QFrom Major S. J. A. Clews MBE, MBIM, MIPM

Far be it from me to compete for words with Judge Giovanni Bonello, nor do I have any pictures to prove a point. My only connection with the law in the 84 years I have lived on this planet was seven years as chairman of the Malta Industrial Tribunal some 20 years ago when I had the pleasure of being in the company of so many lawyers, magistrates and judges.

However, I cannot help but speak in defence of Professor Joseph Muscat regarding his opinion that in wartime it is not unusual that human rights are sometimes thrown out of the window. And I have a lot of sympathy for those pro-Italian internati who were exiled unlawfully to Uganda when war broke out in Malta, facing hardships away from their families. Just as happened to soldiers, sailors and airmen who had to face much more dangerous situations in circumstances much more unpleasant than the internati had to put up with. Like all servicemen and women, when I left home my parents did not know where I was, neither where I was going nor when (or if) I would (ever) return.

But I would ask Judge Giovanni Bonello to spare a thought for those who stayed behind in Malta, the most bombed country during the World War II Siege of Malta from 1940 to 1943. A time I think he probably is not old enough to remember.

As one born in England of a Maltese father and English mother, I was studying there when war broke out in 1939. I joined the army two years later and saw service in UK, North Africa and most importantly as it turned out, I was posted to Malta clearing unexploded bombs from wrecked homes and buildings in Valletta and the airfields. I of course knew nothing about Maltese internati and I am sure the families of the dead and dying we used to find among the wreckage were only condemning those Italian and German pilots raining bombs down upon them as they tried to find a way to a safe shelter. No question of human rights as far as those pilots were concerned – they were doing their duty in times of war. I am sure many of those Maltese still alive who were lying in the rubble would rather have been in Uganda.

As Professor Muscat rightly put it, how can one talk about “human rights” in a war started by an inhuman Hitler and followed by Mussolini. Incidentally, in the picture included in Dr Bonello’s article, the caption talks of “ethnic cleansing and extermination camps”, inferring that Professor Muscat was justifying them by resorting to the “Muscat mantra” The learned judge added to the caption: “exceptional times justify disregard for human rights” and “Hitler and Stalin with their little pleasantries both followed this doctrine – no human rights please can’t you see the national danger”. I suggest to Judge Bonello that between the names of Hitler and Stalin he should have inserted the name of Hitler’s jackal-on-a-lead, that of Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini. Why only Hitler and Stalin I wonder? After all Mussolini was on the front line for “(in)human” rights including, according to history, sending his own son-in-law Count Ciano to his death. And again, “human rights” at its best when the assassinated Mussolini himself was strung up by his bootlaces in Milan by his communist enemies.

Where do human rights come in when you are being bombed indiscriminately from a great height; when you see bits and pieces of your kith and kin lying among the rubble as a result of enemy bombs. Human rights my great aunt! How many of us know that over 7,000 Maltese civilians, Maltese, Commonwealth and Allied Servicemen and women, gave their lives so that we may live in peace in this wonderful island of ours. Yes, it was wrong to send those Maltese to Uganda – but at least they returned home safely.

When we servicemen and women left our homes in England in 1942 it was on a troopship carrying 14,000 – yes 14,000! – troops and I sometimes think how few of us returned home. I thank God that I was one of them because I met my late wife here in Malta. As a result, too, I am now surrounded by my children, grandchildren and one-and-half great-grandchildren as well as so many friends. Among the latter I hope that in future I can include Judge Giovanni Bonello whose writings I admire a great deal – though not this time.

Perhaps I should thank Hitler and Mussolini for the blessings I have received in the 55 years I have lived in Malta in wartime and in peace. After all, if it had not been for them perhaps I would not be in Malta today.

Just one final point in case anyone still wants to put up a memorial to the internati: Please keep it well away from the Siege Bell Monument near the Lower Barrakka in Valletta which was put up by the allied wartime veterans of the George Cross Island Association to commemorate those 7,000 I mentioned earlier who died in the World War II siege defending this home of ours.

Stanley J. A. Clews

SLIEMA