A tribute to a friend:Freddie Micallef

Politics is a game managed by crooks, followed by idiots. This is perhaps the most cynical and cruel description of politics I ever came across.

However, when I recently attended the funeral mass of my friend for many years, Freddie Micallef, I consoled myself that whoever coined that description was grossly mistaken.

The former Labour minister and party stalwart was certainly not a crook. He was the essence of honesty and integrity. Those who packed the church and the hundreds of sobbing mourners outside were certainly not idiots.

They were genuine admirers of Freddie, who although passionately convinced of his socialist principles, never spoke any ill of his opponents. A man who was so gentle and kind to people, who throughout his life never hurt a fly. Yet he had to suffer so much pain during the last months of his life.

I came to know Freddie when I was just 18 years old representing the Żurrieq section of the Labour League of Youth, the youth wing of the Malta Labour Party. I still recall most of the members of the executive of that time: Theodore Sammut, Johnny Azzopardi, J.C. Azzopardi, Joe Debono Grech, Patrick Holland, Salvu Sant and so many other young socialists.

Freddie left a great impression on me. Like all of us he seemed to be gripped by a holy zeal to see Malta free from colonial rule and from the interference of a despotic Church.

When in 1973, as the international secretary of the LLY I worked day and night to organise the Congress of the International Union of Socialist Youths in Malta, he was there to encourage me and assist me with his advice.

I was always impressed by his gift as an orator. His simple way of explaining what to others seemed to be complex arguments was amazing.

At the Mosta church I saw the few surviving party members of our dying breed who in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s witnessed or participated in Malta’s social, economic and political revolution. They were all there, pregnant with taught, sombre, with sullen, sad faces. I confess I could not hold back the tears.

Like me they were probably remembering the great contribution that our dear friend Freddie had given to fulfil the dreams and aspirations we had as young people.

Today a group of young brilliant people have taken over the Labour party. My humble suggestion to them is that the greatest tribute they can pay to Freddie is to treasure the love and passion he had for the party and his country.