Editorial

It was remarkable to see how spontaneously President Guido de Marco reacted to a suggestion made to him by the president of the 3/11 Regiment RMA(T) Association when the association's committee called on him at the Palace in Valletta last week on the occasion of their 30th anniversary.

The association's president appealed to Prof. de Marco, on behalf of his association, to use all his moral influence to see that something is done to restore Fort St Elmo, a major home of the Royal Malta Artillery in the past, to its pristine glory. The main thrust of the association's appeal was in effect that the best form of preservation is utilisation.

Members of the 3/11 Regiment RMA(T) Association regularly make it a point of visiting military architecture sites both in Malta and overseas. Invariably they return home with a heavy heart, seeing what a poor figure Malta cuts in this regard when compared to how other countries treat such sites. Still, the association never tires of making suggestions as to how such jewels as Fort St Elmo can be saved.

In the specific case of Fort St Elmo, for instance, suggestions have ranged from getting the Armed Forces (now, it seems, losing ever more and more operating space to other authorities, or even to cope with the influx of illegal immigrants) back there, to placing it totally under the tutelage of heritage associations or the several existing Maltese "old comrade" associations, to giving it to the Malta Scouts and Guides Movements, to even possibly getting some rich foreign university that wants its own campus in the Mediterranean to invest in its restoration and make use of it. One MP has even suggested using the fort as a crafts village.

President de Marco's feel and love for St Elmo is - even in a context of his known feelings for the whole of Valletta - something which he has shown over many years. At the time he was interior minister, he was instrumental in setting up in Upper St Elmo the Malta Police Academy, thus ensuring some element of conservation of that part of the fort. But St Elmo is of course much bigger than that.

Its St Anne Chapel, the lower parade ground, the area around the War Museum, now in a pitiful state, the many barrack rooms and offices on four floors above the parade ground, the guard room at its entrance, and so many other parts of the fort cry out for restoration.

Indeed, the whole place can be restored back to its former glory. Apart from the fact that it is our duty to preserve it, it would, after restoration, be worth showing to tourists.

It is somewhat strange that up to now the people of Valletta themselves have not shown enough enterprise to crusade, as it were, for the fort's rehabilitation. Instead, the fort has become a target for vandals. Are we going to let it die completely?

The President's remarks should serve as a clarion call for action - now before it is too late. It is an integral part of the island's heritage that is worth restoring and keeping.

In truth, with the help of heritage associations, the island has been making good progress in the restoration of neglected heritage sites in recent years. Let us turn our attention to Fort St Elmo as well now.