I remember the State funeral of Guido de Marco well. Valletta was flooded with foreign dignitaries, particularly from Arab States. From across the world, people had come to pay their respects. Our serving men looked brilliant in their uniforms. Quiet little Malta suddenly felt as if it were at the centre of the world, instead of people just acting as if it were.
The professionalism, the State symbolism and the solemnity on the occasion all bore down upon me, as young as I was, and for the first time I felt the gravity of Malta’s statehood. I was pulled into something which was greater than myself, even as a mere bystander in Valletta that day.
It was through that event that I learned of the role Malta could play in the world, and had indeed played in the world. I remember my parents telling me about their memories of the stormy Malta Summit when Mikhail Gorbachev and George H. Bush, they said, ended the Cold War. We have often been seen as brokers of peace, it would seem. Malta is a proud country, though we often make a great fuss about our shortcomings between ourselves.
I believe that the role Malta can proactively play in the world cannot be understated. As a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean, our strategic value has changed over time, but it has always endured. It is for this reason that we simply cannot afford to let our reputation suffer abroad because of our poor governance.
The Labour Party says that PN MEPs are betraying their country, and are attracting unjustified scrutiny upon Malta. Meanwhile, the PN argues that it is the government’s fault for committing crimes that bring such scrutiny upon us. It is a sad mess we find ourselves in for all parties concerned.
In Malta, the European Union is seen as one monolithic body, when in reality it is an incredibly complicated system full of different political groupings, alliances, agendas and interests. Malta’s enemies may very well try to pounce upon it, using whatever pretext available, simply because we may be competitors in the bigger picture. However, the idea that the government can excuse its wrongdoings by making an appeal to patriotism is completely absurd.
Either way, one lesson to be learned from all of this is that we cannot allow Malta to drift into isolation. We have to embrace the complexities of international politics, as we have done in the past, and play a proactive and leading role. As Maltese, we have always felt proud when we have punched above our weight. It is time that we set about carving Malta’s niche in international diplomacy once again.
We must return to being respectable members of the international and European communities. To do that, we must clean up our affairs internally. That cannot and should not be avoided. The rewards for such good governance, however, will be extremely high, if we maintain a vision for a Malta that brings people around the table internationally.
Since we are no longer a military base, let us play on our strategic strengths in other ways and educate, innovate and specialise, and let those old strengths work for us in new ways. Let us maintain the pride we have in our country without turning inwards, and succeed as diplomats and leaders in the world.