In the Acts of the Apostles, St Luke portrays the warm welcome given to the survivors of St Paul’s shipwreck in Malta: “... and later we learned that the island was called Malta. And the people who lived there showed us great kindness, and they made a fire and called us all to warm ourselves....”
The Maltese kept those ethnicities and behaviours for centuries. Until a few years ago the family used to play a key role in the social structure of the islands. Life’s pace was generally slow and relaxed, mainly because of the small size of villages and the warm climate, allowing outdoor setting for socialising with women outside their home doors or men at the piazza.
Our villages retained the structure of urban and rural areas, with people living in abodes surrounding the local parish church.
However, lately, all this changed. Traditions were gradually discarded. The rule of law was slowly swept aside and, now, it is the law of the jungle that reigns supreme.
Traffic congestion is now accepted daily and this brought with it a high level of stress, which turned into road rage. The Maltese came to tolerate slow drivers on the outside lane, double- parking, garage obstruction, heavy vehicles causing traffic jams and concrete mixer trucks spilling concrete on our roads.
They also accept cowboys stopping their cars in front of a take-away to buy pastizzi or qassatat. And we also assent to LESA wardens giving tickets to parked cars while they ignore ogres not wearing a seatbelt or drivers talking on their mobile.
Drivers also must face hundreds of bikers delivering food zigzagging between cars.
Road rage has now become rampant due to stress and anxiety.
The construction industry has taken over the country. Gone are the idyllic summer afternoons. The sound of jackhammers starts early in the morning and continues until sunset. Greedy contractors, aided by PA officials, have raped villages building cubbyholes for third-country nationals to stay in rooms packed like sardines.
The skyline in Malta, and now even in Gozo, has changed from the majestic church domes to ugly cranes.
The thousands of new buildings have had a damaging effect on our local infrastructure. We now put up with power outages and sewage overflows. The Maltese have also resigned themselves to dust coming from construction sites and the incidence of asthma has shot up.
People also must deal with loud music from discos and other open-air venues.
The Maltese look on feebly as the government pays its faithful cronies tens of thousands of euros from their taxes. To make good for this, the government just borrows money and the national debt has now surpassed €10 billion, half of which in the last four years under Robert Abela’s administration.
Appointments of relatives of ministers to highly paid government jobs happen all the time. They get posts as ambassadors, chairs of boards and newly created roles on new ‘authorities’.
Now it is the law of the jungle that reigns supreme- Joe Azzopardi
We have stood by meekly as the takeover of our piazzas and pavements by restaurants takes place. When we complain to the local council all they do is apologise and say that they cannot do anything as permits were issued by the central government.
And the elderly in wheelchairs and women pushing prams can do nothing but risk life and limb.
We also have accepted hotels taking public land to be used as private beaches while others took over sandy beaches with their deckchairs and umbrellas.
Malta is overcrowded, thanks to Joseph Muscat’s senseless concept to enlarge the population to 800,000. Add mass tourism and you have the current situation in the island. The Maltese as described by St Luke had a friendly attitude towards foreigners but how long will it take to turn this friendliness into racial intolerance? How long will the Maltese stand for the herding of their children in primary schools not taught in the native language but in English?
Foreign workers have taken over. We are served by waiters and waitresses not able to speak Maltese or English. We must wait, in pain, for up to 12 hours at the emergency department and on stretchers for a free bed at Mater Dei Hospital. Indian and Bangladeshi shops have mushroomed all over the islands taking the place of the former corner grocers.
Corruption has gripped this country and, till now, the citizens have accepted it. The only time that the people have reacted was when they sent Muscat packing. Yet, corruption continues unabated. The driving licences racket, the social security fraud, the fake identity cards racket and, now, we have human trafficking as well.
Malta may look prosperous to the world but, in reality, it is rotten to the core.
Not a wonder most youths want to get as far away as possible and look for a better future in civilised countries.
This has become the new normal in Malta and Gozo and, soon, everything will collapse.
Joe Azzopardi is a former official at the ministries for the environment, justice and home affairs and foreign affairs.