An article, ‘Give youth a chance’ in the 237 edition of a Maltese Australian publication, took me back 50 years when I arrived in Australia and found myself a member of a committee of the Maltese Community - Western Suburbs, presently known as the La Valette Social and Religious Centre.

I soon started to realise that I had changed the country but hadn’t changed the mentality. I’m referring to the clinging to power, and the non-acceptance of new faces round the committee table, a typical band-club atmosphere.

I was going to add the hesitancy of accepting the young or not so old members, coupled with a touch resentment towards those with an educational background.

The article also brought another ripple of nostalgia to mind: the short articles I used to write 50 years ago in the Maltese Herald.

The question of youth participation in Maltese committees and activities for that matter has been with us all these years. Every now and then there is an upsurge in some quarters for the lost sheep.

The last one was some five years ago when a small number of young people appeared in the Convention for the Maltese Abroad, which took place in Malta. As far as I know they were bodily present but they seemed to have been kept at arms length.

Which has been the case in Australia within the Maltese community. The article ‘Give youth a chance’, hints at some reasons for the present situation. It does not analyse it or offer solutions.

As a sensible reader could surmise that the present situation has deep roots and one may well say that it is too late to revive it. Yes, it is easy to say… it is never too late… Though I believe it is.

A ‘drone’ look at the present situation would not offer signs of much hope.

In the last 50 years one may well notice the musical chairs game which operates in most of our committees. Some chairs have been occupied by the same incumbents for 50 years and over. I remember them well!

These so-called leaders love not the chairs, but the power which goes with them: the adulation of leaders, the meetings with and general access to Maltese and some Australian VIPs.

The second and third generation see Malta as a tourist attraction since they have lost filial and nostalgic connections

I may mention the more modern carrots of a free flight to Malta and back for a board meeting or a convention, and the enticement of a glittering medal.

Maybe I’m being too critical.

Yes, we have and have had people who have genuinely volunteered their leadership for the community.

However leaders of any sort, especially Maltese, tend to get stuck to their pedestals till they die. Even the Church, which many criticise for its conservatism, years ago has realised that by 75 those in power have to go.

I cannot but agree with a sentence in the article saying: “We must empower our young and give them a chance.”

The big questions are how, when, where and why?

And to start with the last one: why would a young Maltese Australian lad/lass or a middle-aged one be interested in Maltese culture at the present time?

We are not talking about a visit to Malta as a tourist. I am thinking more of the language, the history, the literature, the heritage, the folklore, the spirit of a community.

We have not been able to present these traits of our culture to the young or to the old for that matter, in a professional way. We had hopes that the radio and SBS would offer means to those ends. And I sincerely hope they have to some extent… that is the reason why I am still involved with them.

Talking to some of the young ones some years ago about the present situation and trying to find out the reasons for their lack of interest, the common answer used to be: there is too much party politics, and Maltese ones at that.

Other general reasons were the presence of too many divisions and competition and imitation within the community and, as a few added, the lack of professionalism in presentations. These responses come from the horse’s mouth.

True or false? I leave it to the judgement of the readers.

In many cases the second and third generation see Malta as a tourist attraction since they have lost filial and nostalgic connections. They love Maltese postcards… with an occasional visit.

When all is said, as I tried to explain during the last convention of the Maltese diaspora, is how the Maltese migrant and the second, third or fourth generation Maltese or Maltese-Australian fitted in the wider community? After all it is the individual that counts.

And the 100 or so individuals I met at a nonagenarian birthday party recently proved to me that the majority have made a success of the migration process or of their parents’ or grand parents’ venture.

That is the big test. I was shouted down when I raised this question at the convention. Even more when I hinted that there could be some doubt as to whether the nurturing of a Maltese culture and identity in the young is only a front or a shield to protect those in power.

Otherwise they would lose their pedestals. A doubt which works in tandem with the whole issue of what has happened in the last 50 years or so: don’t give the young a chance!

Victor Vella is a former high school teacher, a broadcaster and writer.

This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece