Calls for national unity peppered with veiled political references characterised the speeches delivered yesterday by the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition.
Recalling the controversy that split the country 50 years ago, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said it was the result of “closed-mindedness and pique” that also characterised subsequent important developments.
“Many had celebrated independence 50 years ago but others protested, many families recognised the significance of that day, but others suffered because our country still had to mature and bring an end to an era of condemnation,” he said, in what was a subtle reference to the Church interdiction of Labour supporters during the 1960s.
Reflecting on the passage of time, Dr Muscat said subsequent generations realised the importance of shedding the shackles of close-mindedness.
The Prime Minister said his generation was not one to get lost in “useless” debates on which was the best or most important national holiday.
“Without freedom I am not Maltese. Without the republic I am not Maltese. Without independence I am not Maltese. It is these achievements that today make me, you and us Maltese.”
Dr Muscat then dwelt on the future country he wanted to see developing over the next 50 years: a courageous and ambitious country becoming an “oasis of stability” in the region.
His speech was followed by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, who described independence as the start of a new journey. He said independence gave Malta the “key” that made it possible to take all the decisions that followed.
He called on everyone to cherish basic principles over which broad political agreement could take this country far. “This country could go far if we walked together.”
Dr Busuttil then outlined a couple of “principles” touching some of the political controversies the Nationalist Party has championed of late without being overtly critical of the government.
He made an indirect reference to the government’s proposal to postpone local elections by calling for agreement on the principle to have a functioning democracy that worked “all the time with the people’s sovereign vote at every level”.
He also called for the independence of public institutions to be respected in the way they were appointed and a State that worked in a transparent way.
He then urged politicians to be an example: “The unity we are living tonight must not only be a sign that lasts a couple of hours but a political method that lasts years.”