Today, Malta celebrates its independence for the first time as a nation totally united. No blues or reds, no boycotts and no petty partisan politics. Today, thanks to a bout of maturity on the part of the Labour and Nationalist Party leaders, the entire country is celebrating Malta’s statehood as they should – as one united country.

For having done so, the Labour Party deserves congratulations – for having taken the bold step of advising its supporters to do away with their archaic sentiments toward the day, which has traditionally been a Nationalist Party celebration spurned by Labour Party supporters. Fifty years is, after all, an awfully long time to hold a grudge and it is well past the time to bury the hatchet.

The Nationalist Party, in the same vein, must be congratulated for having chosen to cooperate with the government’s celebrations, instead of attempting to rain on the parade.

Both the parties’ stances – considering their past histories and past politics related to Independence Day, Republic Day and Freedom Day – have been at once bold and mature.

And as such, it is high time for the parties’ followers to follow their example, to be mature enough to overcome the bitter polemics of the past and to, at long last, allow us to celebrate independence as one country instead of as two warring tribes.

But after the dust settles on this whirlwind weekend of festivities, and, more importantly, when next year’s Independence Day rolls around, will the country’s citizens climb back into their respective trenches to take pot shots at each other over the respective red and blue national days?

Between 1971 and 1987, under Labour administrations, Independence Day was not even celebrated and 21 September was just another run-of-the-mill day. The country is still politically divided, but that divide today lies elsewhere, and it is no longer about who did what for the country’s statehood decades ago.

It is now high time that the government of the day takes another, bolder step by declaring Independence Day as our one national day, while at the same time retaining Freedom Day and Republic Day as fully fledged public holidays.  These were, after all, all important landmarks in the country’s history that deserve commemoration.

In so doing, the government would, in one fell swoop, cross the political divide in the greatest of the national interest – to celebrate the birth of the nation itself.

Independence was, after all, the real birth of this nation. Freedom Day and Republic Day came after Independence. With Independence, completely irrespective of which political party saw it into being or which party opposed it, the nation of Malta as we know it today was born.

If any single point in time had to be indentified when Malta became a state in its own right, that point would be Independence Day. Independence was the true starting point and without it neither Republic Day nor Freedom Day would have been possible.

And what better time to take such a bold step than now, at the 50-year juncture? What better time to start afresh after this 50-year landmark and this weekend’s celebrations?

The Prime Minister’s statements last night could be interpreted as indicating that this is indeed the government’s way forward and although no big announcement was made, it seems the will is there.

He remarked last night, “We no longer argue over what was more important, Independence or becoming a Republic.  I am convinced of this because without Jum il-Helsien and without having become a Republic, I am not a Maltese, without Independence, I am not Maltese. 

“I must confess, I have rarely been as proud as I am today, in witnessing one people, united not only in celebrating past accomplishments, but, most importantly, united in the resolve to achieve even greater success for our homeland in the future.

That success will come once the nation is truly united on the matters that are truly important – the economy, quality of life and standard of living – and while the paths to achieve those goals may be different for different political parties, the destination is the same.  But apart from that, we must all unite when it comes to national pride and here there has been one gaping lacuna for the last 50 years.

There must be one day a year on which the nation assembles as one people to celebrate their country – and that one day should be Independence Day. It is hoped that today is the first of many such Independence Days to come.