Ċensu Tabone’s family “greatly appreciated” the Prime Minister’s public apology for the social boycott imposed on the former president by the Labour Party back in 1989.
During the unveiling of a monument of Dr Tabone at Balluta Square, St Julian’s, on Wednesday, Joseph Muscat apologised for the social boycott that had been imposed on Dr Tabone’s presidency by then Opposition leader Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.
“Dr Muscat deviated from his script to publicly apologise for the boycott,” Dr Tabone’s son, Francis, told Times of Malta.
“We very much appreciated it. One could argue it has been a long time coming but, by the end of his presidency in 1994, [then Opposition leader] Alfred Sant had proposed amending the Constitution to enable my father to continue as president for a second term. That, in itself, was a form of apology.”
Mr Tabone said that considering his father’s achievements in the medical, political and humanitarian spheres, the monument was a fitting tribute.
Dr Muscat deviated from his script to publicly apologise
Dr Tabone, who passed away in 2012 a few days short of his 99th birthday, was an ophthalmologist. His greatest achievement was finding a cure for trachoma. Until 1950, this was treated by burning the cornea, which left an indelible mark. But few people know how his interest in this infectious disease was cultivated.
“When I served as High Commissioner in Australia, I came across a number of Maltese who remembered visiting my father. At the time, in order to be eligible to emigrate to Australia, you had to be free from trachoma in the previous 10 years,” said Mr Tabone.
In 1950, Dr Tabone presented his research to the ophthalmological congress in London where he stated that the disease could be treated with penicillin without causing scars.
“As a young doctor, he was treated with disbelief by his elders, so it was quite disheartening for him. But he very much believed in his research because some 70 cases in Gozo were cured.
“His research was published in the British Medical Journal and accepted by the World Health Organisation.”
In 1966, Dr Tabone was elected to Parliament and appointed Minister of Labour, Employment and Welfare. Mr Tabone listed three of what he considered to be his father’s greatest political achievements.
In 1969, he brought to the attention of the United Nations the issue of an ageing population, which resulted in the UN setting up the International Institute on Ageing in Malta. Then, in 1988, Dr Tabone proposed to the UN that climate change should be considered as a concern of mankind, an initiative that got immediate recognition.
“These two issues are still on the world agenda today. His vision goes beyond national concerns.”
His third achievement was becoming president in 1989.
“In spite of the boycott and the situation in Malta at the time, my father moved beyond the boundaries.
“He was a very strong cog in the wheel of national reconciliation. From what began as an aggressive boycott, he ended his term by garnering the respect of all parties,” Mr Tabone said.