Everyone else be damned

There is a certain section of Maltese society which would not think twice about inconveniencing others by parking and blocking other cars if it means saving themselves a five-minute walk; which has no problem skipping queues; and which has no qualms about blasting music well into the early hours of the morning.

There is a section of society that needs an attitude adjustment – those who think they are gods among men, and that the world revolves around them and their daily routines.

Every so often, such people gain real power, and then serious issues begin to arise. Their attitude begins to have certain effects on the country. Indeed, such people don’t care about how certain behaviour looks to the rest of the world and, once exposed, don’t have the courtesy to step down, thus bringing even more criticism to the island.

Being a politician whose reputation is marked by scandal, being hard-headed and staying in power, such as Konrad Mizzi did following the Panama Papers and the VGH deal, could make others believe that they, too, can do whatever they want.

The government’s indifference and refusal to get these people to take political responsibility for their actions sends the message that it truly is a jungle out there; a ‘do whatever you want’ signal to those who have certain ties to people in power to commit certain acts which they normally wouldn’t.

More than that, however, the average Joe then starts to become more selfish, and little acts, like blocking someone in, speeding at a roundabout – causing those who have right of way to brake suddenly in fear – and ignoring pedestrian crossings become more frequent.

There is a moral consequence to politicians at the top of the pole putting themselves and their friends ahead of the country, and we have been seeing it getting worse.

Some companies within the construction industry, for example, have no problem taking up parking spaces by placing slabs when they have no permit to do so; no problem with allowing watered-down cement from a mixer to seep down the road under cars; no problem creating so much dust that it engulfs an entire neighbourhood. And this is because developers know that they have the run of things.

This is the Malta that the government must be striving for since this is the Malta of today – a dust bowl filled with constant driving irregularities, where some people are more than happy to step on their neighbours toes just to save a few minutes and not inconvenience themselves; a country where the authorities are seen as nothing but figureheads when it comes to dealing with those in power; a country where those at the top of these authorities are seen to be weak.

This all stems from the lack of action the government has taken on high-profile cases – from Prime Minister Joseph Muscat himself being too weak to take action when it is necessary. Prime Minister Muscat always says he is a man of action, yet when push comes to shove he either drags his feet or does something which proves insufficient in the long run.