I was pleasantly surprised to read Desmond Zammit Marmarà’s article (September 5) pointing out the pivotal importance of the independence achieved by George Borg Olivier as Prime Minister of Malta, in September 1964. As he implies, Dom Mintoff could not have done better under the circumstances at that time.

At this distance of almost 50 years we can see that it constituted a significant constitutional advance, after years of stagnation.

It paved the way for a leap forward in our economy, an essential condition making possible a complete form of independence some 15 years later under Mintoff.

Mintoff and his MLP were, admittedly, campaigning for independence for these islands from the time of the breakdown of the bid for integration with the UK in 1958. He was however pipped at the post by Borg Olivier.

Mintoff had the vision and the negotiating skills to reach the necessary agreement with the local Church to curb its partisan political activity, and so make the field of party politics more even.

The so-called “six points” were incorporated in the famous MLP-Church agreement of Good Friday 1969.

A fresh agreement was then made with the UK in 1972, which after some hard bargaining greatly increased the contribution for keeping a British military presence in Malta.

The ground was laid for Mintoff’s ultimate objective: the end of Malta’s status as a military base.

This summit was reached in 1979, and Mintoff’s fame was sealed. It was not, however, as untarnished a fame as Mr Zammit Marmarà would have us believe.

The way he and the MLP reacted to the achievement of independence in 1964 by staging a boycott of the celebrations and leading a protest in Valletta did not add to his stature as a politician, as Mr Zammit Marmarà maintains.

It seems more of a case of sour grapes by a volatile and petulant politician.