Unresolved injustices of the 1970s, 1980s

While some of us may be gloating about the possible financial collapse of the capitalist world and boasting about the resilience of our economy and financial institutions, Nicolette Zammit Lupi (September 22) reminds us (and especially those who would prefer to forget) that we ourselves have some unresolved skeletons in our national financial cupboard, one of which she quite rightly refers to as The Great National Bank Robbery.Our government, during Malta's "Cultural Revolution" of the 1970s and 1980s, not only grabbed the National Bank from its owners, but also confiscated the ring-fenced Social Security fund, with the excuse of establishing the Consolidated Fund. If that wasn't enough, the right to an occupational pension was abolished and retained only for some public service employees engaged pre-1979. These were "flagship" milestones of the Maltese socialist experience of robbing Peter to pay Paul, which were much admired locally and overseas (do you remember, e.g., how excited Prof. Ralf Dahrendorf was, particularly with educational reforms?).The Nationalist Party has been in office for 20 years - Maltese individual freedom and membership of the EU and its currency are all priceless achievements, but so much more needs reforming, and there are only four years left till the next election. If the floating voter feels the above mentioned injustices have not been resolved, and that our taxation system continues to favour the property-laden rich (and not the salaried worker without undeclared other income), he/she might well decide they've had enough of a quarter-century one-party state.