Photo: Museum of the Order of St Joh in LondonI chanced viewing a commentary on the Great Siege of 1565 on one of the local TV stations, produced by the CNI (Kampanja ghall-Ħelsien Nazzjonali), featuring my old Lyceum colleague, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, and Sammy Meilaq.
Regrettably, the latter tried to give an unusual twist to the hallowed saga. According to him, the siege was primarily a victory achieved solely by the knights. He went on to confuse the Piccolo Soccorso with the Gran Soccorso.
He complicated the issue by involving France, which, to my mind, was rather strange. France was a notoriously silent ally of the Ottomans against the Habsburgs. It is pertinent to point out that the French were conspicuously absent at the momentous encounter at Lepanto in 1571. Later on, in some convoluted way, Meilaq mentioned en passant the Maltese by saying that, in spite of their heroic contribution, they were denied their rightful aspirations by the knights, which is patently true.
I am no historian but it was pitiful hearing him denigrating the knights at the expense of the Maltese. Fifty per cent of the besieged defenders were Maltese, so, in fairness, I would attribute a 50 per cent share of the victory to the Maltese.
It was a risible twist on his part upholding the rights of the Maltese and denying them what surely is their due. It was so manifestly obvious that his aim was to downplay the significance of the siege and play up the Jum il-Ħelsien (Freedom Day), commemorated on March 31.
Such childish xenophobic trash, albeit ‘amusing’, was not worthy of Meilaq and hardly serious TV stuff.