The Local Council of L-Isla has issued a consultation document to change the name of L-Isla into Senglea. A booklet has been published to this effect containing arguments why this should be so. See The Malta Independent coverage of 14 April 2026 ‘Ísla Council opens debate on reverting to Senglea as official name’ .
I do not think that Government and, eventually, parliament should adopt such a postcolonial name change.
First, L-Isla is the name of the city that we Maltese use. We do not say let us go to Senglea, but let us go to L-Isla. L-Isla is the commonly accepted name for this victorious city and is also the Maltese name popularly used.
Second, Senglea has manifest post-colonialist implications. The Local Council of L-Isla seems to be afflicted by a postcolonial mentality to rename L-Isla to its former colonialist name, a name that was imposed on the Maltese by a foreign colonial ruler. It was not a name adopted by the Maltese. This move runs counter to the aspirations, sacrifices, deaths of all our forefathers who fought to free the Maltese Islands from colonial oppression.
Third, this proposal is in direct conflict with our national days – independence, republic, and freedom day. It denies these three historic days that we all Maltese cherish the importance they deserve. A few distance away from L-Isla is Birgu that houses the monument where every 31 Match 1979 the Republic of Malta celebrates its Freedom Day. The new name proposed for L-Isla, that is nothing but the surname of a Grand Master of the Order of St John, wants to turn the clock backwards by a couple of centuries to honour a person whom the Maltese were fed up of the Order’s oppressive behaviour towards the Malta as our historians and scholars of colonialism chronicle.
Fourth, it is imperative upon the Maltese government to ensure that such forms of postcolonialism are uprooted and not allowed to even be discussed as they are anti-Maltese. We are an independent, republican, and free state and that is how we should remain. This we uphold not only to honour our forefathers and foremothers but because we truly believe that Malta is, and should continue to be, a sovereign state that does not allow postcolonialism in any form to raise its head again.
