I have been wanting to start a blog for quite sometime now to voice my opinion about Malta and situations which arise in our small archipelago, but I always seemed to postpone it, but after yesterday's evening and the passing of Malta's most prominent, controversial and known political figure, I thought it was time to start. Strangely what inspired it was the death of a personality.... a great personality.
Yes,
Dom Mintoff passed away and for Malta it's a big deal for many different reasons. As always and like everywhere in the world we do have different ideas and opinions, but sometimes I tend to see that splits on the island are more easy to see. Some reactions are of "loosing a father" some are "a tyrant finally is gone".
I didn't know the Dom personally and I was too young to remember well his legislation, but the thing I know is that his was the first name I learnt in relation to Maltese politics. As I grew older and heard all the different versions about this personality, the only thing that struck me was how strong and maybe can I say 'hard headed', this person was. I remember when in 1998 he voted against Sant's government and he showed to the Maltese what it truly means to have the balls and if you believe in something you go ahead and voice it and do it. We can argue for ages that sometimes the thing you believe can also be wrong, but this is not the issue here - the issue is of being man enough to show your colours and if something you see it white you say it if you see it black you say it too!
Today a lot of articles on the different Maltese online newspapers appeared with a lot of statements from different Maltese political figures of both political parties, articles & blogs from different journalists and historical compilations (which seem to have been prepared in advance) about his life.
I do sense a lot of irony in a lot of the statements, there is also harsh hatred, some too much grief & show and at least some Honest respect.
I feel this person gave our island a lot. A lot of knowledge and a lot to learn from. If there were things that were wrong we should stop the grudge and the justifications and learn from these experiences and we should highlight the good & make it a base to build upon and improve on.
For me personally this person gave me one main inspiration - not to be afraid to have a voice and say what I feel is right, but also teaches me to listen more and get my facts right, then I can build more on what I believe in, not for a personal good but for a common one.
Rest in Peace, Dear Dom
