Those against the regime

I read with interest Michael Mallia’s letter narrating his unpleasant experience with then premier Dom Mintoff of the 1980s.

I had a similar experience when I was working with Olivetti, in Italy. I had come to Malta in December 1981 on holiday and participated in a huge PN rally in Dingli Street protesting against the perverse result of the election.

On my return to Italy I was called by the human resources manager who informed me that Olivetti were asked by the Malta government to sack me on grounds that I was taking part in political activities bad-mouthing the Maltese government.

I never got to know who contacted Olivetti, yet Olivetti assured me that they had no intention of sacking me.

It seems that, in the 1980s, the Mintoff government used such tactics to bother people who opposed the regime.

Unlike Mallia, I was fortunate to continue with my career with Olivetti.

Philip Micallef – Attard

Dom Mintoff and bankers

Michael Mallia’s letter (August 18) is very indicative of Dom Mintoff’s various ways of dealing with people.

Regrettably, Mark Montebello’s hotchpotch of a biography fails miserably to bring out this element and this simply because he only tapped very conventional and limited sources.

Take Mintoff’s relationship with bankers, both Maltese and foreign. He only saw them as people to be used (or abused?!).

Similar to the late-night session which Mallia cites, I too formed part of a sizeable (some 20 of us) group who were called to parliament to be spoken to (addressed!) by Mintoff after that evening’s parliamentary session was concluded.

This was a visit to Malta of a number of highly reputable representatives from central and other banks from the US, the UK, Sweden, Italy, and elsewhere, plus us the locals.

At the start of the meeting, Mintoff immediately embarked on an endless peroration of “How we are doing things now in Malta” and he ended up some 20 minutes of self-aggrandisement by turning upon us, his listeners, with the words “Now that you have heard what we are doing, please tell us what we can do more and better”.

By this time the room had become one big cloud of smoke. Sitting next to me was the Swedish central banks’ representative and, after hearing from one or two other interlocutors, he took yet another big puff on his pipe and addressed Mintoff: “Mr Prime Minister, I am afraid in Sweden we do things totally differently”.

Mintoff intervened: “How is that possible… you are Swedes… you are like us… you are Socialists… what can you really do much differently?”

The banker: “No, Mr Prime Minister, in Sweden we really do things totally differently… for example, first we let the private sector get on with its job totally unharassed by ministers and government and then we tax them until the pips cry…”

Everybody in the room was clearly trying to hold his place on his seat. The effort to laugh out loud was indeed very hard to restrain.

John Consiglio – Birkirkara

Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@timesofmalta.com. Please include your full name, address and ID card number. The editor may disclose personal information to any person or entity seeking legal action on the basis of a published letter.