On Friday 22nd December 1950, the Legislative Assembly, as it was then called under the 1947 Constitution, rose to lay tribute to one of the greatest heroes of our political history- former Prime Minister Dr Enrico Mizzi.
Dr Mizzi had passed away only two days before, on Wednesday, and he died in office- occupying the role of Prime Minister. In fact Dr Mizzi had formed a minority Government following the September election of that year during which the Nationalist Party had managed to obtain the greater number of seats (12, as opposed to the 11 each returned by the Labour and Workers’ Parties).
During that special sitting 7 members of the Legislative Assembly expressed their condolences, including Dr George Borg Olivier, who in the meantime was sworn in as the new Prime Minister, and Dr Nerik Mizzi’s immediate predecessor in office Sir Paul Boffa. I believe that young Dom Mintoff’s speech – at the time Labour Leader in Opposition – on the occasion was an absolute gem and I would like to share it with you.
He started off by saying that on behalf of the Labour Members of the Legislative Assembly he wanted to give the last salute to Nerik Mizzi. He said that, for him, Dr Mizzi was a clean adversary, without hatred, without vendetta. “He was a person,” Mr Mintoff said, “who knew how to appreciate our views even though he did not always agree with our views in the same way that we did not agree with his.”
Mr Mintoff explained that Dr Mizzi left a very beautiful patrimony to our country and future generations, that of sufferance of all that he went through in order to achieve that what he believed was the best for our nation. “He was a person who showed in practice that one must fight for the ideal not only when the wind is blowing in your favour, but also in the midst of tempests, sorrow and hardship,” he said.
At this point Mr Mintoff praised Dr Mizzi’s character. “Like all other strong politicians, he found – even in his own party – people who abandoned him during challenging times. Even in his own party he found sufferance. However, Dr Mizzi distinguished himself from the rest of his own party since during the times of hardship, he would be the first one to rise to the challenge, he would not be afraid and would drink all the anguish until the last drop,” Mr Mintoff said.
He said that Malta will remember Dr Mizzi not necessarily for his views, since some might agree with them and some might disagree with them, but for the fact that he suffered from everything that there was to endure, he suffered from deportation, he suffered from the Court Martial, he suffered the insults, suffered the betrayals and he never budged an inch from his convictions and remained with a strong character, “remained Maltese, the best among the Maltese.”
Indeed the description of Enrico Mizzi as the best among the Maltese is a very strong one by Mintoff and speaks volumes of the respect which the two had for each other.
Mr Mintoff at this point said that there are not a lot of things in Malta which remind us of Nerik Mizzi since he (Mizzi) was unfortunate for the fact that when he reached the apex, that glory was short lived and had a lot of difficulties attached to it.
“However,” Mr Mintoff said, “he left a legacy of sufferance for his ideals in all of us. Whether we agree or disagree with his policies, we have to admire the strength of his character. We all have to be proud that he was Maltese and he left in our book of history chapters of character, of strength, of kind-heartedness, chapters which shall attract the admiration of all the other parts of the British Empire and all the world even though we come from a small country.”
He underlined again Dr Mizzi’s firm character and hailed the fact that he was never afraid of the reality of public opinion which can sway in difference directions ("daqqa hekk u daqqa hekk," Mintoff said). “It is his character which will remain the distinctive feature which everyone will remember and we from the Labour Party want his memory to be kept untainted. We want all Maltese, without distinction, to give Dr Mizzi his due, we want all Maltese to see in Dr Mizzi his honesty, his integrity and his readiness to sacrifice everything he had, even himself, as long as his ideal is put first and foremost.”
Mr Mintoff felt the need to say that he was expressing himself in all sincerity. “Although we did not use to say these words before in public, however we used to tell these words in private. Had we agreed with Nerik Mizzi’s social and political views we would have been his followers, we would have seen him as our Leader, we would have walked next to him without any reservation at all. However, Mr Speaker, now that he is not our adversary any longer, now that history has taken him in her fold, we believe that we should give him our full respect and reverence.”
At this stage, Mr Mintoff expresses a very strong statement. One has to keep in mind that a few moments before Dr Borg Olivier had recounted Nerik Mizzi’s last words on his deathbed which were in the form of an apology uttered by the late Prime Minister to everyone and God for his sins.
“We feel that all the things we have said in the past, all those things we had said as political adversaries, we today publicly apologise, in the same way as he apologized. In the same way he asked us to forgive him before he died, we want as Maltese, as a whole united country to give him respect. Respect which is true, grounded in facts, and not only in words,” Mr Mintoff concluded.
Indeed this episode in our history is a very beautiful one. Nerik Mizzi was truly one of the greatest Maltese who ever existed.
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I would like to extend my most sincere wishes of a happy Christmas to the kind editor of the Malta Independent and all readers. I hope you have a blessed festive period with your loved ones!