interview

The outspoken intellectual


Peter Serracino Inglott
Photo by Paul Blandford

Ramona Depares talks to former rector Peter Serracino Inglott about life, politics and the Church

Peter Serracino Inglott is a well-known name on the island in many spheres, not less for his input in the world of theatre and the political arena as much as for his efforts at reform when it comes to tertiary education.

MaltaToday caught up with the former rector last week and got his comments about a variety of topics ranging from his priestly vocation (incidentally a phrase that he avoids using, insisting that it is reminiscent of a holier-than-thou attitude) to his views on EU Membership and the current Labour Party leadership.

What are Fr Peter’s memories of his days at University under a Labour government headed by Mintoff, I start off? Without hesitation, the priest launches into a narrative of the political scenario in the seventies and the events that led to his resignation from the post of Head of Department of Philosophy.

‘Mintoff’s plans were not so much of reform as of abolition and changing the whole nature of the university. I resigned because I did not want to be an accomplice to the birth of a system that would not have resulted in the most intelligent people being admitted to University, but rather in the admission of those who manage to get the highest number of unfairly acquired points,’ he said vehemently.

The one event that really stands out in his memory from those tension-fraught, politically unstable days is what he describes as ‘an invasion of thugs during one graduation ceremony’. Even today, thirty years later, his voice still rings with indignation as he describes how men claiming to be there for the protection of the Minister of Education went around terrorising everyone with guns, knives and even iron bars.

‘I can still see Roger Bonavita lying in a pool of blood with his head broken on campus. And Josie Attard Montalto, the deputy librarian, knocked out on the floor. The funny thing was that the latter was a supporter of the government of the day, my guess is that he was not recognised by the thugs. The shock brought on a heart attack but later he stated that he had walked into a door and the thud had knocked him out,’ the former rector recounted.

Fr Peter remembers complaining to his cousin about the incident, the then Assistant Commisioner Mifsud Tommasi.

‘His reply was that he wanted to give me some advice as cousin and not as assistant commissioner. The advice was that I should either get as far away as possible or keep as low as profile as possible, given the turn of events,’ he said.

Although he says he was never manhandled, physical threats and vindictive acts – such as the throwing of paint on his door – did occur. What was more worrying was that his mother had been taken ill at the time and did not need any extra worries. On the eve of the 1986 election, a dead rabbit was stuck to the door of his house in Tarxien. I asked him what he thought of Mintoff personally.

‘The great pity is that I have always had a great deal of sympathy with Mintoff’s ideas. It was his manner of implementing them that I always thought was wrong. For instance, I greatly admire Cardinal Newman’s idea that university should provide an environment where people can discuss freely. But I do not agree with his other philosophy of knowledge for its own sake. Knowledge should be acquired for utilitarian reasons. Of course, you can’t apply too narrow a definition of ‘utilitarian reasons’: I believe that music and the arts are among the most useful kinds of knowledge you can have. But their definition of ‘use’ is not that of making as much money as possible. With Mintoff it is the same, I admired some of his ideas, but not his way of putting them in action. But I was always very much in favour of worker participation and a welfare society,’ was the diplomatic reply.

Fr Peter readily admits to a partiality towards Christian-Democratic politics. Indeed all his words and actions point towards the ideology. Which begs the question: does he believe that the Labour Party is superfluous?

‘It is inconceivable to have a genuine democracy without pluralism. I believe that after some years it is only natural that there should be a change in government, it is healthy for a real democracy. But the Labour Party’s tragedy is the leadership it has. The leadership is a tragedy at the moment. We are going through a repetition of what happened in the 70s and 80s. For many years, no-one wanted to vote Labour because of Mintoff. The same situation is repeating itself with the present leadership.’

His answer renders my next planned question, which is what he thinks about Alfred Sant, somewhat superfluous. His answer also seems worrying to me: does the reply also imply that Malta is having a problem in finding good leaders?

‘I am sure that there are people in Malta with leadership abilities. Unfortunately the word leadership has become too much associated with charismatic qualities and cult personalities. But there are people with initiative and the ability to think laterally, people who also have a strong feeling for fellow humans, who know the meaning of solidarity. What they lack is the willingness to come forward. And also that most elusive quality that is called stabilitas, which is translated as the ability to be firm in front of adversities,’ he said.

I ask him what he thinks of European Union membership and whether we are all making a lot of fuss about nothing. As expected, Fr Peter’s reply was that he doesn’t have the slightest doubt that Malta’s future needs to be within the European Union. His view holds however much he may dislike certain features of it, he insists.

‘The Mediterranean perspective is vital for Malta’s identity, existence and prosperity. The strongest way to exercise this roe is from within the European Union itself. From the outside we will lose most of our comparative advantages.’

These comparative advantages are a concept that Fr Peter is fond of referring to. Known for his efforts to bring about reform at the University during his days as rector between 1990 and 1996, he believes that even with foreign students our natural advantages should be pushed forward and improved as much as possible. His regret is that this does not seem to be happening.

‘I am greatly disappointed by my experience at University. Undoubtedly, one of the best things that happened during my rectorship was that a much larger proportion of Maltese now attend University. Back then, our proportion was not only the lowest in Europe but also by far lower to that of many African countries. The idea that we have a surfeit of graduates is completely wrong: I believe that human resources are the only important resources which we have in Malta and yet the major difficulty for foreign firms to set up on the island is mainly finding the appropriate manpower,’ he explained.

Marine studies, Mediterranean studies and architecture in Maltese stone are other obvious comparative advantages whose potential has not yet been fully developed. Foreign students, he believes, would be more attracted to our university if it were to offer these kind of specialised departments.

‘In my time we established the Institutes, such as the Institute for Mediterranean Studies, to cater for those areas where we believed the Maltese University could specialise. But it is my belief that these could be developed further,’ he explained.

Something which you can easily tell Fr Peter is proud of is the establishing of nursing and health related courses on campus. Nursing is a profession in its own right, he asserts, and it was necessary to remove the idea that nurses were the ‘inservjenti’ (servants) of the doctors.
‘One of my greatest regrets is that the idea that a medical degree does not necessarily equip you to manage a hospital has not yet taken hold. I have the greatest respect for local doctors, indeed they’re one of the main reason why I decided not to stay living in Canada, but managing a hospital or clinic requires other qualifications than a medical degree,’ he said.

I turned the subject to things more personal than academic, asking him whether he thought the church should be more pro-active, whether it is behind the times.

‘The church has moved from one extreme to the other, much like the Maltese people’s initial reaction to St.Paul when he shipwrecked on the island. First they thought he was a murderer then they thought he was God. Minn nej ghal mahruq (from one extreme to the other). First the church interfered in all aspects of life and these days prudence is the supreme virtue, not just for bishops but even for the Christians. There is too much caution,’ he replied.

And about whether it’s still behind the times:

‘I’m surprised when the church in general points to Jesus, Mary and Joseph as a model of what the family should be like today. Times have changed so much that it is impossible to issue a well known and established pattern of what the family should be like and teach it. So many women are willing to work these days and we should be grateful for that. And children and youths face so many new things, such as the leisure situation and internet…’

What about the increasing rate of separations?

“I am not convinced that the solution to family problems is going to more pre-marriage lectures. What is needed is experiential research. We have to discover new ways of family life. On the other hand, very little good is done by just complaining. I believe that the church is first and foremost made up of us, all of us Christians. To say that the church is too complacent is equal to saying that we are all being too complacent,’ he said.

I conclude by asking him about his involvement in the shaping on Nationalist party policy.

His reply is very matter-of-fact:

‘It’s true that I favour the Christian democrat way of thinking. I was always especially interested in the political relevance of Christianity. For instance, I greatly pushed the effort of the Maltese government to promote the idea of the common heritage of mankind, which idea is derived from the encyclical Pacem in Terris. In fact, together with a team of others, I published a manifesto to push the idea of worker participation, welfare, an all-inclusive society and the common good of the community on a monthly paper that used to be called Illum. The Nationalist Party then adopted that manifesto as part of its policy. That’s as far as my shaping the party policies went and really, the manifesto could have been adopted by anyone,’ he concluded.