I remember that hot August day in 1962 when I heard on the radio the contents of the letter Prime Minister George Borg Olivier sent to the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs and Colonial Affairs:

“On behalf of the government and people of the island of Malta and its dependencies I have the honour to invoke for my country the right to be an independent State.

“I request you therefore to fix as a matter of urgency a date for the Maltese Islands’ independence within the Commonwealth.”

I must admit my Maltese heart missed a beat when I heard these momentous words.

Although I was not a fan of Borg Olivier at the time, it would be less than magnanimous not to admire his unshakeable faith in Malta’s future.

Borg Olivier was always resolute, always correct and always a statesman. Never frivolous, never wavering, never losing his calm until he wore down the polished officials at the Colonial Office, beating them at their own game. Until he got his way without any ostentatious shows of triumphalism; without the shedding of one drop of Maltese blood.

Two years later he delivered his thunderous speech at the Floriana arena waving the Independence Constitution document drafted by a Maltese judge to the crowd. I wonder what Prince Philip sitting next to him made out of this well-groomed, courteous, small Mediterranean man as he roared out in his resonant voice to the crowd?

He did not show any misplaced exuberance as the Maltese flag went up at the stroke of midnight to replace the Union Flag, just joy and pride. The Maltese did not need to design a new flag. It was there, red and white. We did not have to compose a new national anthem; we had one.

Nonetheless, Borg Olivier knew that he had a mountain to climb but he had the courage to start climbing. He knew he had to surmount many obstacles on the way up; the main one being the chronic Maltese malaise of pique and envy that affects local politicians. But he kept striving until he reached the top.

This must not be our final destination. We still have a long way to go. As the poet Kahlil Gibran would tell us if he were among us: “And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb”.

Borg Olivier got us to the top of the mountain. We are now on our own. We must now start climbing.