There were three issues which really affected Malta and made this a year to remember. They were the war in Libya, the divorce referendum and the potential collapse of the eurozone. We will also have to include public transport reform on the list, but for different reasons. Granted, it was not and is still not perfect, but it shows our unique ability to sometimes get confused about our priorities.

We will take Libya first. The conflict showed that Malta was a mature democracy and even though we are tiny, we can be a world player, just as we have been in the past. We sometimes forget the monumental roles we have played in the world’s history. Libya was one of them. It was only when Maltese news teams went to Misurata that anyone actually realised how much Malta had done. We were in missile range all the time, something pointed out to us in Libya. Yet we handled a mass influx of people being evacuated.

The Prime Minister also gave the performance of his life in denouncing the Gaddafi regime and accepting the TNC as representatives of the Libyan people. In the meantime, we took in war casualties and allowed Malta to be used as an emergency refuelling base. Daring SAS missions were launched into Libya from here to rescue Maltese and British oil workers. Misurata which had been besieged by Gaddafi forces for months, was finally relieved by aid shipments from Malta. It was then, that the breakout occurred and it eventually resulted in the overthrow of the regime. All the while we dealt with defections and attempts by Libyan troops to land at the airport. All the while, Gaddafi’s ‘government’ was in contact with Malta. We cried foul at the time because we now know that the PM was relaying all information he could to the powers which were orchestrating the air support to allow Libyan freedom fighters to reclaim their country. We did ourselves proud and it was a very proud moment when Malta heard the thanks which Misurata had to bestow on it.

The divorce referendum showed two sides of our unique Malteseness. The campaign was intense. It turned personal and it was also bitchy. This newspaper and its sister declared a stance in favour of the introduction of divorce as a civil right. We are glad we came down on the right side and we are glad that we kept our dignity and played fair. In the end, the people of Malta showed their maturity. For the first time ever, perhaps, the majority voted in favour of the minority. It was hard and it was sometimes traumatising for all concerned. But if we look back now, we can see that we handled it the best way we could, the way the Maltese do, with just enough reason to triumph over our impulsive passion. That is the way we are.

The third major issue was the threat of the eurozone collapse and we chose the public transport issue to go with it because we had made a reference to this in one of our past leading articles. We followed the issue from the very start, back in 2008, when the first warning signs surfaced. Since then, economic woes have continued. Yet at one point, as the eurozone looked set for an actual collapse, all we could think about was the public transport. At least, both issues seem to have improved.

2012 will be a hard year. It is not looking very good out there on the horizon and closer to shore too. We are sure, though, that we will, as always, triumph over all obstacles put in our way, in our own way. Though perhaps, after this year, in a tad wiser way.