Way back in 1516, Thomas More published his book Utopia on a fictional island society and its social, religious and political customs. Centuries later, I unassumingly, although with strong conviction, pen this opinion piece and parable on Impunitania.

Once upon a time, there was a faraway land which bore the name of Impunitania. It was a wonderful land where people, despite the occasional tiff between them, enjoyed a relatively decent lifestyle while others plunged into new forms of poverty. Some inhabitants rightly indulged in literature, rhetoric, etiquette and dedication to duty. Others preferred different avenues, perhaps shady, disreputable ones.

Individuals rode their horses to work, others took their carriages, others cycled and the healthiest of them preferred to walk. It was a land where the unpolluted air was fragrant with cherry blossoms. People from neighbouring countries, as well as from distant lands, were jealous of this land and vied to travel to it and set up residence there. Indeed, they used all ways and means to make this a reality. In fact, some were more successful than others in achieving this aim and making their dream come true. Others were enticed to it by means of evanescent promises.

Impunitania lay somewhere in between Jonathan Swift’s Lilliput (with inhabitants less than 15 centimetres tall) and Brobdingnag (the land of giants, 22 metres tall) of Gulliverian fame. At his first port of call, after assuring the inhabitants of his good behaviour, Lemuel Gulliver was given a residence in Lilliput and soon became a favourite of the Lilliput Royal Court. He was soon allowed by the king of Lilliput to stroll around the city on the condition that he must not, in any way, hurt its diminutive subjects by his words.

Initially, the Lilliputians were hospitable to Gulliver but they were also wary of the threat that his size posed to them. The Lilliputians revealed themselves to be a people who put great emphasis on what appeared to be trivial, petty matters to others.

For example, which end of an egg a person cracked became the basis of an interminable deep political rift within that nation. They were also a people where certain echelons indulged in displays of authority and performances of power, glitchy appearances and champagne parties.

One fine day, the passport-less Gulliver decided to set sail to Impunitania. In this strange land, a not insignificant section of the population was led by impunity, hence its name. It became their way of life. Individuals disregarded the most elementary laws of the land. What was objectively wrong was called correct, and what was objectively correct was described as wrong. Things were topsy-turvy… and life went on. For half of the population, it was business as usual. For others, it was a daily struggle in seeking to call a spade a spade and making their voice heard.

Theft was called rightful acquisition, usurpation was deemed inheritance- Fr Hector Scerri

One day, someone in the land of Impunitania dared to quote the wise words of the Italian jurist Cesare Beccaria: “To show men that crimes can be pardoned, and that punishment is not their inevitable consequence, encourages the illusion of impunity and induces the belief that, since there are pardons, those sentences which are not pardoned are violent acts of force rather than the products of justice.” A section of the media completely ignored what this person said while others applauded. Some armchair critics ridiculed the wisdom of the Italian jurist and philosopher and his words were soon forgotten.

In Impunitania, lawless individuals went on about their business regardless of the common good. Blatant lies were presented as the unassailable truth. Black was called white, and white was called black. Whoever was courageous to challenge this was denigrated and made to look like a laughing stock. Theft was called rightful acquisition, usurpation was deemed inheritance, and misappropriation was justified as remuneration.

During a visit to Impunitania, a vociferous prophet from Old Testament times was denounced as a villain and a liar and tortured to death.

Centuries later, in a reflection on the situation in this faraway land, Naomi Klein, a social activist from a large country, stated that “the truly powerful feed ideology to the masses like fast food while they dine on the most rarified delicacy of all: impunity”. She encountered disdain.

Impunitania has gradually become the land of lawlessness. Would Émile Zola write a sequel to his famed 1898 J’accuse on Impunitania? Would Martin Luther King adapt his unforgettable 1963 speech, I have a dream, to address the inhabitants of Impunitania?

Impunitania badly needs more courageous prophets to denounce the impunity which gives it the bad name it bears. We can only wait and see.

Fr Hector Scerri is a professor of theology at the University of Malta.