Dom Mintoff’s methods and style were unacceptable but, all in all, history will judge him positively, according to former President Eddie Fenech Adami who was Mr Mintoff’s main political adversary in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Considering everything, I think his political contribution was more positive than negative- Eddie Fenech Adami
“I have no doubt that he left his mark on our country’s history and if we consider everything I think his contribution in political development was more positive than negative, though many of us remember the negative side of his politics,” he said.
“I think that he made a positive impact on Malta’s development particularly in the social area,” Dr Fenech Adami said.
He pointed out that at first Mr Mintoff had tried to ridicule him but then changed tack.
“However, when we started direct discussions, he understood that he had a very serious opposition in front of him and that we didn’t fear his intimidating methods. I think that from then onwards he started holding me in high esteem,” he said.
Dr Fenech Adami said that although there were many episodes in Mr Mintoff’s time when unacceptable things happened, such as the Black October incidents of 1979, when Labour mobs attacked the building of The Times and his home in Birkirkara, forcing his young family to escape through the roof, “he had his positive sides”.
“Mintoff wanted change and maybe his mistake was that he wanted change to happen too fast,” Dr Fenech Adami said.
The values he worked to implement ought to remain at the centre of our political work- Alfred Sant
Despite the still open wound following the collapse of his government, barely 22 months after election to office, former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant described Mr Mintoff as a monumental figure in the making of Maltese politics.
“When Mr Mintoff was Prime Minster he introduced the welfare state in the best interest of Maltese workers. He also fought, with great courage, for Malta’s independence,” he said.
“Today there is no better tribute to Mintoff than saying, as I always say, that the values that Mintoff worked so hard to implement – mostly regarding social solidarity and national freedom – ought to remain at the centre of our political work. And the Labour Party alone can guarantee this,” he said as he expressed his condolences to Mr Mintoff’s family for their great loss.
It was Mintoff who put Malta on the world’s map- Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici
Mr Mintoff’s anointed successor, former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, described his mentor as the person who taught the Maltese how to stand on their own feet and not someone else’s (colonial forces).
“It was Mintoff who put Malta on the world’s map. He had the foresight to make Malta a small independent nation but with a strong moral standing.”
Mintoff dedicated his life to the nation and was one of the founders of the welfare state- George Abela
President George Abela also expressed his condolences to the Mintoff family on the death of the former Prime Minister.
He said that Mr Mintoff had made a major impact on local politics and Malta’s foreign policy.
Dom Mintoff had dedicated his life to the nation and was one of the main founders of the welfare state, raising the standard of living of all Maltese, Dr Abela said.
His ideal was always to see Malta develop economically and socially in an environment of peace, security and prosperity in the Mediterranean, the Office of the President quoted Dr Abela as saying.