I refer to the article Discord On The Maltese Language (December 29) by Joe Zammit Ciantar who reported on the meeting held by the members of the Akkademja tal-Malti on November 23 with President George Abela to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Akkademja. In this article it was mentioned that the present president of the Akkademja “thanked President Abela for hosting the evening and expressed his joy that the meeting was a memorable one because it was the first time ever that the highest authority of the state was meeting Maltese authors”.

Dr Zammit Ciantar corrected the error found in this statement by pointing out (with a documented reference) that President Anton Buttigieg “had several meetings with members of the Akkademja tal-Malti” and he even describes briefly the real “first official meeting of Maltese authors with the highest authority: the President of Malta”.

To this I must add that there were several other instances when different Presidents met Akkademja members formally. For instance, during the presidency of Guido de Marco (1999-2004), Akkademja members met His Excellency who hosted them at the Palace in Valletta on several occasions: on December 4, 2000, November 30, 2001, November 14, 2002, December 9, 2003. On each of these occasions there was a formal activity. For instance the printed programme for December 4, 2000 (to commemorate the 80 years of the Akkademja) included readings by Joyce Guillaumier, George Peresso and Charles Abela Mizzi, and a choir service by Chorus Urbanus directed by John Galea. The entire event was presented by Charles Coleiro and the Akkademja’s organising committee for this event consisted of Charles Coleiro, Charles Briffa, Carmel Azzopardi and Joseph Mizzi.

This means that the present Akkademja president knew very well that the event of November 23, 2010 was not “the first time ever that the highest authority of the state” met Maltese authors. Besides, he himself presided over the event of November 14, 2002 when he was the Akkademja’s secretary in the absence of the then Akkademja president who was hospitalised.

I agree with Dr Zammit Ciantar when he says that some people “are unfortunately ignoring the past”. And actually I would even go so far as to say that some are trying to rewrite or reshape the past.