The title of this piece is not original. It is a phrase coined by the Jewish Philosopher Hannah Arendt.  

Let me make it clear from the outset that I cannot boast of any formal education in the vast subject of Philosophy, for I have none.  Also, I do not presume to know anything about anything,  however I do  suffer from an insatiable hunger for knowledge which I try  to satiate with reading , observing  and thinking  while experiencing the art of  living life  in the fullest sense of the word.

So when I walked into the Jewish Museum Shop in Berlin about five years ago, it was the most natural thing for me to pick up a copy of Hannah Arendt's Essays in Understanding.  How could I resist an opportunity to delve deep into a female philosopher's understanding of major political issues and events ? 

You know as well as I do that published feminine philosophical perspectives, particularly political philosophical views are rare, too rare and often drowned by The impact of 'heavyweight' male contributors to this field.

Arendt was catapulted to fame/notoriety (as perceived by many of her compatriots) when her report of Eichmann's Trial in Jerusalem, commissioned by the New Yorker, made headlines.

Her conclusions were seismic, profound, mind blowing, shattering,  even deeply offensive and painful to some. Her analysis was deeply  disturbing by its simplicity, much like Pablo Picasso's  infantile lines and Frida Kahlo's piercing depictions. Her statements  articulate the shocking revelation that evil  has no particular face or look or social label,  and that evil can simply sprout into the proverbial beanstalk simply by an act of complacency or collaboration by one  perfectly normal human being in one particular place at one particular time.

The Eichmann she observed in trial was described by the attending court psychiatrist as a "completely normal man, more normal, at any rate, than I am after examining him." 

Arendt insists that evil comes from a failure to think. It follows therefore that evil can spread  like a fungus over the face of the earth, when people stop thinking and questioning for one reason or another, and unconsciously seek security( allbeit) temporary in the comfort of  uncontested acceptance.

In the last few days The Maltese Islands were shaken by an incident, which deplorable as it may seem, served to   focus  a very revealing light beam on the state of  the  law and order authorities in our country. The relentless scan is shining a merciless light on the doings of all those who purported to abuse the power the people entrusted  them with.

If it hadn't been for a handful of free journalists and the Opposition, this incident could have been concealed from the scrutiny of the public, the perpetrators would have revelled in the complacency  of the un-reacting uninformed masses, and  then reinforced their abusive and bullying behaviour.

As things stand, Maltese and Gozitans with a few exceptions have joined the countrywide chorus demanding transparency, justice and accountability from the incumbent government and the institutions  under its watch. 

No sane Maltese or Gozitan will allow the seed of evil  prevail in any authorities, but particularly those very authorities the  raison d'etre of which is  specifically the upholding of the Rule of Law ,   the latter being universally accepted as the indisputable bulwark of any democracy.

It remains to be seen how matters unfold in the coming days.

One thing seems to be very clear in peoples' minds however and that is the fact that the  only chance this government stands of hanging on to enough credibility to enable it to keep on governing rests on its resolve to  come clean with the facts and remove  all the players indicted in this saga from public office immediately.

Marlene Farrugia is a PL MP