Here I am in Bonnie Scotland trying to convince as many Scots as possible, from taxi drivers and hotel employees to tourist guides and fast-food sellers, to vote yes in the forthcoming independence referendum. Most of them react sweetly to my prodding, probably and wisely preferring to humour me.

They want to know where I come from. I say independent Malta. “Oh,” is the standard reply. People are obviously aware that some English or Anglo-Scot politician recently compared, not without a dash of sarcasm, a future independent Scotland with tiny Malta, that is to say a place with no influence whatsoever in world events, a small, insignificant economy within the European Union, and a quiet, peaceful people.

I simply cannot resist the temptation to retort: Well, we have a vote at the United Nations and all other international institutions, we supposedly have a presence within the EU, and our economy is doing quite well, thank you, despite the euro and eurozone crises. Today, we are a convinced Republican nation free to welcome Kate Middleton, whatever her title, to the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of our independence on the 21st of this month, as we do with other high-profile visitors, from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to the Pope and President Napolitano of Italy.

I hasten to add that if a dot on the world atlas can do it, why not the Scots, living as they do on such a beautiful land, bursting with history and national pride, a thriving tourism sector and enough natural resources and industries to help build a proper economic and political basis for the future of an independent Scotland.

My impromptu meeting with an enthusiastic group of “yes” ladies giving out stickers and tiny Scottish flags in the middle of fascinating Edinburgh ended with some lively banter and an exchange of good luck shouts and photos. I find it sad to think their spirits will be dampened once the predictable outcome of the referendum is announced. Just as I write, in fact, an army of 100 Westminster politicians, nicknamed “The Persuaders”, has descended on Scotland in the wake of what ironically is a last-minute panic attack.

I am told that most “yes” people in Scotland hail from the Glasgow/Edinburgh, the Lowlands, while those in and about the Highlands and the Islands tend to be all out against independence. Some of the latter are already insisting that if the “yes” vote somehow prevails in this referendum, another one should be immediately held to push for a reversal. Reminds you of the European Union a bit, doesn’t it? The EU always insists on another referendum when it gets no for an answer, as was the case with Iceland and Norway, but such insistence for “another go” rapidly evaporates when a yes vote is confirmed.

Funny this business with yes and no. We have had yes votes in two particular referenda in our modern history, but the aftermath was distinctly different. In the 1950s, when Malta voted yes for integration with Britain, the powers that be (guess who, Scottish friends of mine) chose to ignore the result, but when, almost five decades later, the Maltese people again voted yes for full EU membership, well, we all know the rest.

As a then no voter, today I can respect the 2003 referendum result, but I cannot for the life of me see why the colonial powers had, in 1955, chosen to ignore the will of the majority. With hindsight, however, it is thanks to their blatant disrespect for a loyal colony’s wishes that quickly led to our independence movement, later soured somewhat by both our own internal political antics and Britain’s application of its well-known geo-political tactic of “divide and rule” over a disintegrating empire.  

The same has been happening in Scotland in this Scottish independence referendum campaign. The mainstream UK media has, as always, preferred to toe the official line in between many a scaremongering story of their own. The no campaign has in fact been based solely on scaremongering aimed at intentionally dividing Scotsmen everywhere. It is no wonder the yes campaign has been gaining ground in the last few days.

One special feature of this negative campaign has been the GB Pound. Ministers and politicians have, from their London comfort zones, been insisting that an independent Scotland can’t expect to retain the pound if it chooses to extract itself from the UK. This is the complete opposite to what HM ministers, Whitehall officials and their field officers operating in distant lands, from smug Prime Ministers to rotund governors irritated that their hunting season had been interrupted, used to tell every aspiring independent ex-colony.

We will give you independence, but for the sake of your own economic well-being, hehe, you have to keep the Pound Sterling (as it used to be known), and that is what almost every ex-British colony, including Malta, had to do, albeit temporarily, on becoming independent. As in most cases, not only did the ex-colonies have to accept a military presence for many years to come – some of them, like Cyprus, still have it – but they also had to surrender sovereignty on such matters as banking, broadcasting and military alliances, a situation independent Malta was only able to rectify 15 long years later.

The Scots, however, find themselves in a completely different scenario. They have fought wars for the Union, they have lost millions of their loved ones in the two world wars, they have helped colonise (using sheer fire power and brute force, of course, not marshmallow tactics) on behalf of the empire, and they generally have had to wave flags and smile away at kings and queens who make a royal spectacle out of regular visits to Scotland.

Now that a sizeable chunk of the Scottish population thinks it could do better as an independent nation, all the chummy-chummy attitudes of yesteryear have vanished to be replaced with “you can’t have this”, “you won’t have this”, “don’t expect this”, “you will lose all this” and “you can’t do this”. Ex-colonies, come to think of it, had been treated in a much fairer way than Scotland and its people are being treated today on the eve of an important national referendum.

I have to stop here to resume my personal campaign for Scottish independence. Honestly, sometimes it does feel like a part of the storyboard for that popular cartoon character carrying the slogan “The end of the world is nigh”.

I did very much the same in Dublin and other parts of the Republic on the eve of the hotly-contested Irish referendum on divorce. I remember interviewing Maltese bishop Emmanuel Gerada, then the Vatican’s Nuncio in the Irish capital, and getting daggers for looks when I had openly expressed support for the yes vote. “You too, a Maltese?” he had reacted in no disrespectful tone.

No credit to me, but the yes vote had won. I wish I can scatter the same gold dust over Scotland...