Tribute to Borg Olivier

"Borg Olivier was a popular gentleman... a man of applied common sense. A democrat and a lover of liberty but with a social conscience, determined but without the need to boast about his determination, his feet on the ground but with fiery ideals, a man of faith without bigotry... He reconciled the Maltese to nationalism because his was a Maltese nationalism, moderate, modern and thus acceptable."

President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici delivered this assessment of the late Maltese statesman, under whose premiership Malta obtained its independence, when giving the Giorgio Borg Olivier Memorial Lecture last Friday:

"He made of the Nationalist Party an instrument of government. He led Nationalists to think as a party of government. Apart from the fact that cunctando (playing the sort of waiting game with which the Latin poet Ennius credited the Roman general Fabius Maximus in his victory over Hannibal) he obtained independence, he brought his Maltese brethren to liberate themselves from the complexes of dependence. What a splendid icon!"

Dr Mifsud Bonnici's talk was rich in personal anecdote, giving a vivid portrait of the various qualities for which Dr Borg Olivier is remembered: loyalty, honesty, subtlety, patience, moderation and a well-developed sense of irony among them.

He was a leader who was intransigent about the goal of independence but gentlemanly, flexible and moderate when dealing with his adversaries, whom he never demonised.

These virtues were placed in the context in which Dr Borg Olivier had to operate as a political leader - a setting that for many years gave him a precarious political base, in Parliament as well as in the country.

The memorial lecture, which is organised by the Academy for the Development of a Democratic Environment (AZAD) on behalf of the Fondazzjoni Gorg Borg Olivier, is held annually to commemorate the anniversary of the demise of Dr Borg Olivier. It was held at the Auberge d'Aragon, Dr Borg Olivier's office when he was Prime Minister, which was made available by the deputy prime minister Dr Tonio Borg, whose ministry the Auberge now houses.

The lecture was attended by President Eddie Fenech Adami, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Dr Tonio Borg, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Anton Tabone, President Emeritus Censu Tabone, Chief Justice Emeritus Professor Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici, Minister Louis Galea, members of the Borg Olivier family, including his widow, Alexandra, and son Peter, Dr Victor Ragonesi, Dr Alfred Bonnici, Professor Henry Frendo, Professor Joseph M. Pirotta and various other distinguished guests.