Alex Vella Gera, the author of the controversial fiction short story Li Tkisser Sewwi published in a university students’ newspaper which had stirred a national movement on censorship, has turned down a Midalja ghal Qadi tar-Repubblika.

“I was notified two weeks ago that I was being nominated, but I wrote back, saying that I would not be accepting it,” Mr Vella Gera told timesofmalta.com.

He summed up his refusal in a status on Facebook saying ‘Beware of Greeks bearing gifts’. This was a clear allusion to the story of the wooden horse of Troy, used by the Greeks to trick their way into the city, and taken to mean ‘do not trust your enemies’. It is his way of fighting against superficiality and mediocrity, he said.

Mr Vella Gera, who lives in Brussels, said that his refusal was based on the fact that he did not want to receive any honours from the Maltese political class “which apart from a few exceptions here and there has harmed the country”.

He also said that he did not feel he deserved it “and I’m not saying this out of humility” and lastly, he said there was no structure as to who is given these awards “even Kim il-Sung got one” he said referring to the maniacal North Korean dictator.

He called the Republic Day awards a “comedy”, appealed for common sense and “a Malta free of the cage of partisanship”.

Mr Vella Gera is the best selling author of Is-Sriep Regghu Saru Velenuzi, which is based on the political era of the 80s.

The editor of the newspaper Mark Camilleri, who had set up the Front Against Censorship, accepted the award but failed to turn up at the ceremony. When contacted, he said “I am very busy, it slipped my agenda.” He is now the chairman of the National Book Council.