Describing Gorg Borg Olivier as "a quiet achiever", his biographer Henry Frendo said at the launch of the book Gorg Borg Olivier, Patrijott Liberali Malti that the holding of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta would be a vindication of the former Prime Minister's policy of independence within the Commonwealth.
In line with Nationalist claims for Dominion Status ever since 1932, Dr Borg Olivier had steadfastly upheld the regard due to Malta and to its premier in royal and Commonwealth functions even before independence, the author said.
Speaking at the palace in Valletta, Prof. Frendo said that the 25th anniversary of Dr Borg Olivier's death should be a time of reflection for all, particularly in the light of what Malta had gone through during his own times and ever since.
"Slow and steady, calm but determined, Borg Olivier was never rude or violent," Prof. Frendo wrote.
Malta owed much to Dr Borg Olivier's direction and manner, he said. Having steered the islands away from integration with Britain and, instead, to independence from it, he navigated fairly smoothly a transitional course of "change in continuity".
While reacting firmly to turns that he perceived to be against Malta's best interests before and after Independence, not only did he maintain friendly ties with Britain, the West and the Commonwealth but, simultaneously, he paved the way for a closer Maltese participation in European affairs, which came to a head last year through Malta's EU membership.
Unlike what had happened in so many other ex-colonies, Prof. Frendo noted, Dr Borg Olivier gave his country "political independence as well as internal freedom". He retained functioning democratic and parliamentary norms, with an orderly alternating succession in party governance, under the rule of law.
Although power had passed effectively to a sovereign Maltese government after 1964, and the Colonial Office had closed its Malta file, until 1974, Elizabeth II, who had a personal rapport with Malta, even remained "the Queen of Malta", represented by a Governor-General. That was Dr Borg Olivier's wish, Prof. Frendo said.
Contrary to alarmist predictions, and in spite of a continuing defence rundown, post-colonial Malta diversified and prospered economically. Prof. Frendo said that Malta's high growth rate and external reserves by the late 1960s competed successfully with Britain's own.
At the launch of Prof. Frendo's biography, other members of the distinguished panel spoke compellingly of Dr Borg Olivier's qualities, of events they remembered, or experiences they had shared with him over the years, and of the difficulties he had to face, which were not always so easily overcome.
The panel members included former MP and Speaker Alfred Bonnici; journalist, economist and former Labour minister Lino Spiteri; former PN secretary and adviser to Dr Borg Olivier, Victor Ragonesi; and the author.
Iris Pace, the daughter of MP and Speaker Paolo Pace, chaired the panel discussion, while the proceedings were brought to a close by President Edward Fenech Adami, who had worked alongside Dr Borg Olivier for many years and, in 1977, succeeded him as party leader.
In a foreword to the 600-page volume, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi says that, as befits a leading professional historian, Prof. Frendo had written "a biography not a eulogy". But the bent of his critical, engaging appreciation of Dr Borg Olivier's striking career, as well as of his humane disposition was undoubtedly positive and impressive, and did Malta proud as a nation.
The biography is published by Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza.