The bomb attack at Transport Malta, which injured a traffic expert to the extent that his leg had to be amputated, is a stark reminder that Malta is no stranger to murder, bombs, vendettas and crime.

When times are quiet, the average person in the street believes that Malta is some form of safe haven where murders, bomb plots and contracted killings are never heard of. We should think again.

Bomb attacks and contracted killings are becoming more common. They still chill and shock us, but we have to accept reality – Malta is no longer the ‘safe’ place we once believed it to be and it raises questions about security overall.

The Justice Ministry had come in for very heavy criticism when it installed a metal detector and scanner at the law courts. Lawyers were up in arms, not wanting to be screened. Only weeks later, a man walked into an unsecured court house in Austria and murdered people in a court room. It speaks for itself.

While no one can ever safeguard against a planned attack, security must be boosted. We are far too trusting and the main reason for this is that we ‘do not believe’ that these things happen in Malta.

One only has to look at the events of the past couple of weeks to see that we are living in denial. A hit man tried to take out a businessman in Valletta in broad daylight. Only a few days later, the still grieving family of Karin Grech, who died after handling a postal package addressed to her father in 1977, were finally awarded compensation for her death.

Only a couple of days after, Transport Malta experienced a cowardly attack in which a bomb was lowered right into the area where the ‘targets’ were hosting a meeting. This suggests that the bombers knew exactly where to place the bomb, at exactly the right time.

This, again, suggests a lack of security. The answer is obvious. All major buildings need security guards at the door, proper surveillance including eyeballs and CCTV… and above all, a change in mentality.

Security, we have to admit, is a pain in the neck. One hates to be held up and ‘spied’ on, especially if one has no bad intentions. But overall, we are going to have to admit, as a people and a country, that things are going to have to change. In the meantime, one can only hope that the police are making inroads in their investigation of the bombing and that the perpetrators are eventually brought to justice. In the meantime, this newspaper expresses solidarity with the injured victims, as well as those who were just doing their day-to-day tasks when the bomb went off. To be terrorised at your place of work while just doing your job is a shocking experience.

It should also serve a lesson to us all. We need to be more vigilant. We need to check what parcels are before opening them. Sadly, we must also become more suspicious and less trusting. This is not a new reality. It has been developing over the past few decades. Now it is time to respond. We must get our act together.