When the minister responsible for public broadcasting and the Maltese language hastily created a job for Norma Saliba after she resigned from PBS due to her disastrous (even by Labour standards) management there, most commentators were rightly shocked at Owen Bonnici’s shambles of an illegal legal notice announcing the creation of this position.   

Next year, we should be celebrating the centenary of the first proper grammar and spelling rules of Maltese, the Tagħrif.

Many commented on Saliba’s lack of qualifications in Maltese as well as the fact that there wasn’t even a call for applications for this post.

Saliba’s appointment is against the law. According to the Maltese Language Act of 2005, which set up the National Council for the Maltese Language (an institution independent of the government of the day), “in the execution of its functions and duties, the Council shall establish a National Centre of the Maltese Language” (section 5(3)(i)).

The law repeats: “The appointment of officers and other employees shall be made by the Council” (section 14).

This appointment should have been the occasion for a meaningful debate about languages in Malta now that our population has exploded due to the importation of foreign workers – who do not speak Maltese and many of whom only speak basic English.

At this rate, there will be more residents of Malta whose first language is Hindi, Urdu, Wikang (Filipino) or Nepalese than English

Recent official statistics show that Labour increased the Maltese population by 140,000 in 10 years; this is accelerating as, last year, the population increase was 22,000. The bulk of this increase is cheap labour the government imports from outside the European Union.

In fact, last year, the Labour government approved no less than 38,000 residency permits for so-called ‘third-country-nationals’, the three top sources being India (by far), Colombia and Nepal.

In the past, Maltese was the obvious language of everyday communication between residents of Malta. Foreigners who started residing in Malta, mostly through marriage to Maltese citizens, could make do with English or Italian but many of them tried to at least learn some basic Maltese. Arabic speakers easily learn Maltese.

The Independence constitution designates Maltese as our only national language and also establishes two official languages – Maltese and English –in which public acts are to be published and public servants must communicate with Maltese citizens in the official language the latter prefer. Maltese has been an official language of the European Union for close to 20 years.

Demographic changes have greatly altered our linguistic set-up and will continue to do so if our population keeps increasing at the 25,000 per year it has increased in the last five years (bar COVID years 2020 and 2021).

Language is a huge human bond. It is a very sensitive issue in many countries as it affects our sense of belonging in a society and everyday life.

At this rate, in the next few years, there will be more residents of Malta whose first language is Hindi, Urdu, Wikang (Filipino) or Nepalese than English. We already know of the difficulties many Maltese encounter in communicating in English (forget Maltese, of course) with these legal residents who have been imported by the government.

It is not too late, I hope, to have a proper discussion about a language plan for our country.

Eddie Aquilina