'Gonzi and Malta's break with Gaddafi'

Author: Joseph Cassar

Publisher: The Kite Group / 2013

Pages: 405pp

This book came out 12 years ago and its author, Dr Joseph Cassar, is now dead so it can be thought a review is somewhat useless now.

But it's not useless to try and put the past in a proper perspective.

The book admits from the very beginning, at least unconsciously, that it is not an objective analysis of Dr Gonzi's two terms as prime minister, the first prime minister of Malta as a member of the EU.

It looks at these years in the context of the Libyan revolution up to the death of the dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

And even here, as we all know, the story did not end there and it is still ongoing with the de facto partition of the country. Even after all these years, we don't know how it will end.

What the book tells us, with a wealth of details, is the story of Gonzi's courageous and principled involvement in this revolution that culminated when two Libyan Airforce officers escaped from Libya rather than shoot on fellow countrymen and how Dr Gonzi flatly refused to send the planes back.

The Libyans were not accustomed to seeing Malta disobeying orders. Just a few years earlier Malta had been timidly trying to search for oil in an area belonging to it but was quickly dissuaded when Gaddafi sent in gunboats. Over the ensuing years and in different circumstances, Malta never tried its luck again.

But on the matter of the planes Gonzi remained adamant even when threatened. None of his successors would have done that.

Clearly, he sided with the people and this was more manifest in the latest struggles focusing on Misrata. 

Earlier it had been manifested in the well-coordinated evacuation of non-Libyans through Malta.

The book not only recounts the events that took place but also reveals his innermost thoughts, such as what was going through his mind while being driven home after an especially hectic day.

The book then lets slip very scant details about what one would assume were major concerns on his mind as he tried to keep pace with the unfolding events in Libya.

Gonzi first became premier when Dr Fenech Adami resigned and was elected President just before Malta became an EU member state in 2004.

Then he won the 2008 election with the slimmest of margins. He thus had to govern with a much-reduced majority, facing internal dissent by people who may have been expecting a promotion that never came.

The Labour Opposition, led by Joseph Muscat, had tasted blood and could look ahead to winning the next election.

And the country was engaged in a national debate regarding the introduction of divorce.

Gonzi was thus facing three huge demons at the same time, keeping the ship of state on an even keel in a most turbulent sea.

Typically, he refused to give in - to the pro-divorce faction in his own party, to his internal critics and, of course, to a rejuvenated Opposition.

In a way, he came to resemble the beleaguered Gaddafi brought down by forces beyond his control. 

One would have thought he learned something from his adversaries but it does not seem he did.

And if it's true he is once again the 'deus ex machina' at the back of the unrejuvenated Opposition of today, he's heading towards the same defeat.

Despite the same courage he showed then.