God knows what arms were secretly squirreled around.

With the police force at best in doubt as to their loyalty (and same for the army), going for the short term satisfaction of retribution would have brought us to the edge.

Having written that, the long arm of the law should have been made to bear down on selected villains in the months that followed, where tempers had cooled down somewhat.

I agree. Whenever you read about the theory of conflict resolution, perpetrators being brought to justice is always listed as a necessary step.

Unfortunately, this step was never really taken in Malta, leaving the thugs free to tell future generations that their actions were somehow justified. And thus the myth of the Golden Years being ‘golden’ persists.

I think the situation can be rectified in future when Maltese history is read with more objectivity. I mean, Dominic Fenech is still the Head of the History Department at University; I don’t necessarily doubt his credentials, but I can never trust him – or most Maltese history academics at present – to speak objectively about the Mintoff years.

He paid for it dearly a little while later by having a bomb placed outside his residence in Gzira.

There are still thousands of people who are extremely grateful for his dedication to duty, especially on that day – when, in the words of the then Commissioner of Police to Dr Fenech Adami, “my men let me down”.

where was he?

Back then, KMB led the “aristocracy of the workers” for a show in Valletta.

Now, the PM and his wife mingle with the high society and organise shows in Castille and Girgenti.

Several Labour thugs were in fact taken to court once the PN came to power but, thanks to the extra five and a half years that the Malta Labour Party (now PL) illegitimately hung on to power, those so prosecuted then had to be released by the court because the charges were time-barred.

They can change. However, at the moment they still live in the fairy tale world where you can do what you like once “your” party is in government.

Who knows, now might be the time they realize.

I fully agree with your comment. I always maintained that there can be no reconciliation without justice – real justice.

It is why I place Lawrence Gonzi as the best Prime Minister the PN has ever produced and then Eddie Fenech Adami – exactly for this reason – Eddie, with his fixation about reconciliation did a disservice to justice and to Maltese history.