Gaia Cauchi, the winner of Junior Eurovision 2013, is presented with her Midlja għal Qadi tar-Repubblika by President Abela yesterday. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Alex Vella Gera, the author of the controversial fiction short story Li Tkisser Sewwi that had sparked a national movement against censorship, turned down his nomination for a Midalja għal Qadi tar-Repubblika.

“I was notified two weeks ago, but I wrote back saying I would not be accepting it,” Mr Vella Gera said when contacted yesterday.

Mr Vella Gera – whose short story was published in the university student newspaper Realtà and banned by the rector in November 2009 – summed up his refusal in a status on Facebook headed: “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 generally understood to mean do not trust your enemies.

Mr Vella Gera, who lives in Brussels, said 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 “have harmed the country”.

Following his story’s publication the University rector had reported Mr Vella Gera and Mark Camilleri, the newspaper’s editor, to the police. The two were charged under obscenity laws, but later acquitted.

Although he had faced the prospect of jail, Mr Vella Gera said he did not feel he deserved the award “and I’m not saying this out of humility”.

He also felt there was no structure as to who receives an award on Republic Day. “Even Kim Il-Sung got one,” he said referring to the former North Korean dictator.

Someone who was given a national honour becomes a pawn in the deceit of the Maltese political game

He felt the Republic Day awards were a “farce”, where someone who was given a national honour became “a pawn in the deceit of the Maltese political game”.

He appealed for common sense and “a Malta free of the cage of partisanship”.

Mr Vella Gera pointed to the contradiction in yesterday’s ceremony where the Speaker of the Russian Parliament, Valentina Matvienko, one of the top Russian politicians, was given an honorary companion award.

“She’s a close aide of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin whose anti-gay campaign we know so well about. Yet at the same time transsexual Joanne Cassar was also awarded the honours,” he said.

Unlike the author, the editor of the newspaper Mark Camilleri, who set up the Front Against Censorship, accepted yesterday’s award. However, he failed to turn up and when contacted he said: “I am very busy, it slipped my agenda.”

Yesterday’s ceremony also saw the youngest citizen receiving a Republic Day honorary award: Gaia Cauchi, the winner of Junior Eurovision 2013. She had to share her Midlja għal Qadi tar-Repubblika with her winning team – Elton Zarb and Matthew Mercieca, who penned the song The Start, and her singing teacher Gillian Attard.

The MQR was given “in recognition of their success and for honouring their country and the Maltese”.

While the ceremony was taking place the political pressure group Graffitti held a demonstration outside the President’s Palace in St George’s Square, highlighting the problem of environmental destruction and the huge influence developers continued to wield on the country’s policies.

In the meantime, inside the Palace, two environmentalists – Lino Bugeja, founder of the Ramblers Association, and Astrid Vella, co-founder of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar – were receiving their medals.

Following last week’s amendments to the law, two of the awards were given posthumously. Former acting president Paul Xuereb was made Companion of Honour and the late journalist Lino Cassar was given an MQR.

Several former politicians were also given an award: former Speaker Michael Frendo and Labour’s Edwin Grech were made Companions.

Mgr Victor Grech, who headed Caritas for many years, was made Officer, while Paul Asciak, who nurtured Joseph Calleja and was a successful tenor in his own right, was made Member.

Other Members included former Labour candidate Angelo Psaila and neurosurgeon Lawrence Zrinzo in recognition of their contribution towards medical science and healthcare in Malta.

Former Times of Malta sub-editor Lawrence Dimech was made Member for his longstanding contribution to the Maltese community in Australia. He is the author of the book Telqu għal Għonq it-Triq about Maltese settlement in Australia.

The MQR was also given to engineer Carmel Pule, sailing promoter Peter Valentino, Maria Tabone, widow of the late former president Ċensu Tabone, and the Air Wing of the Armed Forces of Malta. Radiographer Annie Scriha was given the MQR on an honorary basis – she was the first radiographer to treat Maltese cancer patients with the Cobalt therapy.

Alain Dutheil, ST Microelectronics Holdings chairman, was made Honorary Officer, while Fim Bank president Margrith Lutschg-Emmenegger, and Medavia managing director Abdurazagh Zmirli were made Honorary Members.