2008 in 20 words
If the events of 2008 could be summarised in 20 words these would be the ones: euro, Morena, elections, fireworks, hunting, Lourdes, Mamo, kidnapped, Muscat, buses, Simshar, Karl, Nicholas, migrants, MITTS, privatisation, St John’s, tariffs, Piano and shootout.
Euro – Malta adopted the euro on January 1, and the only hitch was that the Prime Ministerial ATM jammed on the night! EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and then Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi led a number of European leaders who came to Malta to celebrate the event on January 12.
Morena – Gozitan singer Morena won the Malta Song for Europe contest on January 26 and in May represented Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest. However her song, Vodka, failed to make it past the semi-finals.
Elections – The Nationalist Party won the March 8 general election with a relative majority. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi brought in many new faces in the Cabinet. John Dalli also returned to the front bench. Louis Galea was appointed Speaker. One of the pre-election controversies which continued to rumble on were plans for the building of an open-air disco on land belonging to Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando in Mistra.
Fireworks – A man and a woman were killed when fireworks exploded in a garage in Naxxar on March 12, demolishing three houses and extensively damaging another two. The man had been producing the fireworks. The woman, mother-of-two Sina Sammut, was in one of the demolished houses. A clampdown on illegal fireworks factories and a tightening of the law followed.
Hunting – Spring hunting was temporarily banned following a decision by the European Court pending a final decision.
Lourdes – A Gozo church inquiry established that irregularities had taken place at Lourdes Home for children in Ghajnsielem. The home was later closed and the children transferred to other homes.
Mamo – Sir Anthony Mamo, the first President of Malta, died aged 99 on May 1. He was given a state funeral.
Kidnapped – Maltese oil worker George Scerri was kidnapped in Nigeria on May 23 and released unharmed 33 days later.
Muscat – Joseph Muscat was elected leader of the Labour Party in June after Alfred Sant resigned. Anglu Farrugia was elected deputy leader (parliamentary affairs) and Toni Abela became deputy leader (party affairs). AD Alternattiva Demokratika, Arnold Cassola succeeded Harry Vassallo.
Privatisation – The process for the privatisation of Malta Shipyards was announced in June. Most workers took up early retirement schemes. Enemalta also privatised its Gas Division later int he year.
Buses – Public transport operators went on a four-day strike in July over dispute centred mostly on liberalisation. There were various clashes and a number of drivers tried to storm Castille. The strike ended on July 17.
Simshar – While attention was focused on the bus strike, tragedy was unfolding on the seas. The fishing boat Simshar exploded and sank . Its crew of five survived the incident, but three men and an 11 year old boy, Theo Bugeja, perished as the days passed by without rescue. The boat’s owner, Simon Bugeja, who was the boy’s father, was rescued, barely alive, after seven days in the sea, on July 18.
Karl – Labour MP Karl Chircop, 43, suffered a brain haemorrhage on August 3 and died on October 12. Thousands attended his funeral.
Nicholas – On August 12, a magisterial inquiry concluded that the police did not commit any violence on Nicholas Azzopardi, despite claims that he had suffered blows at police headquarters, leading to his death.
Migrants – A record of 2,700 migrants landed in Malta in 2008. On September 24 the EU announced it had agreed on a voluntary burden-sharing mechanism.
MITTS – Investigations showed that 20,000 user names and passwords had been stolen from government computer servers at MITTS, IT Minister Austin Gatt told Parliament on October 14. The attack happened on September 4.
St John’s – Plans by St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation to build an underground museum raised a storm of protest.
Tariffs – The government announced steep increases in water and electricity tariffs which came into force on October 1. The trade unions, for the first time, held a joint protest demonstration. But divisions quickly resurfaced, with the CMTU accepting a compromise offered y the government. The MUT, which disagreed with the CMTU, left the confederation.
Piano – The government announced on December 1 that it has asked architect Renzo Piano to draw up plans for the rebuilding of City Gate and the Opera House site. The Opera House site will be occupied by the House of Representatives and a cultural centre.
Shootout – 11 people were injured when a man shot at the PN club in Mqabba on December 20.
Popular Stories
Update 3: Woman found dead in car,...
Updated: Woman dies in car crash
Part of Dwejra 'Azure window' collapses
The end of the bar that ‘never closed’
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Bundy does not know whether to...
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
This WAS the night - Kurt makes it...
Petrol price up 6c
In Discussion
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
Gozo tunnel could take 5-7 years to...
CABS remote controlled aircraft shot...
Joseph Calleja condemns portrayal of...
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Updated: Labour would give...
CABS drone shot down
Second group of migrants arrives
Adrian Vassallo in scathing...
17 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Christopher Farrugia
Jan 1st 2009, 22:00
A valid person whose light shone this year and was not mentioned is Astrid Vella...
Sandro Pace
Dec 31st 2008, 18:59
This year the Maltese national team scored a record 7 goals in one match. 5 of them from Michael Mifsud.
I take this opportunity to wish those at the Times and those moderating this site the best for the new year.
This forum is giving us the opportunity to express our views real time and debate.
Stephen Galea
Dec 31st 2008, 17:52
At first I thought that Nicholas referred to Nicholas Sammut, the Maltese scientist at Cern who helped create the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Surely he's made us all proud of him.
Lino Apap
Dec 31st 2008, 15:34
@ P Debono
Your first paragraph was spot-on; I couldn't agree with you more.
I also agree that it should be the will of the people that is the driving force for divorce legislation to be introduced. However, Parliament should reflect the will of the people, shouldn't it? One has to also state that for divorce to be introduced to the statute books, only Parliament can put it there. Therefore, whilst Divorce per se is or should be an apolitical issue, it is only through the medium of the Parliament (and the incumbent politicians) that divorce legislation can be discussed, debated and passed into Law. And this is where it enters the realm of politics.
My original argument was however that the D-word should have been on the list of 20 words associated with 2008 because of the unique commitment for its introduction by the leader of the opposition coupled with the apparent willingness of no less a government minister than John Dalli to have the issue discussed openly and nationally. This is why I believe that Divorce should have been included in the 20 word list associated with the past year.
P Debono
Dec 31st 2008, 12:38
@ Lino Apap
I fully agree that in this day and age Malta should start advanced consultation regarding divorce. After all we are not living in the Dark Ages. The sad reality is that of all the countries in the world, only in Malta and the Philippines do you find a ban on divorce. Even Afghanistan have abolished the Taliban ruling on divorce lol.
What I was referring to was your insistence on giving credit to the PL and/or PN for the divore debate. If anything, the Maltese Parliament should be responsible for bowing down to the Church's will for all these years. But anyway that's a bit off topic. My point is that the divorce debate should be the will of the nation, not that of the Parliament, and I am sure that it is the will of a developed nation to have the option of divorce. So it seems we agree that divorce is not and should not be a political discussion.
Zap Branagan
Dec 31st 2008, 12:34
Replace Fireworks, Hunting and Shootout with BANG! and you've got two words to spare.
E Sultana
Dec 31st 2008, 12:02
What about another great Maltese personality passing away - Gemma Portelli. She too left her mark in the entertainment field. And as Mr. Micallef said 2008 was the year 2 leaders of Maltese parties passed on their roles. And even though Kevin did not participate for Malta he is still Maltese, and we should still be proud that our Maltese talent can and is successful
Sean Bonello
Dec 31st 2008, 11:57
@ P.Debono. I Fully Agree with you.
Lino Apap
Dec 31st 2008, 11:50
@P.Debono -
(a) you confuse an issue like divorce with "politics" which should be apolitical (when you see nothing remotely political with words like Privitisation, MITTS, Elections, Hunting, MUSCAT etc) and (b) that you persist in hiding your head in the sand in spite of the reality of ever-increasing numbers of marriage breakdowns, separations and new relationships. How can you not include Dr. Muscat's commitment to introduce divorce legislation in a future PL government as a landmark ?
How can you ignore Minister Dalli's public acceptance and encouragement of a serious and public discussion on this subject, which I repeat is the first such public gesture by a PN front runner? Or is it because the divorce issue probably means nothing to you, then it is of no importance? Happy New Year siehbi.
Karl Sultana
Dec 31st 2008, 11:30
I am not a fan of Morena but Morena won the Malta song for europe. Although Kevin Borg make a good name and make us proud, but he was not contesting in the name of malta, so why should be included there. The 20 words shows are all linked with Malta not with Maltese personalities.
Jacob Borg
Dec 31st 2008, 11:28
Morena?What about Aaron Ciantar who won the P1 world championship??It is not very often that Malta can boast winning a world championship!
P Debono
Dec 31st 2008, 11:25
@ Lino Apap.
It's sickening that all we can talk about in this country is politics. Yes, divorce is a sensitive issue and warrants debate, but surely the decision to further discuss it in Parliament shouldn't be included as one of the highlights of the year 2008!!!
A.Gauci Cunningham
Dec 31st 2008, 11:25
All in all, save the last few impositions regarding the tariffs and the looming recession, it was a fairly good year. So farewell 2008 and welcome 2009, let us hope that as a nation we can build on the progress we've managed to achieve in these last 40 years or so of being an Independent nation!!
Resolution for the Maltese-----be more positive about our country and take more pride in being Maltese!!
Angelo Micallef
Dec 31st 2008, 11:23
Definitely a year to be remembered...we had sadly a fair share of tragedies; of sad deaths and of other sombre occasions. We also had however new initiatives presenting a new vision for country. It was also an elections year; an election which saw the final farewell to big time politics of the leaders of the MLP Dr. Alfred Sant and AD's Dr. Harry Vassallo seeing Dr. Joseph Muscat and Prof. Arnold Cassola step into their footsteps. Indeed a year to remember!
Lino Apap
Dec 31st 2008, 11:19
You omitted the divorce issue. 2008 saw the discussion of the D-word rise to new levels after a commitment by Dr. Joseph Muscat to introduce divorce legislation if the PL is voted to govern Malta in 2013. Minister John Dalli also added his contribution by publicly stating that he wanted a wide and public discussion on the subject - a "first" by a PN minister, front or back-bencher for that matter. It is true that the discussion has been knocked off the front burner by the water & electricty tariffs and the budget but I believe that it will be back in the forefront of things in 2009, because the ever-increasing number of marriage breakdowns and ensuing separations and new relationships make it imperative for Malta to have such legislation introduced without any more dilly-dallying.
Claude Calleja
Dec 31st 2008, 10:58
@P Debono : Agreed
P Debono
Dec 31st 2008, 10:50
Instead of Morena I would've chosen Kevin Borg. He did our country much prouder than Morena and against all the odds.