Why do the Maltese come across as terribly self-critical yet very over-sensitive to remarks made about them by outsiders, which are mostly always interpreted negatively?

A Maltese friend who lives abroad posed me this question after reading the report in this newspaper two Sundays ago about Britain's Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, who was reported to have sought to clarify his recent reference to Malta, saying the offence caused by his remark was a "misunderstanding between friends".

The problem does not lie with Mr Clegg, of course. It is the Maltese who get offended at everything said about them and their country in spite of the fact that they continually criticise whatever is done in Malta. And I really wonder whether it was Mr Clegg who sought to clarify his statement rather than his being discreetly asked to do so.

In finding fault with everything Maltese, many do not think twice before relegating Malta to the status of a 'Third World' country, even though they hardly know what this actually implies. We now even have an MP - of the 'progressive and moderate' kind - who says he would rather live in Iran than in this country where hotels have pay-to-view pornography. Yet, if some foreigner passes some inane comment on Malta, the same people who continually denigrate Malta would take offence!

One should only read the comments in the news websites to realise that the Maltese reaction to the British deputy prime minister's reference was on the offensive - in Malta. Someone must have told Mr Clegg, busy finding his feet in his first days in power, that the Maltese had been offended by a statement in which he was essentially criticising the way UK is administered and not Malta. He had no reason to 'seek to clarify' his statement about Britain but Mr Clegg was apparently egged on to do so with respect to Malta that was mentioned only for what was perceived as an 'odious' comparison, as all comparisons tend to be.

When Mr Clegg said that Britain was the most centralised government in Europe bar Malta, he was right of course. If he had carried out some research on Anglo-Maltese relations, he would have found out that it was the British that abolished the local councils that the French had set up. They did so to be able to control Malta in as absolute a way as possible: a logical step for Britain that considered Malta just a military garrison.

The centralisation of the administration of Malta is not just the result of our size; it is also a legacy of the British colonial hold on Malta. But that was never the issue. The sore point was that some foreigner apparently referred to Malta in a negative way.

This attitude may well stem from the way bigger countries make Malta feel very tiny and therefore somewhat disempowered. This recalls the 'mouse-that-roars' syndrome: a legacy of Dom Mintoff's macho attitude that one might interpret as being a convenient screen to hide our sense of disempowerment, also known as our inferiority complex. In his own inimitable way, Mintoff tried to assuage this hunger for respectability... but Malta ended up worse: being looked upon as if it were an incorrigible child.

Consider our national 'hang-up' about the Eurovision Song Contest, ,in which many of our 'rivals' are perceived to be our equals, but are in fact bigger. Each year many expect Malta to figure in the top placings, if not to win outright. Previously it was thought that the problem was the whipping up of expectations by the local media and the organisers behind Malta's entry. In recent years the ridiculous expectations and hype have been watered down, and yet many still keep hoping that 'this is the year'.

They do so irrespective of whether the Maltese entry is a good song delivered by a good singer. In fact, Malta struggles to find this combination, often competing with good singers singing run-of-the-mill songs or mediocre singers singing a good song. This fact is of no consideration: it is the tactics of groups of neighbouring countries voting for each other that is blamed for every dismal result - never that the Maltese entry was not up to scratch.

This kind of 'false patriotism' goes to incredible lengths, just like some Maltese mothers pushing their offspring to win some immaterial contest, behaving as if theirs are the best in the world. Many consider this as adults behaving like children.

We Maltese are not only over-sensitive but also capable of displaying this trait publicly - uninhibited just like a child. Apparently, the nation's psyche is geared to 'one day we will grow up and we will become a bigger country'! Yet we know well that this is kidding ourselves: Malta's history, its geography and its size cannot be changed.

I wonder how many more generations we need for our character as a nation to mature enough to feel comfortable - in spite of our miniscule size - when straddling alongside what, for us, can only be relevant giants.

micfal@maltanet.net