I would like to comment on the editorial ‘Republic Day ceremony’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, December 15), which seems to be selective in its examples and comments.

Any nation has a problem when it comes to bestow honours and awards. Britain is a case in point where in the past there have been protests about certain recipients.

There have also been instances of awards (peerages) being bought by contributions to political parties. In the end, it is a question of perspective.

As the man who had insisted and actually introduced the concept of National Honours in Malta, I can perhaps write about this topic. Up to Independence, Malta had to be reliant on the British who had (and still have) the system of tying certain honours with the position a person occupies. Other honours came through the Vatican or dubious organisations. However, for the average person there was never any recognition of efforts or achievements.

When introduced by the Voluntary Local Councils in 1968, the Medal of Merit had broken new ground. Malta had recognised the need to honour its citizens and not rely on any foreigner for such an action.

I am glad that the initial effort was taken on and expanded by Maltese governments, first with Ġieħ ir-Repubblika and later with the addition of the Malta National Order of Merit.

It is unfortunate that, during the years, certain honours left much to be desired and hardly anybody raised a whimper over dubious awards. Even more so, no media ever questioned the selection committee, its format and method of operation. No one seems to know how the committee members are selected, how much they receive as honoraria, whether any nepotism is involved and many other questions.

It is understood that in the past no proper minutes were kept, there does not seem to be a list of nominations received during the years and copies of nominations seem to have ‘disappeared’.

These are the points that should be investigated by the media and not one or two recent recipients.