Love him or hate him, Dom Mintoff, Il-perit, was the most colourful and powerful politician we in Malta have ever had. The long obits in the upmarket international media are a testimony to that.
Besides, his demise has unleashed an amazing, unprecedented, national, unbridled wave of emotion demonstrating grief from clapping and cheering thousands who gathered in the streets to bid him farewell, but also a number of comments online expressing bitterness and hatred towards him.
One of my first memories of the man was when at around 12 years of age I accompanied my dad to visit a family in Zabbar. As now, Dom Mintoff, who was upsetting various apple carts then, was the main topic of conversation and my dad happened to mention that his (Mintoff’s) niece was his secretary.
Although a Nationalist, my father, a very gregarious man, did not let partisan politics influence his behaviour. Anyway, as soon as the man of the house realised that my dad was not an ‘enemy’ despite his politics, he led us to his bedroom, reached under the bed and took out a portrait of Dom to show to us.
I never quite worked out whether Dom had been hidden under the bed because of our visit, or because he was being labelled a communist.
The next thing I remember a few years later was my broadminded parent’s shock at Archbishop Gonzi’s declaration that anyone voting for Labour in the 1962 election would be committing a sin.
Mintoff had wanted to curb the influence of the Church in politics and education since day one and relations between him and Archbishop Gonzi got progressively worse throughout his tenure.
After living in London for a few years in the late sixties, one of the first things I noticed on a visit back home in the 1970s was that class distinctions were breaking down. The social changes Mintoff had brought about were tangible.
He was a true Labour politician and he improved the lives of the working classes who saw him as their saviour, as opposed to many upper middle class people who hated his guts for upsetting the social order of the time.
The eccentric maverick did nothing by halves, and although he did a great deal to better the lot of working class people by improving health provision, education, better work conditions, housing and pensions, he also fomented class hatred in his fiery speeches, which led to violence.
As the Telegraph obituary put it he was “The irascible gadfly of Maltese politics. A fiery orator given to exacerbating social divisions at home, when pursuing his political objectives in London he alternated between civilised charm and hysterical abuse.”
However, his sometimes temperamental, lengthy negotiations over Malta being underpaid, for its use as a base by the UK and Nato, did pay off. In March 1972, he finally got Malta a good deal. A new seven-year defence agreement got us £14 million a year from Nato, of which £5 million was provided by Britain, with additional money for development and economic projects.
He created Air Malta and Sea Malta, which were vital to our economic development. However, whether his action to bring broadcasting under state control was right is debatable. Although it probably was a vehicle for British propaganda at the time, it was and still is, subtle or not, a vehicle of propaganda for whoever is in government.
The downside of Mintoff’s premiership was that he was a rabble-rouser and violence increased during the campaigning and after the 1976 general election, when he was reconfirmed to lead the country, the rule of law seemed to break down and human rights were violated. The Nationalist (Opposition) party clubs were wrecked and violence also broke out at Opposition campaign meetings.
A year later, again maybe because of Mintoff’s uncompromising style of implementing change, the medical profession went on strike. Then, in 1979, the offices of The Times were burnt and Eddie Fenech Adami’s (then Opposition leader) residence was ransacked, and his wife and family terrorised.
However, violence breeds violence and a prominent doctor’s young daughter was blown up by a bomb meant for her father who was not taking part in the then prolonged doctor’s strike. The perpetrators were never found.
Mintoff’s premiership ended in 1984, but he stayed on the backbenches, still appearing with his trademark big belt and buckle, causing mayhem to Alfred Sant’s career well over a decade later in 1998 when he voted against his own party and basically lost Labour the election.
Later in his dotage, he sometimes put himself in embarrassing situations, not perceived by him. In 2002, I wrote in my then Sunday Times column: “I was embarrassed to see not only an ex-prime minister, but also one who has left an indelible mark on Malta’s history, being reduced to ‘standing up’ to a comedian. Despite Dom Mintoff’s non-endearing qualities, he did change the class system on the island and put Malta on the international map.
“I doubt that Mr Mintoff, a scourge to the Maltese upper classes and Salvatur to the then working classes, takes advice from anyone. Which is a shame, because he would have been well advised to stay away from Xarabank.
“He was used in the same context as the bearded lady, or the dancing bear at the fair. That is the kind of show it is.” I did not like seeing him pilloried. Mr Mintoff’s main gist (in the few minutes I watched the programme) was that the then Prime Minister, Dr Fenech Adami, was breaching our Constitution by taking Malta into Europe. He missed the irony that he wanted to integrate Malta with Britain in the fifties.
Despite the people who had and are still trying to undermine the man, his legacy involving a lot of good despite quite a bit of bad cannot be undone. The images of his state funeral, most notably in The Times, are proof enough.
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