The greatness of a human being cannot be measured by any one single quality. One cannot be brilliant on one front and a disaster on another and still be considered a great person. In fact, very few of us can claim to be great and, in all fairness, we should not.
It is not for us to recognise our own qualities but for others to come to their own judgement. We cannot all be the best but the least we can do is do our best, always keeping how our behaviour impacts on others at the forefront of our motivation.
Eddie Fenech Adami, the humble village lawyer from Birkirkara, certainly managed to earn this honour, especially since he himself never stepped over the bounds of modesty and claimed it for himself. However, for so many of us, especially those who had the privilege of having known him personally, he was always a man in whose presence we stood in awe.
Like a precious diamond, Eddie Fenech Adami’s illustrious life had many facets, all of which shine with a lustre, which burns through his natural reserve in a uniquely striking manner. Today, he turns 90, a significant milestone indeed. Over the span of his life to date, he has been a loving and devoted son, husband, father and grandfather. The love he gave and received from his family, and, indeed, for and from the country, have been perhaps the most influential in his strength.
His unwavering principles and morality guided him first in his professional life as a lawyer. Then, once he entered the realm of politics, he rose above the sullied reputation so often attributed, not always fairly, to politicians in general, whom many consider to be corrupt, greedy and arrogant. On the contrary, Eddie Fenech Adami brought his own personal brand of ‘clean’ to it, always showing honesty, generosity and modesty.
Yet, his career and achievements for our country do smack of greatness. In those dark days of the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was the rock against which the waves of institutionalised corruption, State-sponsored violence and a dictatorial approach to governance against the will of the majority would break into so much foam and withdraw back to the depths.
He did this without ever inciting violence himself, steadfastly adopting the principled approach, even when his home and family were attacked and mob violence, aided and abetted by those who should have prevented it, was unleashed on the free press and upon civilian crowds exercising their legal right for peaceful assembly.
His crowning achievement remains the guiding of our country to become a respected member of the EU on May 1, 2004- Eddie Aquilina
All attempts at character assassination aimed at him were non-starters.
His sterling reputation spilled over far beyond our shores and, I would dare say, it was the main reason that Malta’s name once again became a respected international player, after having been a pariah State, long seen as a satellite of Muammar Ghaddafi’s Libya, Nicolae Ceaușescu’s Romania, Enver Hoxha’s Albania and Kim il Sung’s North Korea.
Suffice it to say that, just two and a half years after Eddie Fenech Adami became prime minister of Malta, in December 1989, our island hosted what became known as the Malta Summit between United States president George H. Bush, and Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, in a meeting during which Bush and Gorbachev declared an end to the Cold War.
No mean feat and due in no small part to the very good impression that Eddie had left during a visit to the US one year earlier, when Ronald Reagan was still president, and George H. Bush was president-elect.
His crowning achievement remains the guiding of our country to become a respected member of the European Union on May 1, 2004, a membership that will soon achieve its own significant milestone of 20 years.
All of the above, Eddie Fenech Adami achieved with his trademark characteristics of level-headedness, honesty and willingness to listen to everybody before taking decisions.
As the aphorism so aptly goes: ‘He is not great who is not greatly good’. Shakespeare wrote that one should “Be not afraid of greatness” and that “some achieve greatness”.
Eddie was surely not afraid and he definitely achieved greatness in our collective minds and in our national memory.
So, in celebrating his 90th birthday today, I believe I act on behalf of the absolute majority of us when I raise the metaphorical glass to Eddie Fenech Adami, wishing him a heartfelt and well-deserved Ad Multos Annos!