One of the episodes that comes to mind when I recall the years when Labour was in power is that the government had then sought to control not only what we buy, including what we wear and eat, but also sought to control what we think.

... in trying to offer viewers a balanced documentary about the former Labour Prime Minister, the film errs on the side of caution...- Francis Zammit Dimech

The official policy was to create a socialist generation through total state control of broadcasting. The fact that that generation did not come about was not through lack of trying but, if anything, because Labour tried too hard!

The complete takeover of broadcasting by the government and the resulting manipulation is one of the horrendous experiences of the Dom Mintoff years that is not covered in the film Dear Dom. The situation had reached such obscene absurdities whereby the national broadcasting station would not allow the mention of the name of Eddie Fenech Adami, then Leader of the Opposition.

The Broadcasting Authority – not unlike the Constitutional Court – was deliberately not constituted for years on end.

I had written a book about the subject entitled The Untruth Game! As a young journalist, I would occasionally go over to Xandir Malta – as our broadcasting station was then known – to ask questions to Mr Mintoff as Prime Minister. The building used to be guarded by armed soldiers! Even asking questions then required courage and determination.

It was not only the name of the Nationalist Party leader that was censored! I would have had to declare that I was representing the newspaper In-... Tagħna because there was a law that made it illegal for ordinary citizens to use words like nazzjon (nation) or Malta. That privilege was reserved exclusively to the state.

Equally, the film hardly refers to the violence that was the order of the day in the 1970s as it was in the 1980s, that Nationalist clubs were regularly ransacked and burnt down. Even the attack on the residence of the PN leader is barely mentioned and the gutting of The Times’ building is covered very lightly!

The film points out that there were persons who were afraid to express their views on camera! One particular telling moment in the film – made available through the BBC archives – is the reminder that BBC journalists and reporters of The Sunday Times of London were then banned from being in Malta to cover general elections. I have no recollection of ministers who formed part of Mr Mintoff’s Cabinets, Lino Spiteri included, then speaking out against this pattern of government.

Should I declare that I found the film insolent – when I watched it – because of these omissions? The simple reply is absolutely not because in trying to offer viewers a balanced documentary about the former Labour Prime Minister, the film errs on the side of caution while providing cinema-goers with a product of undoubted artistic and technical calibre.

And, yet, we learn that the Mintoff family is seeking legal advice on whether or not it can take legal action against the film’s producers! The revelation was made by Mr Mintoff’s own daughter, Yana, during the programme TVAM when we were both invited to give our views about this film.

Perhaps in conducting further research, the family may wish to look up the judgement delivered by the European Court of Human Rights in the Lingens case following the conviction of Austrian journalist Peter Lingens. Mr Lingens had been fined and convicted for allegedly libelling Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky. This is what the Court had to say:

“Freedom of political debate is at the very core of the concept of a democratic society which prevails throughout the Convention. The limits of acceptable criticism are accordingly wider as regards a politician than as regards a private individual” (Lingens v. Austria, July 8, 1986).

In 2012 Malta, Yana Mintoff-Bland, one of Labour’s star candidates, claims that the film should have been more respectful! Has Labour really changed? Is it progressive and moderate? I honestly don’t think so.

And Labour’s recent pronouncement about wanting to establish closer links with North Korea if in power adds further evidence if any were required!

Dr Zammit Dimech is a Nationalist member of Parliament.