Your article “Bubble, bubble, is the Akkademja tal-Malti in trouble?” (TMIS, 18 September) is not only a parody of how things really stand, it is also a complete disservice to your readers and does gross injustice to Prof. Manwel Mifsud.

I shall not delve into what the Akkademja achieved during its interim period under the supervision of Dr Bernard Micallef. That has already been done by my friend Trevor Zahra in your sister paper (TMI, 23 September) and in other sectors of the local media by other colleagues. What irks me is the fact that you did not examine or even investigate, as any journalist is obliged to do, the whole scenario.

Had you asked an Akkademja member decent enough to be willing to expose what was going on behind the scenes you would not have published the said article, which is nothing but a carbon copy of the 20 January 2005 circular sent by a few invisible “signatories”, as already demonstrated by Dr Gorg Mifsud Chircop when he stated, “I did not reply because it was unsigned” (TMIS, 25 September), and again by Dr Adrian Grima in the same issue: “Much of what appeared in your bubble article had already been circulated among the members of the Akkademja in an unsigned letter.”

What your readers may not know is that this unsigned January 2005 circular jeopardised the truce reached in September 2004 by the two factions through the intermediary efforts of President Emeritus Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, in his own words “without recriminations” (letter to Akkademja members dated 19 November 2004). Such behaviour almost torpedoed the interim committee of which I was a member.

Going back to your misinformed article, you wrote that “information was being leaked to outsiders”. Excuse me, but have you never heard of whistleblowers? If such information was inflammatory for the council members, why wasn’t it addressed to our Law Courts? Indeed, why was the information missing from the records of the society? I specifically refer to the Secretary’s letter of resignation from the 2002-2004 Akkademja council, which made its way back to the archives on 28 February 2005 during the interim council’s term and finally presented at the last general meeting held on 24 September.

I sincerely hope that this sad chapter is over. My efforts to pacify the quarrelling bodies came to an end when my motions presented in the 20.04.2002 general meeting fell on deaf ears and were dumped. Further effort proved futile during talks to amend and improve the statute that same year. By that time the die was cast.

Much was at stake, in particular The Maltese Language Act passed by the House of Representatives on 14 July 2004; this came into being only through the endeavour of Prof. Manwel Mifsud with the help of the Bord tal-Malti. The Act’s cornerstone was the Bord tal-Malti report, Strategija ghal-Lingwa Nazzjonali – a gem of a document addressing the problems facing our language: problems which the Akkademja tal-Malti on its own could never hope to eradicate.

The National Council for the Maltese Language came into being because Prof. Manwel Mifsud is no ordinary visionary – he has the courage to convert words into action and through his sheer drive, prowess and skill he has managed to bring together a formidable team of academics, linguists, poets, journalists and Maltese language and literary societies, for a common cause.

The Ghaqda tal-Malti (Università), the Ghaqda Letterarja Maltija, the Ghaqda ta’ l-Ghalliema tal-Malti and the Ghaqda Poeti Maltin together with other important bodies from all sectors of our society contributed wholeheartedly to the informative talks held with the Bord tal-Malti.

During these fruitful talks, the then council of the Akkademja tal-Malti promised a head-on collision with the Bord tal-Malti. Was it because the “important” role of the Akkademja was being diminished? How “important” was that role and how was it being administered? One can find the answers to these questions in the circulars sent to all Akkademja members dated 12.05.2004 and 14.06.2004 by Professor Mifsud.

Each and every member received these documents. Did you ask for them?

Joseph P. Borg

NAXXAR