This morning, Dr Eddie Fenech Adami becomes President of Malta. I cannot think of anyone who could be more deserving of the post at this juncture. In less than a month's time, Malta becomes a member of the European Union. Dr Fenech Adami is the Founding Father of European Malta. To ask him to be the first President of Malta within that Union does not only do him historic justice but also does us all proud to have as our head of state a man who has already been acclaimed at the European level.
I have so far had the privilege to present myself as candidate for our House of Representatives in the six general elections since 1981. These were the general elections which the Nationalist Party contested with Dr Fenech Adami as its leader.
He has secured the backing of the absolute majority of the people of Malta in five out of those six elections and also steered Malta into joining the EU by winning the referendum held last year.
Does his leadership of the Nationalist Party for 27 years make him a divisive person, as the Opposition is claiming? The answer, from my own experiences of him, through calm and rough seas, is flatly no.
Before I go into detail to explain that answer, a preliminary point needs to be made. The office of President is a political one. Whoever thinks differently either would like our country to be the most original one on the face of Earth, since in other countries the issue is not even discussed, or does not appreciate what the office requires and stands for.
Even had we opted for limited executive powers, there could be circumstances where the person occupying the office of President will require political acumen and experience. Even in normal circumstances, the President is to be kept informed about the workings of Government through the Prime Minister, who together with the House of Representatives constitutes Parliament, and chairs the Commission for the Administration of Justice.
The President represents the government and people of Malta in our own country as well as abroad where he would conduct state visits as necessary. He is the person to safeguard and protect our Constitution. That means safeguarding democracy and its further development. He needs to reflect the values and aspirations of the people whom he will represent without distinction.
To assume that politicians are to be barred from occupying the post is similar to assuming that when the shareholders of a private company meet to appoint their chairman they are supposed to consider any person provided he or she does not belong to the commercial sector! What is even more strange is that this weird argument is occasionally made by persons who belong to the political class but who for one motive or another try to argue that the choice must be anything but political!
It is to the credit of the Maltese political class that all persons within it who have so far occupied the post have done so with dignity and in a manner that unified the people. I am referring to Anton Buttigieg, Agatha Barbara, Censu Tabone, Ugo Mifsud Bonnici and Guido de Marco. I also add Paul Xuereb, who served as Acting President for over two years, but equally carried out his duties in an exemplary manner.
The easiest exercise on earth would be to search for speeches made or features written by any these distinguished politicians within the context of parliamentary or other debate or for that matter at mass meetings organised by the political parties to which they have proudly pertained, and then try to argue that any one or all of them acted in a 'divisive' manner and should not have been considered for the country's highest office since other persons, be they top civil servants, diplomats or persons who distinguished themselves in the business world should have been considered instead! The argument could not be more absurd and yet is still made by some who should know better.
Dr Fenech Adami has all the necessary qualities and attributes to be our head of state. His distinguishing hallmark is his ability to rise to the occasion and fulfil his duties to the best of his abilities whatever is his calling at any particular moment. He will do no less as President of Malta, conscious of the particular burden, duties and responsibilities that this office carries with it. His mission has always been that to be of service to his country and people and that is the primary value as well as determination that he will carry with him to the office.
I have pointed out earlier that the fact that until recently he has led the Nationalist Party for 27 years does not make him a divisive person and my own experiences of him through the six general elections that he contested as party leader as well as of his entire track record through all those years bear this out.
Why? From the word 'go' after being elected PN leader in 1977, Eddie gave priority to two values: truth and solidarity. I clearly remember his drive to combat prejudice and misconceptions, not only against his Party but also against others.
Equally he sought to bring home his message 'Qalbna mal-haddiema' - indicating that for him the ultimate litmus test of being of service to the nation was in ensuring that his policies and decisions led to the generation of jobs, creation of wealth and spreading that wealth justly. He would always consider the impact of all decisions that he had to make on workers, on persons who have a right to be given equal opportunities, and on those who are often neglected by society but who are were always at the forefront of his own considerations.
As Leader of the Opposition between 1977 and 1987, he often had to suffer violent attacks directed at him, his family, his home, the clubs of the party he was leading, and his supporters.
In all these occasions, he would urge calm. His battlecry, if it can be described as such, still rings out loud and clear: Is-Sewwa Jirbah Zgur.
His criticism of his political adversaries was as dignified and correct as it was pointed and unwavering. Whenever he addressed mass meetings, he made it a point to use a new appellation: Huti Maltin u Ghawdxin. It was not the loud and emotional cry to the Nationalists present, but the fatherly and calm call to all his Maltese and Gozitan brethren.
When he became Prime Minister, reconciliation became the leitmotiv of his method of governing the country. He would not hear of revenge. As far as he was concerned, walls set up as barriers had to be brought down and their material used to lay the sold foundations for bridges.
'Reconciliation' was not the only word to enter our Maltese political dictionary as a result of his policies. Before that, the word 'dialogue', now taken for granted, entered the same dictionary as a result of his unfailing conviction in values.
I shall always recall a full-page cartoon in a Labour publication depicting 'dialogue' in a derogatory manner as a kind of menu from where all could pick and choose since the chef could not make up his own mind!
The man has laid down the foundations of modern democracy in our country. That included incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights in our law, setting up Commissions against Injustice and then the Office of Ombudsman, strengthening the Office of the Auditor General, introducing Local Government - now incorporated in the Constitution, making the University again autonomous and restoring to the civil service the right to decide and advise without fear or favour, as well as amending the electoral laws to ensure maximum fairness and openness.
Moreover the man who had to go to court to have his own name by the State broadcasting media actually referred to, and who was considered as "joking" when he requested to have a radio station for his party, introduced pluralism and freedom of our broadcasting media for the benefit of all.
On innumerable occasions, he gave genuine advice to those who had differing political agendas and very often it was only when that advice was not heeded, that the political 'competitor' lost rather than gained!
The impeccable manner in which he has led Malta to become a member of the European Union on May 1 this year makes him the Founding Father of European Malta.
Today he becomes President of one nation, one people. Even if the Leader of the Opposition has chosen to hail this day as one of mourning, thereby indicating that he has made some loss which we are not aware of, he will sooner rather than later realise that today as one Maltese people we all deserve to be rejoicing.
Our most deserving citizen assumes the country's highest office. As ever, he will be doing his utmost to serve, to serve well and to reflect in this process an entire nation's best aspirations.
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