Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1221489
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 MARCH 2020 NEWS Further informa on is found on www.bicc.gov.mt | info.bicc@gov.mt | Tel. 2247 9300 BICC invites expression of Interest from accredited educa onal ins tu ons to develop and operate courses for the demoli on and excava on trades. These courses are to be based on the official Na onal Occupa onal Standards for these trades. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST WILL the COVID-19 pandem- ic expose Malta to profound societal changes as more peo- ple choose to stay inside and an unprecedented economic im- pact is visited upon the island? Certainly enough, Malta has already grappled with various epidemics in the past. But two epidemics which occurred in the first half of the 19th centu- ry are particularly instructive, because their political manage- ment heralded a change in the way Malta was governed and left a durable influence on Mal- tese society. The bubonic plague outbreak of 1813/1814 heralded the start of effective British rule in Mal- ta, its transformation into a de jure colony and the authoritar- ian military rule of 'King Tom' Maitland. In 1811, just before the plague broke out, Maltese grievances about the perceived arbitrary and exploitative character of the British Occupation had converged in the drafting of a petition demanding an enlight- ened British reform of the Code de Rohan (the Knight's period law-code which permitted tor- ture), the introduction of trial by jury, freedom of the press and other rights and liberties enjoyed by British subjects. It was in this tense period that British rule over Malta was be- ing consolidated, with Malta's legal status changing from that of a British possession admin- istered by a Civil Commission- er, to a Crown Colony ruled by a Governor. But fighting the plague was the first task undertaken by the first real British Governor of Malta, General Thomas Mait- land. And he did so by aggressive authoritarian military means in a context of administrative, legal and social chaos. The Maltese police force originated as one of Maitland's tools to fight this bubonic plague epidemic, some 15 years before the London Metropol- itan Police Force was estab- lished. The plague police was part of a series of disciplinary tech- niques, including fencing off entire villages and shooting to kill plague victims who tried to conceal their infection, by which British disciplinary bio-power was extended in a capillary form throughout Mal- tese territory. These techniques had certain common features, particularly: an authoritarian, military character not subject to judicial review of any form whatsoever; they pitted English soldiers and the Maltese police against the 'Maltese natives' in the enclosed villages, who could be shot at sight if they broke quarantine; and they re- sulted in an effective apartheid between the British and the Maltese, such that only one or two British soldiers died when compared to some 5,000 'na- tive Maltese'. After the plague, a long si- lence fell on Maltese political agitation. A reform of Maltese substantive legislation was postponed for a generation. Instead Sir Thomas felt em- powered to pursue a vigorous agenda of authoritarian angli- cisation of the Maltese state, which involved abolishing the Maltese elected body, the Uni- versità , reforming and anglicis- ing the courts and the trial pro- cess, and the introduction of top British officials in the civil service and the judiciary. This left a profound and dura- ble influence on Maltese state and society. In fact, Maitland left behind a state which was highly authoritarian and where the native population had been cowed into submission and trained to occupy subordinate positions. They tended to avoid mixing with British soldiers and officials, who also held themselves apart and consid- ered themselves to be superior to the 'natives'. The disciplinary techniques through which Maitland fought the plague also left an impact which is still discerni- ble today in an enduring fissure between legislative and judicial activity on the one hand and a The 1837 cholera: paving the way for a Maltese anglophile upper class Dr David Zammit's study of 19th century outbreaks of plague and cholera in Malta reveals the effects they had on Maltese civil society and government