Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/337883
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 JUNE 2014 News 13 Saunders to leave Air Malta TEODOR RELJIC S E C O N D G E N E R A T I O N Maltese migrants in Australia are rapidly losing the Maltese lan- guage, are viewed favourably by the Australian population in com- parison to other ethnic groups, and remain fond of Malta as a holiday destination. This emerges from a survey con- ducted by Maurice N. Cauchi for the Maltese Community Council in Victoria. Entitled 'The Second Generation in Australia – A survey of Maltese- background persons' and pub- lished in April, the study sought to identify key differences between the first generation of Maltese mi- grants who moved to Australia, and the generation that followed them. Identifying that 65% of the sec- ond generation were aged below 50, the study found that the major- ity of these residents were born to parents from mixed backgrounds. Unlike the first generation, the vast majority of whom would be made up of "a couple, both of whom were Maltese", 60.4% of the second generation were born to families in which one parent was Maltese, while the other was Aus- tralian. The survey also noted that 13.4% had a partner of a non-Mal- tese background, while instances where both parents were Maltese amounted to just 26.2%. Posing the question of whether the second generation consider themselves ethnically Maltese, the survey found that very few of the respondents described themselves as exclusively 'Maltese', with 66% opting to refer to themselves as 'Maltese-Australian' while 22.6% considered themselves to sim- ply be 'Australian'. Perhaps sig- nificantly, only 11.3% referred to themselves as 'Maltese' – "and these are largely the older mem- bers of the community". "On the one hand, this would indicate that they have integrated completely within society, but on the other, it might imply that they have lost completely their interest in their culture and may or may not be interested in any contact with the mother country," the sur- vey observed. Interestingly, according to one respondent who was asked to comment about the ethnicity is- sue, these residents would do well to describe themselves as exclu- sively 'Australian', in the interests of facilitating their integration in- to Australian society – particularly given how the term 'Australian' is often used to describe exclusively those with an Anglo or Irish back- ground. "As such, it is important that Maltese Australians claim Austral- ia as being as much theirs as Aus- tralians from other ethnic groups. The game and psyche of identity politics in Australia is very im- portant and Maltese Australians should claim what is theirs and what they have earned and forged through toil in Australia, and not think of themselves (or allow oth- ers to define them) as outsiders while defining notions of who or what is Australian." Describing this comment as a "contrarian" view which runs counter to the opinion of the ma- jority – who still describe them- selves as 'Maltese' to some degree – the survey observes that "it is arguable that describing oneself as 'Maltese-Australian' somehow reduces one's claim to being a fully integrated Australian", while add- ing that what is in fact certain is that those who describe themselves as fully 'Australian' are more likely than others to have "forgotten all about their Maltese background and culture". One of the more significant ways in which the second generation is distancing itself from its Maltese heritage is through its progres- sively weaker grasp on the Maltese language, the survey found. While 57% of respondents claimed to be able to understand Maltese well or moderately well, only 21% said they speak Maltese to parents and friends. "These individuals have gone through schooling and have in- teracted with others of the same age, and have acquired a persona which is almost identical with that of the average native born person in Australia," the survey observes, also noting that Maltese would be useful to these respondents "only to communicate with age- ing grandparents who have now practically lost any command of the English language which they once had". Intermarriage between those of Maltese and Australian origin was found to be a "determining" factor in Maltese language main- tenance. "It is very difficult to maintain the Maltese language when one's spouse has a different language," the survey argues, add- ing that the result of this misce- genation (the mixing of different racial groups through marriage) on top of a "rather small base of Maltese second generation speak- ers" could prove disastrous for the third generation. In fact, 69.1% of respondents admitted that they never speak to their children in Maltese, with only 2.3% claiming that they speak in Maltese to their children "frequently". The survey also found that per- sons of Maltese origin dodged the bullet of racism among the general Australian populace, who found people of Maltese origin, as well as those coming from other countries within the Mediterra- nean region, as being among the least socially problematic ethnic group to interact with. Respondents were asked to classify their relationship with a number of ethnic groups, answer- ing the question "How close are you prepared to be with any of the following persons?" by ticking a box labelled '1' (most close) to '5' (least close). Respondents gave a score varying from 2.3 to 2.5 to when pertaining to those of Mal- tese, Australian or Mediterranean nationality. Despite the survey suggesting that links to Malta may be weak- ening for the second generation, it emerged that only 10% of respond- ents never visited Malta, suggesting that at the very least, their mother country remains a popular holi- day destination, bolstered further for many by pleasant childhood memories. Using the '1 to 5' scale again, Malta was given an average of 1.7 by participants, with '1' indicating "complete satisfaction". The full study can be downloaded from: http://goo.gl/mqMu1d treljic@mediatoday.com.mt MIRIAM DALLI AIR Malta's Chief Commercial Of- ficer Philip Saunders will be leaving the national airline at the end of July, MaltaToday can reveal. Saunders confirmed that he has taken up a new opportunity but will remain in the aviation industry. "I have an opportunity elsewhere and decided that after three years at Air Malta this was the right step. The right opportunity came up and I decided to take it up. It's a normal routine situation." Although his contract ends on 3 July, Saunders has agreed to stay on until the end of the month to ensure a smooth transition and give all the possible support in the handover. MaltaToday is also informed that head of human resources Josephine Abdilla, Chief Financial Officer Nick Xuereb and flight operations chief officer Mark Micallef Eynaud have all left Air Malta. Together with Air Malta's chief executive Peter Davies, Saunders was head-hunted to carve up the national airline into a smaller, profit-making outfit as part of the airline's restructuring plan. With a 20-year career behind him, he joined Air Malta in 2011 to lead all commercial activity on a day-to-day basis. He was formerly CEO at Caribbean Airlines, where he achieved profitability one year ahead of plan. His previous roles include serving as commercial di- rector at Star Alliance. He was also vice-president commercial at SN Brussels Airlines, where he worked closely with Peter Davies there. Saunders also served in several sen- ior positions at British Airways for over 13 years. Maltese migrants in Australia losing mother tongue Study finds that second-generation Maltese migrants are losing their familiarity with the Maltese language, while still viewing Malta as a desirable holiday destination Australian comedians Shaun Micallef (left) and Adam Hills (right) have Maltese roots: with the latter charting his Maltese ancestors to the 1400s Philip Saunders