31 ta’ Marzu, 1979 u ohrog il-ghageb, b’sorpriza kbira ghalija sibt haga verament interessanti. Dak inhar, l-orizzont kellha harga Spġecjali u f-pagna 32 kien hemm mimtub b’ittir kbar dawn il-pricizi kelmiet: “JINTEMM IL-FTEHIM ….. U JAGHLAQ IC-CENS”. Dawn kliemhom stess tafux. Dak inhar Mintoff qata’ l-ktajjen li kien rabt hu stess bit-trattat ta’ l-1972.
Ma nistax nifhem
Nghid ghalija ma nistax nifhem ghaliex ghandek ticcelebra b’pompa kbira t-tmien ta’ ftehim li tkun ghamilt int stess. Ghaddew ghaxar snin mit-tmiem tal-ftehim u dak li ghadu jimmeraviljani sal-gurnata mqaddsa tal-lum hu KIF u GHALIEX ghandek ticcelebra bhala xi vittorja tmiem ta’ ftehim li gie iffirmat bejn Mintoff u Lord Carrington fost id-daqq tat-trombi u c–cekcik tat-taxxi tal-kristall mimlija xampanja. Jista’ Mintoff meta jkun komdu, jghidilna meta rebhet Malta? Jekk hux meta gie ssigillat il-ftehim ma l-Inglizi jew meta ntemm dak l-istess ftehim ma shabu l-Inglizi? “Take your time, Perit”. Meta tkun komdu wegibni.
Issa li ghadda l-10 anniversarju minn meta l-HMS London halliet Malta fl-1 ta’ April, 1970, ejjew nitkellmu car minghajr passjoni. Ejjew naghmlu kif ighdu l-istess Ingliz: “Let’s call a spade, a spade”. Pero’, nitlob lil Mintoff u lill-fidili tieghu biex ma jiehdux ghalihom b’dak li se nghid.
Mintoff, wara li fallielu l-pjan ta’ l_Integration u fallielu bl-ikrah, qaleb favur l-Indipendenza izda ghall-GHIRA li din ma gabhiex hu, ghamel l-ostakli kollha biex din ma tigix. Sahansitra kien ghamel minn kollox biex shabu fil-House of Commons ma jivvutawx favur l-ghoti ta’ l-Indipendenza lill-Malta. Mhux ghax ma riedix imma ghax Mintoff QATT MA SETGHA JNIZZILHA li kien proprju r-rival tieghu, Gorg borg Olivier li fil-21 ta’ Settembru, 1964 kiseb il-veru helsien ghal pajjizna minn hakma twila kolonjali.
Att ta’ Umiljazzjoni
Mintoff hemm bzonn li ghal darba f’hajtu jaghmell att ta’ umiljazzjoni, haga li hija ferm difficli ghall-karattru tieghu u jammetti quddiem il-poplu Malti kollu li kwalunkwe riferenza ghall-helsien shih hu biss kliem sfieq, fieragh, ta’ ardir li qed isir biex jifga l-GHIRA li nibtet f’qalb is-Socjalisti Maltin, 25 sena ilu ghax ma kienux huma li gabu l-Indipendenza vera ghal pajjizna.
Taghsar kemm taghsar l-argumenti kollha li jgibu favur JUM il-HELSIEN, iddur kemm iddur mal-lewza, jibqa’ l-fatt li t-tqanzieh kollu taghhom gej kollu mill-Ghira taghhom. Kif diga’ ghidt, Mintoff qatt ma seta’ jgerrah il-fatt li l-Indipendenza gabha Borg Olivier, kif qatt ma jista’ jgerrah il-fatt li nhar it-Tlieta, Censu Tabone, avversarju politiku iehor tieghu, se jilhaq l-oghla kariga f’pajjizna meta hu stess issa tilef kull tama fil-presidenza ta’ Malta. Cans li tilfu darba ghal dejjem! Cans li ma jerga’ jigieh qatt f’ghomru.
Nhar il-Gimagha, 31 ta’ Marzu gie ccelebrat mill-poplu kollu bhal festa nazzjonali. Mhux ghax dak il-jum ifisser xi forma ta’ xi helsien imma ghaliex ghaxar snin ilu, jekk kulhadd kien favur li l-bazi titnehha, dak kien ghaliex in-nazzjonalisti jsostnu f’dak li jemmnu. Kif sostnew dak li emmnu fl-1958 meta vvutaw favur il-“Break with Britain resolution”.
Tistona hafna
Kemm tistona l-ghajta tas-Socjalisti li huma kienu li keccew l-Inglizi. L-Inglizi ma kecciehom hadd. L-ebda Mintoff. Min ighid li kecca l-Inglizi jkun qed ighid hrafa mill-kbar. Niftakar li hekk kien qal u ghamel Gaddafi f’diskors li kien ghamel f’Jum il-Helsien, ghaxar snin ilu, fic-Centru tal-Mediterran ghal-konferenzi li ghalih kienu attendew aktar Libjani milli Maltin. Imhatra li diga’ nsejt x’kien qal Gaddafi?
Gaddafi kien qal li hu kien ferhan li Malta qed “ticcelebra t-tkeccija ta’ l-Inglizi” minn Malta. Kien qal ukoll li l-Inglizi huma nies kolonjalistu eghdewwa komuni kemm ta’ Malta kif ukoll tal-Libja. Mintoff ukoll bhal Gaddafi jghid li kien hu li kecca lill-Inglizi. Izda l-verita’ mhux hekk. Dak paroli fil-vojt.
Jien illum irrid infakkar lil Mintoff, f’poezija li kien kiteb il-mejjet Anton Buttigieg ghall-okkazzjoni ta’ Jum il-Helsien. Anton Buttigieg kien il-Presidenta ta’ Malta meta kiteb dik il-poezija. Buttigieg kien kiteb hekk: “Ghalhekk, qabel it-tluq, kollha mqanqlin, ejjew flimkien nitghannqu u nbusu lil xulxin”. Ghiduli intom, min hu dak il-bahnan jew dak il-gifa li qabel ma jkecci lil xi hadd minn daru jghannqu u jbusu f’estasi ta’ mhabba?
Kellu ragun Anton Buttigieg. U Mintoff jaf li kellu ragun. Mintoff jaf li l-ewwel imhabba ma tmut qatt. Mintoff habbhom lil Inglizi. Studja l-Ingilterra. Izzewweg Ingliza. Uliedu rabbiehom u edukahom fi skejjel Inglizi. Mintoff li kien ghalih gab l-Integration u mhux l-Indipendenza.
Il-‘Confiteor’ ta’ Mintoff
Ha nispicca b’haga li ftit hawn min jaf biha. Sincerament niddubita jekk hawnx nofs tuzzana Maltin li jafu b’dik l-istqarrija li kien ghamel Mintoff f’ittra privata li huwa kiteb lil certu Father L., bid-data tal-24 ta’ Novembru, 1953. Dik l-istqarrija ta’ Mintoff insejhilha il-“CONFITEOR” politiku tal-perit Mintoff. Lil Father L., Mintoff kien kitiblu dawn il-precizi kelmiet:
“Let us take one particular example – integration. For four years the Labour Party has been vigorously propagating this idea”.
Ammissjoni mill-aktar cara ta’ Mintoff li l-Partit li hu kien il-mexxej tieghu ried u ghamel kampanja qawwija favur l-Integration ghal aktar minn erba’ snin shah.
Mhux ta’ b’xejn li Mintoff, sena u seba’ xhur ezatt wara Jum il-Helsien, nhar il-31 ta’ Dicembru 1980, f’xandira lin-Nazzjon, kien qal li “Din l-Integration kienet opportunita’ li tlifna, mhux ghax ma konniex bil-ghaqal jew suppervi, anzi konna umli hafna. Kienu l-Ingliz li ma riedux bis-serjeta’ li ahna nkunu bhalhom u nisru parti minnhom”.
Fil-harga ta’ Gunju ta’ l-1952 ta’ “The Knight”, Duminku Mintoff kien kiteb hekk: “If only this dream were to come true! It would make all members of the Labour Party dance with joy, unfold the Union Jack and embrace every Briton armed or unarmed”.
Harbitlu tafux! ….. dance with joy, unfold the Union Jack and embrace every Briton armed or unarmed”.
Imbaghad irid jilghabha tas-salvatur ta’ Malta! Spicca z-zmien li nilaghbu bil-pasturi, Dumink! Viva Jum il-Helsien, la x-xitan irid hekk.
Kelma ta’ l-ahhar. Nhar it-Tlieta fil-11 a.m. ta’ filghodu, niltaqghu lkoll il-Belt hdejn il-Palazz biex naghtu merhba kbira lil Censu Tabone, il-President il-gdid ta’ Malta Indipendenti. Tinsewx, gibu maghkom il-bnadar Maltin.
I couldn’t understand, being six years old, why Anton Buttigieg was on the bastions next to us, waving to the sailors on that ship.
[Daphne – Wasn’t the second Mrs Buttigieg a WREN or something?]
Talk about family ties.
Borg Olivier meta kien ghamel il ftehim ta l-indipendenza qatt ma kien ftehim militari izda wiehed ta’ difiza li jekk xi hadd kien ifetillu jahbad ghal Malta l-inglizi kienu obligati li jiddefendu lill Malta izda kienu marbutin ukoll li jekk jinqala xi inkwiet barra min xtutna dawn ma setawx jattakkaw min Malta.
Bil ftehim ma’ Mintoff dawn kellhom bazi militari li min hawn setaw jattakkaw lill min irridu bhal ma ghandhom l-Amerikani gewwa l-italja f’Sigonella.
[Daphne – The things people say to delude themselves. ‘No, my wife isn’t having an affair. That man tripped and fell into her bed.’ Now sit down quietly with a cup of coffee and try to work out why any country would wish to maintain a hugely expensive military base just on the remote offchance that it might be needed to defend a country that has just become independent, while paying that country for the privilege. When a military power maintains a base, it is because THAT MILITARY POWER NEEDS TO, and not for any other reason, and certainly not because the host country wants it to, as Mintoff discovered to his dismay in 1979.]
Funny you should mention Nato’s Sigonella. It effectively replaced Malta due the lack of space available on the island.
http://militarybases.com/overseas/italy/sigonella
Mintoff wasn’t one to learn from the past it seems.
B’din l-istorja li qalet Daphne illum huwa evidenti li Mintoff kien l-akbar giddieb.
Allura jfisser ukoll li dawk li sal-llum ghadhom jemmnu lil Mintoff huma l-akbar cwiec.
Mhux ta’ b’xejn li l-PL jaghmel x’jaghmel u jigdeb kemm jigdeb jibqa dejjem sejjer lura.
I feel very sorry for you, you don’t know what are you saying. You want anyone to believe that the English Government ever wanted to close the military base in Malta?
[Daphne – Carmel, dear. It’s documented, black on white, in documents declassified by the British government in 2009.]
Daphne, is carmel for real or did you insert this?
[Daphne – He’s real.]
Does nyone know if there is any truth in the story I heard of late that, had it not been for Lorry Sant standing up to him nsd threatening to split the party, Dom Mintoff was going to annex Malta officially with Mwammar’s Jemaharijah?
Malta was already considered a base for Gaddafi’s military forces by the Italian secret service as early as 1975.
This wasn’t given the due importance until Aldo Moro’s kidnapping and execution by the BR, leading to a radical revision of Italy’s foreign policy.
Moro had been part of the negotiating process between Malta and Britain for the creation of the republic, something Borg Olivier opposed, leading to his isolation and Mintoff’s gaining favour.
When Malta became a base for Gaddafi’s operations, confirmed by the Saipem incident, Mintoff found himself at the mercy of a terrorist financing regime.
It explains the bipolar change of relations with Italy, and more specifically with the DC, Moro having been considered a friend, with one Malta’s main arteries named after him, whilst all his party colleagues considered spawns of the great satan.
To date no one questioned Sciberras Trigona what he meant by ‘providing refuge to political organisations like the BR and Baden Meinhof to use the transmitters in Delimara’. Whether these had access to the country, held bank accounts and managed weapons transhipments.
One shouldn’t forget the coincidence between the signing of Malta’s protocol with Italy, a protection pact with a member of Nato, removing us from Gaddafi’s clutches, and the Bologna train station attack resulting in scores dead.
Gaddafi also financed the IRA and the PLO, both organisations favoured by Yana Mintoff. Perhaps she would like to divulge some details.
Nothing keeps me from thinking that now that Gaddafi’s gone, Labour has turned to her for financing. Kif jghid il-Malti, jekk ma’ tghaddix mill-bieb, idhol mit-tieqa.
The crux here, is Labour’s terzomondisti forma mentis, if it holds on to these people, we’ll get more of the same. When Yana speaks, her reference to ‘iz-zghir’ is extended to the nation as a whole. I’m sure she’s good friends with Alex, who may have a hand in her appointment.
What’s remarkable is how senior Labour MP’s have turned rather quiet recently.
There were prominent and influental British people who loved Malta for sentimental rather than practical reasons and who would have liked Malta to remain a British base.
Their sentimental motivation did not impress the hard-headed, pragmatic and practical civil servants and the politicians at the Colonial Office who were unwilling to fork out the cash demanded by Mintoff, when the facilities that Malta could offer were already available more cheaply and more trouble-free in near-by Sigonella.
NATO’s only remaining concern was that Malta should not be allowed to fall in the Warsaw Pact or terrorist states’ sphere of influence. That left the NATO countries open to Mintoff’s blackmail but he overplayed his hand and we all suffered the consequences of that error of judgment.
Fascinating reading and some insight here and can’t thank Daphne enough for this site which is, in my humble opinion, the last bastion to put historical facts right and stop allowing Labour to repeatedly lie and get away with duping the present and future generations as to the ‘grandiosity of Mintoff’ rather than the monstrosity of the man.
Facts:
1. Borg Olivier signed a 10-year defence agreement with Britain, which meant that British forces were obliged to defend Malta should it be attacked by third parties. The agreement was that in return for allowing British troops in Malta Britain was committed to Malta’s defence and also fork out Lm2 3/4 million per year.
2. On being elected in 1971 Mintoff immediately wanted to change the agreement and asked for Lm18M
3. The Brits would have nothing to do with that and they promptly started moving out. I vividly remember hearing Edward Heath on Rediffusion saying ‘ We will not give Malta a penny more.’
4. While the Brits were pulling out, NATO, and especially the Italians and the Yanks became very concerned with the possibility of having the Soviet Union push its ‘borders’ or let’s say ‘sphere or influence’ further north from Libya and right under its southernmost border, ie Italy. The latter had, at that time, the strongest communist party in the whole of Western Europe.
5. After a lot of negotiations and Mintoff’s begging, NATO, and I repeat NATO – not Britain, forked out the difference. And the difference was not between 2 3/4 million to 18 million (on which Mintoff was insisting) but the difference between 2 3/4 and Lm14million because that is what NATO was ready to offer. And that is what Mintoff had to accept.
6. But the worst was yet to come. Malta was defenceless from 1972 onwards because the Brits not only did not fork out any more money than agreed with Borg Olivier, but also released themselves from their obligation to defend Malta. And more…. the agreement Mintoff negotiated was really one that made the Maltese seem like ‘careless prostitutes’ because we gave our land away for a sum of money without even asking for protection by the same forces stationed here.
Enough said. Now if we fast-forward to the present day, I cannot agree more with the guy who wrote ‘PN bla bajd’. Bla bajd when it comes to our foreign policy yes, because we should not allow Malta to continue to be defenceless.
We can’t afford a proper defence force as a small island nation and so we should follow what most of the Baltic states are doing by joining NATO, which means that NATO will provide the necessary defence by having the other bigger and better-equipped nations to rotate their forces in defending these islands.
The same Baltic states that were part of the Soviet Union have not only joined the EU but NATO as well. Because it is sensible. Because it sends the right message to anyone with bad intent. And because we are true Europeans and trust other Europeans with our defence since we are unable to do it ourselves.
Defence is an insurance. It costs money but is necessary. Our PN politicians are failing us by playing a very dangerous game, because they are scared of what the opposition could say.
Things became starkly clear last year when Malta refused to help in the military build-up and execution of the mission to rid the world of Gaddafi. The world, not Libya, because Gaddafi was a plague on the world and a particular plague on Malta.
Malta even refused permission to non-NATO countries like the UAE and Qatar to use our resources. The government had cold feet from day one, and all this because the typical PN bla bajd was not sure of what the Opposition would say. Or rather, it knew what the Opposition would say and didn’t want to have to deal with it.
In the end, the war in Libya just showed how unimportant and irrelevant Malta is in today’s warfare because NATO and the other Arab states won the war without setting foot on Malta during their missions. Which begs the question: who is defending us?
Well feyyyyuuuuhk me! A fellow traveller.
I can put your mind at rest on the last question: The European Union is defending us.
Really. I know you nation of goddamn lawyers will say that there is nothing in the hundreds of metres of shelf space of EU legislation which says anything about mutual defence pacts. But you may rest assured that if the territory of one member state were to be threatened, the other states would intervene.
Now for the bla bajd bit. Yes, PN is a party of comfortable cowards. It swept twenty years of evil, disastrous policies, corruption and crime (including murder) under the carpet in 1987. All in the name of peace. Issa kullhadd friends. Ejja naghmlu paci. Presumably because Christian-Democrat means turn-the-other-cheek. Mintoff should be rotting in jail right now, not pampered in state hospitals at the taxpayer’s expense. That statue to Lorry Sant should have been torn down the minute it was put up. Malta’s old pal tal-bajtar emblem should have been replaced on every plaque and monument to those terrible twenty years of third world experience. That hideous mound of rubble and prickly pears which glorifies a day which should not even be on the list of national holidays should have been bulldozed over.
So what if the Labour hordes would have come out with their torches and pitchforks? I thought PN came to power to restore the rule of law. So they would have been met by the long arm of the law – the very same law paraded about as a status symbol by our village politician lawyers. So what if KMB had gone on a xtrajh tal-guh in protest at Mintoff’s trial? The law would have found KMB guilty of complicity and put him in jail too, for a shorter spell.
That is PN’s tragedy. Transforming (sorry – “incentivising”) the economy is laudable. But it’s the obvious choice. Getting us into the EU was something between us and il-barrani. But justice and reparation – ah! that requires balls. Real ones. It requires purges. Perhaps purges of one’s own close chums. Because hey, while the rest of the country went through hell, some very important Nationalists were busy colluding with the enemy. As for our intellectual class, they’re too busy commenting on the minutiae of Triq Balzunetta and making sure their tenured professorship stays that way.
A nation of vile, conniving, lily-livered, fat-jowled, bead-clutching cowards.
If PN had balls we wouldn’t be where we are now, counting electoral majorities in spoonfuls and wagging our fingers at mountains of unused medication and an even larger mountain of tax fraud, with half the population revering that Mintoff-worshipping cynical manipulator Joseph Muscat.
NO ONE is defending us because according to the MLP hypnotising mantra Malta is a “neutral and non-aligned” state and such historic rogues as Kaiser Wilhelm and Adolf Hitler were great respectors of the neutral status of weaker neighbouring states. Anyone who needs to learn more about the subject should consult the fate of Belgium and the Netherlands in World Wars I and II.
The proof that it was George Borg Olivier who signed the British out is in the fact that during that legislature there were TWO British Forces ‘rundowns’ in view of the base closure.
Maltese servicemen were given the option of either leaving the services without penalty for rescinding their contract or complete/renew it and be transferred the British base in Cyprus.
The second ‘rundown’ which, if memory serves me well, was just 18 months before the 1971 general election and must have cost Borg Olivier that election because I remember the then MLP making a whole lot of political gain out of it with Mintoff screaming that many families will be losing the breadwinner.
Another fact that is being overlooked is that during Mintoff’s dealings with Britain for the base renewal, he recruited the help of Mons. Gonzi who made many trips to England pleading Malta’s case.
I remember that at first Mintoff doubled his request from 3.50m to 7m, then uped it to 14m (which was considered favourably) and then to 18m, which proved to be the final straw.
In fact, there was even a time in early 1974 when the British forces were preparing to leave. They were already packing away the useful stuff and burning, giving away or selling off the rest. I still have carbon paper “bl-iljun” from those days.