I have always been proud of being a diehard Nationalist. Even though I have been living in South Africa for 23 years, I have always made an effort to encourage the electorate to vote Nationalist. During the election campaign of the last six general elections and the Referendum, I have tirelessly written in various Maltese newspapers, highlighting the advantages of having a Nationalist government.

I also take pride in having come to our beloved country every September, to celebrate with the majority of the population the day which makes us who we are – proud Maltese, natives of a small nation with an enviable history. Yes, on 21 September, 1964 I was there and at midnight I was one of the thousands that shouted Viva Malta, Viva Malta Indipendenti. I was one of those who believed in the ability of this hard working people to achieve what others perceived as impossible.

I intended to visit Malta on 10 March, and again celebrate the Maltese electorate’s wise choice. Unfortunately, nature dictated otherwise. At 8am on 9 March, I was taken to hospital for observation and was operated upon at 7pm. To my pleasant surprise, when I was taken back to the ward, I saw the Nationalist Party flag hanging across the doorway. Instantly, I was relieved. The electorate had decided to continue building on what was already achieved. It wasn’t a Nationalist victory. It was a national sigh of relief. We are now relaxed and confident that the e855 million will be spent wisely. We now know that SmartCity will not be chased away. We need not worry that Lufthansa will move elsewhere. The future is secure and prosperity is in our grasp.

Hopefully Labour will do some soul searching and regenerate their party. They must elect a new leader who is prepared to relinquish all ties with the past. The team around the new leader must also be new, and prepared to denounce the pain their party inflicted on the nation when democracy was under threat. Maybe the new leader would also be wise enough to propose to change the party’s name to Workers Party. That would associate the party with Sir Paul Boffa and not Dom Mintoff, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici or Alfred Sant. That might be the best way of expressing an apology to the nation for the dark days of 1971-1987.

John Saliba

Cape Town

South Africa