Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/424604
Opinion 27 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 30 NOVEMBER 2014 was very different from Mintoff 's, his sense of direction and of vision were not easily faulted. This could be seen from his unwavering quest for Independence in the Commonwealth, and his determination to see Malta as an independent, democratic, European and world-recognized sovereign state within the Western fold. His 1965 speech to the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly held that Malta's joining of the Council was 'like returning home after a long absence'; and he spoke almost prophetically of a would-be European unity beyond the West-East divide. When in 1967 Britain tried to deviate from the 1964 defence- finance agreements he mobilized the entire country after him in opposition and showed Britain the door, until a compromise agreement was reached. Malta's association agreement with the EEC in 1970 paved the way to her eventual EU membership in 2004. In the meantime, during the 1960s, he oversaw the creation of a developmental infrastructure which laid the foundations for self- sufficiency and relative prosperity. Emigration practically came to a halt. Borg Olivier's legacy was as much one of an independent statehood as of an internal freedom where the separation of powers functioned, law and order prevailed, and the economy took off in industry, tourism, manufacture, while education and secondary and tertiary levels began to make giant strides ahead in preparation for a new future that beckoned requiring more varied specializations and skills. This was the same person who in 1942, alone in the Council of Government, had repeatedly called for divisions and, in the heyday of colonialism, voted against the deportation of Maltese without charge or trial. Two years earlier, together with Sir Ugo Mifsud, he had voted against the Constitutional-Labour motion that Maltese internees be also deprived of their pensions. The motion was defeated by one vote thanks to the support of no other than the (British) Lieutenant Governor and the nominated bench! Borg Olivier died in 1980 at the age of 69 and was given a state funeral, which Mintoff attended. Professor Frendo is Borg Olivier's biographer. His most recent books are Europe and Empire (2012), Party Politics in a Fortress Colony (3rd ed. 2013) and Dimech's Lost Prison Poems (2014). Borg Olivier's legacy was as much one of an independent statehood as of an internal freedom where the separation of powers functioned, law and order prevailed He was 'as suave and gentle as a mother to her babe-in-arms', Dom Mintoff (left, seen here with Anton Buttigieg) said of Borg Olivier. Although Borg Olivier's charisma was very different from Mintoff's, his sense of direction and of vision were not easily faulted.