The student organisation Studenti Demokristjani Maltin, founded by the author in 1974, turns 50 this month. It is still the most important, active and effective student organisation in Malta.

The preparatory work for the foundation of the organisation, at a time when Malta was going through a very difficult political period, started a year earlier. Thanks to Dom Mintoff’s decision to open some courses at university biannually, I found myself out of Junior College with nothing to do and accepted a proposal (together with the Gozitan Teddy Cauchi) to attend a one-year course in social and political science at a Jesuit college in London (which no longer exists).

There, I was exposed to the political world much more than I had been already and studied as much as I could the theory of Christian democracy. I also made contacts with the Conservative students and ended up attending a conference of the ECCS (European Conservative and Christian Democratic Students) at the Conservative Convention in Blackpool.

From then, my international contacts intensified.

The author addressing the first annual meeting of SDM in 1975.

ECCS eventually became EDS (European Democrat Students), which took a less right-wing approach (something I much preferred), and there was also the EUJCD (European Union of Young Christian Democrats), which did not last very long.

On my return to Malta in July 1974, I immediately took action to set up SDM. It was no easy task. Students at university did not number more than 500. Most students were very much afraid to enter politics and one could not blame them as the situation was very critical (when I graduated after the 1976 elections, no one would employ a candidate).

Violence was the order of the day and the atmosphere at university was very heavy. During one protest, Francis Zammit Dimech and myself were badly beaten by thugs.

But, incredibly, there was a much more open debate than nowadays. We had regular debates at the university; our major ‘opponent’ was the Xirka għal Ġustizzja Soċjali, led by Evarist Bartolo.

From the very start, I insisted that while SDM had political beliefs, mainly that the individual must be at the centre of all decisions, it was not tied to a political party. Admittedly, the greatest majority were Nationalists but we were careful to maintain independence.

A European Democrats Students meeting in Malta in 1975.

Our issues were all linked to student needs: our major campaign was a request for some kind of grant as students coming from lower income families, like mine, found it very hard to cope. Our campaign for grants was taken over by the Kunsill Studenti Universitarji (KSU).

I had many more ideas, such as a residence for students, but most did not even dream it would be possible.

We were careful to maintain independence

SDM became more and more popular over the years, and a number of politicians started their political career there, including Tonio Borg, among others. I was greatly helped by Paul Nurton, Joseph Portelli and Joseph Zammit McKeon.

We were very active on the international scene and made sure other countries knew what Malta was going through − some countries had hardly heard of us.

Although we had no funds whatsoever, we managed to attend many conferences, some financed by the Council of Europe or by our friends abroad, mainly the Germans, Swedes and French.

I attended many meetings and liberty campaigns, such as in Portugal, but also made sure other active members did as well. Malta was always on the agenda and I published many articles abroad.

My contacts with the German CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and their student wing RCDS (Association of Christian Democratic Students) also led to a very important opportunity for us, mainly through the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF). On one trip, in May 1975, I met all the top officials at the KAF. I was only 19 at the time but insisted that we needed their help.

First AŻAD group at the KAF Academy in Eichholz, Switzerland, 1976.

This led to the eventual foundation of AŻAD. Of course, this was something beyond SDM and, eventually, the Nationalist Party took over AŻAD even though it was planned to be an independent organisation. I had, however, managed all the contacts (as documents in my possession confirm).

Originally, all they requested was a letter from the party confirming that they approved of the board: then prime minister George Borg Olivier refused to sign and it was eventually signed by deputy leader Ċensu Tabone.

I led a group of 30 to their first meeting at the KAF in Eichholz, Switzerland and, from then on, they started financing AŻAD. Once the money arrived, however, I was not chosen to administer the funds. Eventually, the government introduced the Foreign Interference Act.

Meanwhile, SDM went from strength to strength and is still the most important student organisation in Malta. After the first three years as president, I decided, at the age of 20, to run for the 1976 elections. Since I was faithful to my principles to keep SDM independent, I stepped down from my position.