The publishing house “Horizons” is this month launching the book Perspectives/Perspettivi by Alfred Sant as another contribution to the ongoing debate about Malta’s present and future.

In Perspectives/Perspettivi, readers are expected to reflect about change in Malta. Sant has in the past expressed a number of strongly held views in this area, some of which have remained controversial. Should the Malta Constitution be changed? Should Malta’s model for economic development be reformed from the ground up since it has become ineffective? Should the same be said about the civil service? Should protectionism be totally abandoned in this age of globalisation? Should further development in Sliema be banned once for all? Should books be published only in Maltese or only in English?

Many of the essays and papers presented in the book were featured in local and international fora and publications. Brought together in one book for the first time, they highlight analyses and suggestions about our reality that some people will find themselves uncomfortable with. So why should they read them? Because at the end, they might have to ask – suppose that what is being emphasized here is actually happening? Quite a number of warnings made by Alfred Sant over the years have with hindsight, proved to be not far off the mark.

Another feature of the book could raise hackles. This is the ground breaking decision by “Horizons” to print in the same volume some texts that are in Maltese, others in English. In the first book of essays which Sant published over 25 years ago, “L-Impenn ghall-Bidla” – now a collector’s item – all chapters were in Maltese, with scripts that had been originally written in English translated into Maltese. The challenge this time round has been to publish all scripts in the language they were written in. “Horizons” believes that in a bilingual society like ours, for the kind of texts that Perspectives/Perspettivi is presenting, the available readership will be equally at home reading in Maltese or in English.