Though 38 years apart, they both occurred on a Monday and have since been dubbed Black Monday. Among the targeted victims were human rights, the free press, the rule of law... democracy itself.
The car bomb assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, on October 16, 2017, tore the nation apart, a tragedy many would have never imagined possible in this country. Violent deaths, even by so-called improvised explosive devices, are hardly unknown in Malta.
However, the slaying of a journalist because of what she wrote or was about to write was utterly unprecedented.
The burning of the Times of Malta building 40 years ago – on October 15, 1979 – was another indelible scar on post-Independence Malta. The Labour government at the time said there was no controlling the crowd acting on the spur of the moment during a spontaneous demonstration.
That line of defence is not easy to accept, especially because one of the newspaper’s journalists had been warned in advance by a source to stay away from the office that night.
The events leading to that dreadful night and what happened afterwards are chronicled in a new book – Black Monday – A night of mob violence, by former Times of Malta editor Victor Aquilina. The book will be launched on Tuesday.
In both events, evil was momentarily triumphant. But as those who rubbed their hands in glee found out after the Times of Malta building was razed to the ground, and as the people who were relieved Ms Caruana Galizia was off their trail are discovering, freedom of expression cannot be suppressed for long in a place where stronger democracy is something many hope for.
Freedom of expression cannot be suppressed for long
Both those horrendous events reinvigorated calls, at home and abroad, for better checks and balances, for the rule of law to prevail, for human rights to be upheld and for the norms of freedom to salvaged from the debris.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, when Malta was experiencing political violence and mob rule, The Sunday Times of Malta and Times of Malta were on the forefront of the battle to promote and protect human rights. The iconic Page Thirteen, which every Sunday chronicled blatant human rights abuses by the powerful and their henchmen, was supplemented by regular contributions from those who did not fear to stand up and be counted. Among them was a young female writer who had an exquisite style and a will of steel. Her name was Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Setting fire to the Times of Malta building in a way reflected the manner in which the whole country itself was burning.
Practically all structures meant to serve the citizenry had collapsed and, instead, became no more than political tools used by the Labour Party in government. That included the police, the civil service, state broadcasting and even the courts.
Soon after the arson attack, Times of Malta commented editorially that unless crimes were dealt with equally under the law, infringements committed by political hotheads would weaken the foundations of good and orderly government.
Then, no one was arrested, much less arraigned – even if the home of Eddie Fenech Adami, leader of the Opposition at the time, was itself ransacked and his family terrorised. It was fair to conclude that the police were unwilling to apprehend anybody.
Nearly 40 years later, this part of history risks repeating itself.
While three men have been charged with planting the bomb that killed Ms Caruana Galizia, the real assassins who wanted her silenced remain in the shadows.
Citing two sources close to the investigation, The Sunday Times of Malta reported last weekend that a businessman is among three potential key suspects behind the journalist’s murder. The story sent ripples of shock across the country.
A book to be released this week - Murder on the Malta Express – Who killed Daphne Caruana Galizia? will also zero in on a crime which has to be resolved.
Times of Malta and others will not shut up. The fight for truth will carry on, waged by those who refuse to relent to greed, corruption and the desperate “oligarchy of interests”.