I was flabbergasted to read recently that the Vittoriosa Historical and Cultural Society has asked the Vittoriosa Local Council to erect a monument to Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette.

I was also astonished to read several letters by Maltese citizens asking for a monument to la Valette to be erected in Valetta, the capital city. I am totally against spending money, especially public funds, to erect monuments to a tyrant who, in his heyday, trampled over the rights of the Maltese.

Are we still so steeped in the colonial mentality that we seek to erect monuments to those who showed such contempt towards the Maltese?

Funds should be spent on monuments to Maltese historical personalities who did their utmost to honour their country's name and to improve the lot of the Maltese population.

Have we forgotten that de la Valette was the person who hanged Giuseppe, known as Matteo, Callus because he dared to speak out in favour of the rights of his fellow Maltese which were being denied by the tyrant Grand Master himself? Are we not ashamed to recommend erecting monuments to a foreigner who sent a Maltese patriot to the gallows?

Have these people who are recommending monuments to la Valette realized that they are making a laughing stock out of the Maltese nation? In which country does one honour a foreign tyrant who hanged a local patriot?

As far as I know, in all countries without any exceptions, it is the patriot who gave his life for his country who is honoured and not the cruel tyrant who sent him to his death! Yet, here in Malta, it seems that some people turn logic upside down.

I sincerely appeal to all Maltese citizens to make their voices heard and to nip in the bud condemnable initiatives which are an insult to all those who have made so many sacrifices for Malta and the Maltese.

Yes, erect monuments, by all means, but to Maltese historical personalities, not to those who treated the Maltese as despicable inferiors and who kept the Maltese population in subjection and misery. Otherwise, our descendants will be ashamed of our abject stupidity and historical ignorance.