Let's pay our respects, but please let's be factual

The different emotions one man can generate are quite amazing.

I don't know this man much. I was not yet born when he was Prime Minister. I just remember a few mentions of him when I was just twelve back in 1998, and politics was the last thing on my mind back then.

Really, I am not in a position to either understand the people beatifying him, or to judge the people condemning him. For the former, I just wish they believe in themselves as much as they believe in a politician. For the latter, I just wish they manage to forgive whatever harm was done to them, as hate is a heavy weight which ultimately is burdening and stifling them and not the one who has departed. I find it strange though that those who speak about not being judgemental and about tolerance are the ones quick to judge when others don't share their same love. Sometimes, we might also need to respect those who suffered and failed to forgive. Not everyone is strong enough to do it. To respect the dead, we must first respect the memories of the living.

True, he deserves credit for lifting the masses out of post-war poverty. But did it need to be done in the manner it was done? That question, we will never answer. Let us just remember from the mistakes of the past, because no matter how noble the aim, I don't think it ever justifies the trampling of human rights and freedoms.

In the meantime, while everyone is caught up in a myriad of emotions, it amazes me at the distortion taking place of what I thought were historical facts. Most of all, it amazes me how over the years, this man has managed to take credit for measures which were introduced by his predecessor, Sir Paul Boffa, of which we were co-incidentally reminded of on the 50th anniversary of his death just a few weeks ago:

• Women's voting rights, given in the Constitution of 5 September 1947, after a motion proposed by Boffa was passed through the National Assembly drafting the Constitution on 20 July 1945;
• State-funded free education, introduced in Malta at elementary level since the arrival of the French back in 1798, made compulsory up to fourteen years of age in 1946 by the same National Assembly, due to the fact that many children had stopped attending school during the Second World War as they were kept to help at home;
• Old-age pensions, introduced by the same Boffa in 1948, later expanded by Mintoff in a manner which we are today rather questioning its sustainability.

What is sure is that we have a huge gap in our education which is leaving everyone to revise history to his own emotional liking. And today's youths, my generation and the ones after us, don't know who or what to believe. We're pretty much in a situation where everyone has his own individual Ministry of Truth (apologies to George Orwell), depending on who his source is.

Nonetheless, I salute a man who whatever way you judge him, gave long years of his life to the service of his country. May he rest in peace.