Mintoff nominated for award... and $250,000 prize

Raymond Sammut

Aug 13th 2008, 07:52

Best words to describe him were always those once used during an interview by Borg Olivier: "jigieled ma kulhadd".

So very true. Look at him now. This picture says it all.

Denis Catania

Aug 12th 2008, 16:36

@Raymond Sammut: I have not said one thing, that was not facts. The only facts that is not accurate, is these attacks on Mintoff. Mr.Sammut, was Mintoff a dictator? Dids he ever cancel any elections at the end of his term? Would you compare him to Castro or Chavez?
I'm not sure why our party and or our supporters said, he was going to become a dictator. Maybe they had facts maybe they were political tactics, but the facts is he never became one. My family left Malta because of such rumors. Maybe it didn't affect your family as much as it did mine. Look at all the Cuban Ex-pats in Miami, they would have loved to have Mintoff instead of Fidel.Because they would still be free, like our Islands.
Mintoff told the church to stay out of politics, I did not agree with him, but now the Maltese are screaming foul anytime the church says something. Mintoff dealt with Libya, I did not agree with him, Now President Adami goes and hugs Ghadaffi and is dealing with him. Maybe the only crime he committed was, that he was ahead of his time by 30 yrs or so.

C Fenech

Aug 11th 2008, 19:17

you couldn't have put it better Card Pol... well done.

Raymond Sammut

Aug 11th 2008, 17:47

Corinne, when you ask a question, please wait for the answer. Maybe Denis has got someone else in mind.

Denis Catania

Aug 11th 2008, 17:42

@Corrine Vella: He deserves a human rights award because he sided with the Maltese over the oppressors(the Brits). maybe you hung out and had a few cocktails with them in Marsa and Villa Rosa while the rest of us were being looked down, by you and the Brits.It was a shame when a British kid had more rights than me and my friends in Gzira. We had to play football on an abandoned lot, and the Brittish kids played at the stadiums in Forty Manual. Come on Corrine, Mintoff was no monster. We were scared into beleiving he was going to be a Monster. He proved us wrong. Thank God.Admit it, will you. How about my father working at the dockyards fo 1/4 the Brits made. I guess you feel that was right too.How about Maltese woman cleaning villas for the Brits for nofs lira, I guess you feel that was right too.

Corinne Vella

Aug 11th 2008, 17:01

Denis Catania: Are you for real? Mintoff deserves our respect because he didn't kill his opponents and because he 'let' his successor rectify some of his mistakes? Whose standards are you applying - Gaddafi's?

denis Catania

Aug 11th 2008, 15:53

@Bill Milliam; You compared Mintoff to Chavez and Castro.Which is so unaccurate. Ghadafi balanced the nomination he choose two dictators and two freedom fighters. Hopfully one of the freedom fighters will get. Yes I'm rooting for the home team. GOOD LUCK PM MINTOFF and HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
From a life long PN supporter.

Denis Catania

Aug 11th 2008, 15:43

@Bill Milliam: It's silly for you to say that Mintoff was a dictator. Although Mintoff had friends in other countries that would have loved for Malta to become a communst country. He choose not.Thank god he choose that path. Because neither the US or the UK would have done anything about it.
As our geographic importance was no longer there. The US would have laid back and watched as the USSR would have walked in with no resistance. Similiar to what Kennedy did when he laid back and watched in Cuba. Please don't mention the Bay of Pigs, you know that story. For that alone I would give PM Mintoff a human rights award. It's a shame it's coming from Libya. Mr.Milliam, I am a PN supporter, I'm not a MLP supporter, but I'm Maltese first and although I didn't agree with Mintoff. I appreciate him for not letting communist interest get in the way of our democracy. Mintoff did not shoot one bullet at any Maltese. He was upset at the way the British treated us.They did treat us a second class citizens. I'm still upset at that. let him live the rest of his life in peace. Please

Raymond Sammut

Aug 11th 2008, 15:40

Just enough for a face-lift.

Bill Millam

Aug 11th 2008, 11:56

Dom Mintoff being put in the same class as Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro! Two of the communist world's lowest scumbags now have an excellent companion to join them in their ranks, the despicable Perit.
The Maltese expression "Ma minn rajtek, xebbahtek" sure rings true in this case. Maybe as part of the "award" and as a token of the Perit's "contribution to defending human rights, protecting the causes of freedom and supporting peace in Malta" under his dictatorship, perhaps the Perit may be offered the opportunity to go live out his remaining days in either Venzuela or Cuba.

Bill Millam
Los Angeles

s.bugeja

Aug 11th 2008, 10:48

"Out of nothing, Mintoff manage to build Malta." so says Victor Zammit. Oh yes, I remember him saying "Let there be light" Oh no I'm thinking of another guy called God! What I recall of mintoff's reign are people working in paramiltary corps for a minimum wage under military discipline.people waiting for water bowsers to fill their roof tanks. tankers coming from sicily with water cargoes. blackouts every other day. violent breakups of anti government demonstrations. about the 'thuggers' Libya does great business with them and so do we so enough said. Re the immigrants. is the EU helping us? No is Libya helping us? the answer is again no, but the difference is that in Libya's case IT is the immigrant problem. They are leaving from Libya so Libya is duty bound to help us more than the EU. finally on what criteria do you expect europe to award a prize to any of our past and present leaders?

s.bugeja

Aug 11th 2008, 10:30

@Denis Catania.
Was it not mintoff who put KMB in his place? wasn't it mintoff who was pulling the strings from behind the scenes? The fact that he got more money from the british is beside the point. the fact is that malta remained a military base for 5 years longer. Then we invented Freedom day. free of what? of the millions we were getting? in reality it was just the end of a lease similar to a resident vacating his house after the lease expires. there was no freedom involved since we were already free with independence and the republic. we all remember the company he kept. kim il sung, ceusescu, mao tse tung, gaddafi, castro, and they were not just business buddies, they were very close friends. that's what scared the malese.

Alex Abela

Aug 11th 2008, 08:12

Long live Dom Mintoff. He deserves a larger sum!!!

Denis Catania

Aug 10th 2008, 23:02

@S.Bujeja; If he choose not govern the people because, he didn't have the majority of the people. well that's what democracy is. If PM Carmenu Mifsud Bonicci made a mess. We can't blame that on PM Mintoff. What I'm trying to say is although,Mintoff was not perfect, he was no monster. He loved the Maltese and he is proud of the Maltese.The money he got from the British for those 5 yrs(1974-1979) was a lot more. I think it was 14 million Maltese Liras a year versus 1 or 2 million a year before. Maybe someone can give me with the proper amounts.Come on guys Mintoff is no Fidel Castro(thank god). If he wanted to be, he could have been, with the backing of the USSR those days. No country would have stopped them, as our geographic importance was no longer there. This is why I respect ex PM Mintoff.
Do I believe Gadaffi should be associated with any human rights. Off course not.

Jeremy J Camilleri

Aug 10th 2008, 22:54

S bugeja....Just for the record....the 1981 election was legal..the law being agreed upon by BOTH parties..If you have a brief look in a proper history book, you would see that the perverse result had been probable for some time..even under a PN regime.

In fact, the in 1971 election, labour was only elected by 5 votes in Zebbug, despire having a large majority..all this due to the aforementioned system. The Pn did NOTHING to correct this before 1971. Labour did not really care AFTER 1971.

It was actually Mintoff, from a position of power, who scrapped the syste after 1981, and this despite opposition from within his own party......

As for the talk of violence, wern't most perpetrators promoted under PN? If annyone has read another independent paper today, you'll know what i;m talking about!

As for Muammar..weren't we kissing his feet last week?

Franco Farrugia

Aug 10th 2008, 22:43

This is an insult to all those many Maltese who suffered during the dark days of Dom Mintoff and his cronies! An insult!
If there was one thing that former MLP leader Alfred Sant did, it was to move the MLP AWAY from Mintoff's clutches and away from the influence of that man and his cronies! It was the one positive thing that Alfred Sant did to the MLP and for which he will be remembered!

Franco Farrugia

Aug 10th 2008, 22:40

@ Joe Grima - His former minister should talk - the one who boasted that he was one who convinced Mintoff not to resign when the latter didn't get a majority of votes! Joe Grima, former minister in the darkest of days; then, he was ousted by Sant and went over to the Stamperija; even there, he left a few years later and the last time we saw him, it was at the MLP General Conference clapping Joseph Muscat. What's next, I wonder. AD?

s.bugeja

Aug 10th 2008, 21:34

@Denis Catania you obviously don't remember the 1981 election. Mintoff had declared that if he did not have the majority of the people behind him he would not govern. after he got a minority of votes he resigned and passed on the mess to KMB with the resultant turmoil. and for the record. the british were to leave in 1974 according to the independence agreement but mintoff kept them here for a further 5 years.when the time was up they left peacefully and we found ourselves in limbo at the mercy of Muammar.

Victor Zammit

Aug 10th 2008, 21:26

Out of nothing, Mintoff manage to build Malta. Obviously, young peoples don’t recall this. While the Media is demonizing Libya and Libyans in Malta.

Only to those who read history correctly, aren’t both leaders holding the right views regarding the thuggers (USA governments) of the other side of the Atlantic? Hasn’t history proving them right?

Is the EU helping us with the immigrants? NO. Instead we blame the EU, (actually we can not) we point fingers at Libya. What a joke??

We should never let our disliking of both leaders ignores facts on the ground.

Had any of our leaders received a prize from our European fellows? I don’t recall!

Has any body wished the human Mintoff, a good health? I do

Denis Catania

Aug 10th 2008, 20:45

@Corrine Vella: Again I will stress that I am a PN supporter, but blind I'm not. Yes PM Mintoff did do some hurting to some of us.The fact that he did not kill any Maltese, what some leaders do around the world when the opposition don't agree. First he argued for the rights of the Maltese people , that the British failed to give us.
!. I was not allowed to speak Maltese in school(in Gzira) except for the Maltese lessons,
2. British forcibly leased for very little money some of Malta's best places. Where we couldn't go as Maltese, the British could have shared such places with us.
3.He started such services as children allowances, that the British never gave to the poor and should have.
What he did wrong was he attacked the rich and the middle class, he didn't want them to have the extras that the poor couldn't afford.
But when the majority of the Maltese voted him out, he left peacefully (No killings)and let PM Gorg Borg Oliveir fix some of his mistakes.This is why he deserves respect. Corrine do we or any other nation ever had a perfect leader.

Eric Gahn

Aug 10th 2008, 19:36

Reading about the 'Gaddhafi Human Rights Award I am encouraged to set up a Slave Owners Freedom Award (SOFA). My aim is to recognise history's best slave owners, those who through the use of slave labor helped, or is helping, the advancement of economy in the free world. Anyone interested in joining the award selection committee?

J.M. Chapelle

Aug 10th 2008, 19:09

@ John Azzopardi

True!

And here is Gaddaffi giving our edge-of-communism-teetering friend an award!

The plot thickens.

Corinne Vella

Aug 10th 2008, 18:58

Denis Catania: On what grounds do ex-Prime Ministers deserve respect regardless of what they've done or failed to do?

Andrew Borg-Cardona

Aug 10th 2008, 18:57

Flippin' 'eck... must be the heat ... "enough said about that the better" ... I'm inventing the language as I write it ... the less said about that, the better, is what I mean to write, obviously.

s.bugeja

Aug 10th 2008, 18:57

It's plain to see that those who benefitted under the mintoff regime are praising him to high heaven while those who were oppressed (and there were oppressed sections of the poplation under mintoff) are criticising him.The good that mintoff did was neutralized by the division he sowed among the maltese. the communist rethoric like enemies of the people, the working class the proletariat and such jargon shows where we were all headed.

Andrew Borg-Cardona

Aug 10th 2008, 18:45

Gaddafi gives Human Rights Prize to Mintoff - excuse me while I roll about on the floor cackling like a mad hen. The first one doesn't know how to spell human rights and the second one ... well, enough said about that the better. Malta 1972 - 1987 is more than enough.

R. Balzan

Aug 10th 2008, 18:29

@Jeremy J Camilleri: If i am following your logic properly, Mintoff's track record during the 70s and 80s should be ignored because of what he had done previously. Furthermore he should be awarded for his achievments in HUMAN RIGHTS....

Well then, yes, it does come as a BIG surprise to me... there is no way I would ever award somebody in those circumstances.. but then I'm 'blind' and 'not impartial' unlike Gaddafi who is a beacon of human rights.

R. Balzan

Aug 10th 2008, 18:16

It's funny how people can have such diametrically opposed views or perceptions of the merits or demerits of a person....

For those of you defending Mintoff's human rights record all I can say is its amazing that you cannot see the irony of getting a human rights award from Gaddafi. If I truly believed that Mintoff deserved such an award (which I clearly don't), I would feel insulted that it came from Gaddafi of all people.

Jeremy J Camilleri

Aug 10th 2008, 18:07

Reuben..it may come as a huge surprise to you, but...well..they're called books..and its called research...

Its simple really...but you have to TRY to be impartial....

Look at civil human rights BEFORE Mintoff's era...and then again after...

The improvement was massive. This does not mean that he did not make rather bad mistakes, but facts show that he laid all the groundwork in Malta...Even a blind man could see that....well, then again....maybe you won't!

Carl Pol

Aug 10th 2008, 17:49

I don't know the age of these contributors questioning Doms human rights history but if you really mean business and are true maltese ask yourself ( or your parents) if it was in respect of human rights that Dom was not allowed to express himself freely on the redifussion, that him and his followers were persecuted by the british, the PN goverments in the 60's and the church for purely being a political force. Non of the political/religious actors of those days can even dream of speaking about human rights. Dom was the first politician with or without his faults to give ALL maltese equal opportunities. He was the first to allow freedom of believe and he was the one to emancipate the women and their role in society. Does that qualify in human rights discussions? And please remember that before his time human rights in malta were non existant. You might blame that on the colonial power but please do not forgwet that the colonial power did all this with the silent consent of the upper classes (read PN) and the church with michael Gonzi as front runner.

R. Balzan

Aug 10th 2008, 17:15

@Jeremy J Camilleri: "its nice to see somone like Corinne bvella issuing a statement about some thing that she has absolutely no idea about."

it's pretty clear to me that you're the one who has no idea .... do you have no recollection at all of those incident's during Mintoff's time as PM??

Denis Catania

Aug 10th 2008, 17:10

I'm a PN supporter, let's not dis on Mintoff he needs the respect that any ex-prime minister deserves.Even though there was some bad things done by him. He was an inspiration of throwing out the oppressors, the Brittish, which to me deserves an award. I do understand that our great PM Gorg Borg Oliveir got our independence.I also believe ex PM Mintoff pushed heavy for that.But I also agree Ghadafi name should never be mentioned anywhere near a human rights award.

Charles Camilleri

Aug 10th 2008, 16:57

It is strange, incredible but true. Muammar Gaddafi who has abolished all kinds of human rights in his country awards others with the Muammar Gaddafi Human Rights Award. Nelson Mandela does not deserve to be in that company.

Jeremy J Camilleri

Aug 10th 2008, 16:25

its nice to see somone like Corinne bvella issuing a statement about some thing that she has absolutely no idea about.

Corinne Vella

Aug 10th 2008, 15:38

Carl Pol & Joanne Micallef: Whatever good things Mintoff has done, championing and safeguarding human rights is not one of them.

John Azzopardi

Aug 10th 2008, 15:26

If this is not a snub of the highest order from Gaddafi addressed to the Maltese government, I don't know what is! The presidential/PN delegation to Libya to discuss oil exploration and irregular migrants came back empty-handed, and here is Gaddaffi honouring an MLP prime minister!

Carl Pol

Aug 10th 2008, 14:49

For those showing disdain at the nomination I presume they are too young to really know this man's efforts to bring dignity and pride to a colonialized under estimated people, or they are just old stuff still full of hate for privilges they enjoyed at the cost of the majority of the maltese, or.....colonialists who prefered to pretend that they are more british than the maltese.... with a long servile tongue ready to lick anything british and diowngrade anything maltese.
However nobody with a true historical insight can questions this grand old man's achievment in giving his fellow ccountrymen the first and only decent constitution in maltese history or his efforts to bring peace in the mediteranean.... Faults? who has'nt any faults?

Joe Grima

Aug 10th 2008, 14:29

" The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones". Mintoff is still among us and , whenever he surfaces in the press, his detractors only mention the bad aspects of his premiership. Those who still benefit from the countless "good" he left behind, simply enjoy the goodies and ignore their benefactor. All Maltese should be pleased at Mintoff's award irrespective of their political affiliations and of whether they think the recipient deserves it or not. Mintoff should also do the right thing now and donate the award money to a Charity of his choice. I don't think he will transfer to the breadline queue as a result. Well done Dom.

Gerry Cowie

Aug 10th 2008, 14:28

Nobody denies the good things which Mintoff undoubtedly did. Even your president emeritus does as much in his recent biography. He gives credit where it is due.
We are talking politics here, Joanne Micallef.
Equally these good things should not cloud the judgement of those who praise him to the skies that he was and is by no means perfect. And he is the type of man who would surely admit to his errors!
As to throwing dirt, it rather depends on which side of the dirt-throwing one is!
You might not think quite the same had you spent years in jail for something you did not do and which everybody knew you did not do and indeed which has been proven in the courts since that you did not do! But the administration at the time, led by this sainted man, failed the people who suffered over the so-called BICAL scandal. I am simply quoting from my reading of the Maltese press over the last few years.
Human rights? What human rights? I think the good Mr Mintoff should either reject the award or give it to some kind of hardship fund or perhaps to the hospice!

albert spiteri

Aug 10th 2008, 14:13

Matthew 13:57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."
Mark 6:4 Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household."
John 4:44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. (NASB ©1995)

s.bugeja

Aug 10th 2008, 13:49

The Gaddafi Award for Human Rights? whatever next! the words Gaddafi and Human rights should never be used in the same page let alone the same sentence. And those $250,000 would be more useful if they were given to malta to make good some of the money spent on the illegal immigrants coming over from Muammar country.

Joe Morana

Aug 10th 2008, 13:40

@ Joanne Micallef

"The evil that men do lives after them,
the good is oft interr'd with their bones"

So let it be with Dom Mintoff!

Lara Boffa

Aug 10th 2008, 13:12

U n b e l i e v a b l e.

Joseph Agius

Aug 10th 2008, 13:00

The Irony of Life!

David Wain

Aug 10th 2008, 11:30

Please Perit Mintoff, accept the GADDAFI AWARD.... you deserve one of those.

Does any one of you really consider it as a feather in his cap??? The money is nice though eh?

Joanne Micallef

Aug 10th 2008, 11:22

The man had his faults, but surely no one can deny his relentless work to make sure that ALL MALTESE citizens could afford to live in dignity. Unfortunately many are those who would rather remember only his faults, most probably, as remembering his virtues would mean having to acknowledge what a great politician Dom Mintoff was and that no matter how much dirt one tries to throw at him, many would like to see someone with such love and pride for his country to govern our Island again.

Gerry Cowie

Aug 10th 2008, 11:19

What human rights were accorded during Mintoff's time in office to those imprisoned over the BICAL scandal who were subsequently found to be totally innocent?
This award is a travesty!
But somehow it is not surprising given from where it comes!

Adrian Cardona

Aug 10th 2008, 11:18

an award for Human Rights to a person who in his time specialized in ignoring most human rights....what a world!
well, at least Mintoff can pay his water bills now.

L. Theuma

Aug 10th 2008, 11:16

Long live our gracious Dom.
God save Malta's Dom.

M. Galea

Aug 10th 2008, 10:11

What a freakfest !!! Odd one out is Nelson Mandela.

R. Balzan

Aug 10th 2008, 10:02

Is this Gaddafi's way of insulting the Maltese?