I fully agree with Joe Zammit Ciantar (September 8) regarding the monument to the patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri.

The initiative to set up the monument was originally taken by the Students’ Representative Council, urged by Ġużè Cardona, lecturer at the then Royal University of Malta, who raised £120 from a Sunday collection at City Gate in Valletta.

Later, Philip Farrugia, Lawrence Cachia, then archpriest of Żebbuġ, Vincent Borg, Walter Ganado and the businessman Spiru Mizzi formed the official committee, with the first preliminary meeting being held at Prof. Farrugia’s residence at 53, St Dominic Street, Valletta, on June 20, 1967. I was present at this meeting and was instructed to take notes.

Other meetings were held in different venues and a number of prominent personalities were approached to enrol; most of them agreed to do so (their list is too long to reproduce here).

Dr Zammit Ciantar is correct to say that a fund-raising lottery was suggested, as can be confirmed from the agenda of October 10, 1968. Like him, I was not invited to attend the monument’s inauguration ceremony in 1986.

While the committee was gearing enthusiastically for the realisation of the monument, its siting became a bone of contention.

On May 30, 1968 a letter was sent to Prime Minister George Borg Oliver seeking his approval of Palace Square, Valletta, as the site for this monument.

However, although pressure continued to be made over the years for the monument to be placed there, the Government eventually decided to have it erected in Independence Square, Valletta.

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the execution by the French of Dun Mikiel Xerri and his compatriots, I suggested, while speaking during the adjournment of Parliament on July 12, 1999, that the monument be moved to Palace Square, facing the Sette Giugno monument. This proposal was supported by Labour MP Joe Debono Grech.

I am sure I and many other Maltese believe Palace Square is where the monument to Dun Mikiel Xerri should stand.

After all, the Independence monument is next to where the instruments of independence were handed over on September 21, 1964, and monuments to our prime ministers are close to the Prime Minister’s Office. Other examples abound.

I am ready to hand over the initial correspondence regarding this monument, presently in my possession, to whoever has the other related papers (agendas, minutes, and so on) reaching to the day of inauguration, for the entire documentation to be preserved in the National Archives.

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