L-Akkademja tal-Malti will hold its annual general meeting tomorrow when a new council is to be elected.

The accomplishments of the interim council of L-Akkademja tal-Malti, whose term started on October 16 last year and ends tomorrow, were remarkable indeed, as has been widely acknowledged both by members and by the public.

The Akkademja's present circumstances are no longer those of a year ago, thanks to the achievements of the 10 members of the interim council. The Akkademja has in fact had a very productive year, characterised by an atmosphere of cooperative accomplishment.

The interim council's term had a record number of council meetings (33 in all, of about three hours' duration each) as well an extraordinary general meeting. All these meetings took place without controversy, hindrances or breakdown of discussions. Discussions during the meetings were in fact characterised by intelligent arguments and useful advice, given in an atmosphere of cooperation that culminated in decisions reached not by vote but by mature dialogue and consensus.

Another achievement of the interim council during its one-year term was the publication of two issues of the review Il-Malti, consisting of 41 authors of different age groups and styles. These issues were praised by many members as excellent, professional volumes of a very high academic and literary standard.

One must also not leave unmentioned the enormous effort put in by all the members of the interim council throughout this past year in order to accomplish the Akkademja's new statute. This statute was passed with all the votes in favour in an extraordinary general meeting after a number of amendments were introduced. It was then published in a professional manner and sent to all the members of L-Akkademja.

One would think that this is about all that a team of 10 council members might achieve within the short term of 12 months. But the interim council has surpassed all expectations by launching a brand new website for L-Akkademja, an accomplishment that took months of cooperation and that has been commended as excellent by various writers and scholars based in Malta, Australia, France, and Luxembourg. The website cost was well above Lm1,000 (a sum sponsored by Education Minister Louis Galea).

The website includes the history of the Maltese language, the Akkademja's history, bibliographies, biographies, a library section with writings by members, the statute, theses, current circulars and various other articles. Countless comments of praise have been submitted to the Ikkuntattjana section of the website over the past two weeks, some of them commenting on the professional work done in so short a period of time.

This is, however, not all. Yet another accomplishment of the interim council was the renewal of an agreement between L-Akkademja tal-Malti and APS Bank through which L-Akkademja will recommend one manuscript by a Maltese author for publication. This will be selected from a number of manuscripts submitted to the APS Bank each year. This agreement, too, was renewed through the interim council's efforts.

All these achievements did not exclude the steady output of all the documentation, circulars and notices required as part of the administration of L-Akkademja. Circulars and notices received by the Akkademja's members were in fact described as very professional and thorough. Minutes of the 33 council meetings have all been kept in detailed and accurate fashion, correspondence acknowledged and answered and other services required by members promptly supplied.

The members of the interim council have up to this point held back from using the newspapers in self-flattery. Every member of L-Akkademja tal-Malti can truthfully acknowledge the record amount of work carried out in this year's cooperative and tranquil environment within this institution.

Neither was there the intention that this year's accomplishments be used for personal gain. All of the interim council's efforts and achievements were fulfilled with a spirit of providing useful academic services to the rest of the membership of L-Akkademja tal-Malti and of displaying the concrete benefits that are, in truth, brought about by consensus and cooperation.

Apart from all the above-mentioned achievements, the interim council of L-Akkademja also recommended various persons for each position on the Kunsill Nazzjonali ta' l-Ilsien Malti. The interim council points out that the final selection from among these recommended persons was then carried out by the government not by itself. Moreover, in making its recommendations the interim council ensured no kind of discrimination whatsoever would take place and went by the criterion of academic qualifications. The interim council was bound by law (governing the Kunsill Nazzjonali ta' l-Ilsien Malti) to use this criterion of academic qualifications only, a law it would have been contravening had it failed to do so.

The members on this productive and energetic interim council were: Bernard Micallef (president), Lina Brockdorff (vice-president), the undersigned, Oreste Calleja (treasurer), Trevor Zahra (PRO), Anthony Sammut (assistant treasurer), Joseph P. Borg (assistant secretary), Josette Attard, Maurice Mifsud Bonnici and Fr Victor Xuereb (members).

The council would like to invite all the members of L-Akkademja tal-Malti so that while voting at tomorrow's annual general meeting they will bear in mind the fact that during this year L-Akkademja was run in a smooth, energetic and cooperative manner.

No one can deny the fact that it was due to the efforts and hard work of our united team as council members that the widely praised results of this year were accomplished.

The present council of L-Akkademja tal-Malti looks forward to tomorrow's annual general meeting and expresses its sincere hope that members attend this meeting with the same spirit of accomplishment and calm that has characterised this year's running of L-Akkademja.

The points raised in this article were approved by all 10 members of the interim council 2004-5.

Mr Farrugia is secretary of L-Akkademja tal-Malti.

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