Now that the hustle and bustle in the wake of your two articles (TMIS, 18 September and 2 October) has finally abated, it is time for me – having kept silent all this time – to take stock of the outcome of your daring enterprise and assess its success and its intentions.

Your two well-timed articles, meant to discredit me and tarnish my integrity, have had the opposite effect, disclosing you as a person who can launch an unfounded bitter public attack on someone you have never known or had any business with. There was no need for me to defend myself, seeing that a chorus of respectable voices rose in my support, expressing their chagrin unambiguously in signed letters.

This experience has hardly enhanced your reputation as an editor and journalist – since on both occasions you did not care to investigate matters or to consult and report on the opinion of the person to whom your attack was directed. Your readers expect more from you.

“Your” articles, which turned out to be word-for-word translations of an injurious letter circulated anonymously months ago, have been proved replete with inaccuracies of fact. It is now evident to every reader that someone who is so badly informed about the Akkademja tal-Malti, its recent history and its members can hardly nurture any genuine interest in it.

Your dubious support for a handful of members of the old Akkademja, who have shown they had no scruples in hanging on to power in defiance of the will of the members and the Statute, went bust when the members regaled them with a landslide defeat in a tranquil and democratic election, which cleared the air once and for all.

In a society that is in search of substance and tangible results, your bubbles, to quote one of your contributors, have been burst. All in all, you just wasted a little of our time.

Anyone who is truly interested in our language and its advancement can now look forward to brighter times.

After months of tribulation, Maltese is now gradually finding its footing among the EU languages, as more and better prepared translators and interpreters fill the empty posts. The Akkademja gave an excellent account of itself in the last year and now stands solidly on its feet. The long awaited Kunsill Nazzjonali ta’ l-Ilsien Malti is now established and has been very busy over the past months planning projects which will be carried out in the near future. Things are finally moving.

For people who mean business, this is a stimulating, challenging time for Maltese. It is above all a very busy time. We are lagging behind and we must quicken our pace. This is no time for wasting one’s energy foisting futile articles on semi-informed readers, no time for divisive mud slinging and back-stabbing. Whoever does this is wasting the nation’s precious time.

Manwel Mifsud

BIRKIRKARA