Is Independence still relevant

The Malta Independent

Is Independence still relevant`

A person`s date of birth is the most important day of a his/her life. Irrespective of whether one was born in a gilded` palace, in a humble home or on animal straw in a forlorn cave, the date of birth remains the all important day when it all began. A person could curse parents for not providing the level of care expected of them but the date remains all important. . Without it there could be no life.

As we celebrate the 37th anniversary of our independence nothing should divide us in celebrating the nation`s date of birth with the dignity it deserves.` In so doing we would not be honouring Borg Olivier`s poor negotiating skills or his election to premiership in 1962 in of the most undemocratic elections ever held,` mortal sin and all. On the contrary we would be commemorating the visions of Vassalli and Dimech to render Malta a free member among the world of nations and the determination of Mintoff to give true meaning to independence by undertaking the largest ever economic re-structuring of Malta`s economy between 1972 and 1979.

But such festivities come not only to celebrate the past but also to ponder the future. And it is apt on this anniversary of independence to mull over the concept of whether our independence as a small island nation is economically sustainable.

Those who consider that Malta`s membership in the EU is the only way forward tacitly admit that independence is a failed experiment. EU membership for a small island nation at the periphery of the European mainland is an irreversible process not simply of sharing sovereignty, in itself a vague concept, but of outright dilution of sovereignty till it is completely melted away into the central force of the political union motives of enlargement.

They can hardly be blamed for holding this view. After experiencing serious government in the first post-independence 15 years` where government and opposition competed between themselves in providing the best solutions for this country, during the last 20 years or so, especially after the 1981 elections we have experienced incompetent governments.` We have enriched the individual and impoverished the State. We have created dangerous illusions of artificial well-being without the need to work for it.` We have mortgaged the future of our economy by creating a mountain of debt without corresponding strengthening of the economic and material infrastructure .

And as we face the future today we are being led to believe that on our own it`s too cold out here and we do not have what it takes to propel ourselves forward as a truly independent state in a globalised world. For those who like me maintain faith in the sustainability of a truly sovereign island micro state the problems lie in weak leadership not in structural flaws of the independence concept.

A critical resource for sustainability of our sovereignty is strong and effective leadership capable of administering the scant resources effectively and leveraging our advantages of smallness, flexibility and strategic location to emphasise our strengths and control our weaknesses. In almost` everything done these last 20 years we have been strengthening our weaknesses and weakening our strengths.

We need a new beginning before our sovereignty is thrown beyond the point of no return and independence day celebration becomes a rhetoric historical commemoration shorn of pride in our` nationhood. `