Dom Mintoff and the politics of division

I was amazed to read Robert Henry Bugeja praising Dom Mintoff (The Politics Of Division, October 30). If ever we had a political leader who fomented class hatred and division in years of political violence, it was precisely the politician Mr Bugeja adulates.

His nostalgia for the pre-1987 Labour government sounds more like a case of amnesia. Not only the political violence but also government controls in all facets of life, corruption, high unemployment, lack of opportunities, closed University, second-hand investment and, to top it all, 8,000 jobs for the boys in the last few days before the 1987 election are simply forgotten by Mr Bugeja in his earnest wish to have Labour back in government.

"If there are still some good people out there who still believe that Malta saw the light when the PN came to power in 1987, think again", implores Mr Bugeja. Well, what we can certainly say is that on May 9, 1987, we ended a dark period in our political history that should really have ended in 1981 if it weren't for Labour's inability to accept defeat at the polls.

Mr Bugeja's praise of Joseph Muscat is a case of amnesia as well. Doesn't he remember Dr Muscat spearheading Labour's anti-EU campaign on Super One TV with his "made in Brussels" diatribes? But, of course, with Mr Bugeja's nostalgia for Mintoff, he would have liked every minute of those programmes.

We are one nation now because successive Nationalist governments gave the opportunity to tens of thousands of working class youths to achieve the level of education that has widened the middle class. The 1981, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2003 and 2008 election results show that the Maltese people appreciate the well-being brought about by Nationalist governments and that the dark Labour years Mr Bugeja yearns for under Dr Muscat remain a blot on Labour's history.