Lucky birthday

Yesterday the Prime Minister celebrated his 70th birthday. Falling as it does on February 7, that makes it his (second) lucky birthday. He has decided, completely of his own free will, to avail himself of this occasion to write to the President of the Nationalist Party General Council asking for the holding of a General Council where the agenda will be the election of Party Leader.

The party's executive met to discuss the procedures to be followed as a result of this letter. The time limit for nominations as well as the date for the holding of the General Council that will consider this item have been set.

For any one of us who has worked closely with Dr Eddie Fenech Adami over the past 27 years of impeccable leadership of the party, his departure from this post will represent a sad loss. One augurs that his wisdom and vision can be still availed of in the national interest.

Once a new party leader is elected, it will be up to Dr Fenech Adami, and to him alone, to choose if and when to resign as Prime Minister. It is well known in Government and party circles that there is an overwhelming desire for him to stay on as long as possible and in any case to be leading the country when Malta joins the European Union on May 1.

For Eddie, that is a major dream come true. Not so much for himself personally as for the country he has served. He has been the national catalyst to transform Malta from a country where fundamental rights and freedoms were threatened to a country that is strengthening its sovereignty through EU membership.

The 'leitmotiv' of his entire political career has been that of responding positively to national calls of duty. He consistently sought to be of service to others. He did not ask what the country can do for him, but he did ask what he can do for the country and always chose to respond affirmatively, to do his duty, not to seek escape routes or lines of least resistance, to be there at all hours of need.

Moreover he always carried out his duties with a sense of responsibility. He has taught each and every one of us who have been so privileged to work closely with him that the country can only move forward by safeguarding its values. Whether in Opposition or in Government, he held the values that provide our country's fabric and soul in the highest esteem not merely by unashamedly emphasising and proclaiming them whenever necessary but even more importantly by living them, by setting the right examples, and by implementing them through the different policies and targets that he worked upon. His path was the path of truth and action. It was never the path of hypocrisy and pragmatism.

Those who have worked close to him through thick and thin will recall such episodes as when on October 15, 1979 his home was ransacked by a Labour mob and members of his family had to escape by risking their lives and jump from one rooftop to another. Equally we recall his leading a Nationalist Party demonstration towards Zejtun in line with his liberty of manifestation as upheld by the Constitutional Court. On that occasion members of the Police SMU had fired shots in his direction.

One cannot then forget when Dr Fenech Adami was a few days later informed of the murder of Nationalist activist Raymond Caruana in the Gudja party club.

Even in the most difficult of circumstances, I can vividly recall Dr Fenech Adami appealing for calm and holding firmly to his belief that what is right must ultimately prevail - is-sewwa jirbah zgur. His vision was proved to be correct. His holding firm to principles and values and to do so with utmost courage won the day for him, the party and the country.

When Dr Fenech Adami was going through these difficult moments, he was also campaigning for a return to democracy and safeguarding the real significance of Independence. From 1981 to 1987 he was leading the party from the Opposition benches notwithstanding the fact that he commanded the support of the absolute majority of the people. His fortitude and unwavering commitment to Malta's future meant that finally constitutional amendments were made to guarantee that the will of the majority of the people would always be respected.

Since assuming the leadership of the party, Dr Fenech Adami has led us through six general elections. In five out of those six general elections, as well as in the national referendum about Malta's entry into the EU, he has won the absolute majority of the people. On a political level that has meant defeating three successive Labour Party leaders, separately and more recently even collectively.

Having an interest in broadcasting and the way it operates in Malta, I shall never forget when we had go to court to establish that the State broadcasting machine Xandir Malta as it was known (no pluralism of television or radio stations then!) would not refer to him by name. I have kept a collection of the different court judgments on issues of blatant partiality by the State broadcasting media at the time, and the one where the court felt in duty bound to order Xandir Malta to refer to Dr Fenech Adami by name stands out as symptomatic not only of the way broadcasting was then run but also and more generally of a way of life in our country that has since then been turned around, thanks to the commitment and relentless hard work put in Eddie.

Eddie's 27-year leadership of the Nationalist Party is nearly equally split between the Opposition years and his serving the country as prime minister.

When he was first sworn in as head of government in May 1987, his immediate message and task was to promote reconciliation. The man who personally saw democracy and fundamental human rights being vilified by Labour governments, who saw his party headquarters being invaded by police officers "in search of cordless telephones", who saw party activists physically attacked in countless activities, who had led the Mnarja peaceful protest followed by thousands of workers being suspended from work, who witnessed the police firing tear gas and shotguns at persons attending Nationalist meetings, was talking of national unity, of moving forward, of genuine reconciliation, and of putting back together the pieces of a country that had been in many ways torn asunder. That is the mettle of leadership and statesmanship.

Last week I was personally hurt to learn of the vile attacks that the Labour leader unleashed against our Prime Minister following the verdict in the trial dealing with the attempted murder of Dr Fenech Adami's personal assistant, Richard Cachia Caruana. The Labour leader has made serious accusations which call for an immediate and unequivocal apology. Accountability in public life does not only pertain to persons in Government but pertains equally to the Opposition, to the media and to all persons who wish to claim a modicum of respect.

Dr Fenech Adami has suffered similar injurious attacks in the past and at the end of the day has always come out the stronger in the public eye for them.

His tenure of office as Prime Minister has meant an entire transformation of a country without the barest essentials in infrastructure where we could not count on water in our taps, electricity supply when we try to turn the lights on, telephone lines that communicate or an air terminal with proper luggage carousels!

His tenure of office has led to a cultural metamorphosis, a new way of life that now makes us think of the challenges ahead (occasionally forgetting too easily all the achievements made to date) and to the foundations of a society where knowledge and information are valued and seen as opportunities rather than frowned upon.

Yesterday was Eddie's lucky birthday, and all of us close to him consider ourselves more than lucky for having had the privilege of sharing so many momentous happenings together, equally through rough and calm waters.

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