Editorial: Stop treating us like idiots

Times of Malta has again pulled back the curtain on another corrupt practice. This time the usual critics could not dispute the facts – we reproduced many WhatsApp chats which exposed a racket to help specific candidates obtain a driving licence.

Instead of acknowledging the gravity of the situation, Robert Abela, Ian Borg and other government MPs framed the scandal as if it were a benevolent act of listening to the people.

In a new low, Abela encouraged his “customer care” people to keep “helping” people. It’s the way Maltese politics works, he said. In other words, he condoned helping people get through the back door, skip the queue, even get something they do not deserve.

As the Malta Employers’ Association aptly put it, Abela is condoning anarchy.

Abela either doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation or is putting on an act – a bad one at that.

The least he could have done is to say that the case is being “investigated” or resorted to his mantra “let institutions do their work”. Instead, he justified a system designed to short-circuit the government systems he is meant to uphold.

There is good reason to believe this practice transcends driving tests, with reports of malpractices in sectors like social services, planning permits, housing, health and education.

It seems ministry ‘customer care’ people are explicitly tasked with helping Labour supporters and their friends jump the queue, meaning others must wait longer. The WhatsApp chats prove it. This is discrimination, not help.

Abela’s rhetorical questions, such as “should we stop helping people”, are misleading and deflective. Nobody is suggesting that. The issue at hand is the corrupt and nepotistic means employed to do so.

Even if taken at face value, Abela’s ludicrous defence does not explain why ministry officials were conducting government business over WhatsApp, out of sight of any audit trail.

This was a major scandal before Abela spoke about it. His shocking words, and their terrible implication for Maltese democracy, have made it an even bigger one.

His attempt to paint this scandal as just being about helping people is a cynical distortion of reality - a classic example of political gaslighting. He is trying to convince the people that what they are seeing is not real.

Political gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which the abuser tries to make opponents doubt their own sanity or perception of reality. Downplaying the administration’s wrongs, encouraging deliberate misinformation and diverting attention are all dangerous markers of gaslighting.

When people are constantly told that what they are seeing is not real, they start to question themselves. This ‘alternative truth’ leads to apathy and cynicism, undermining democracy. These are tactics used by the likes of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, not an EU leader.

Government MPs and their allies have now spent three days treating voters like idiots who do not deserve to know the truth or are too dumb to judge right from wrong.

In a normal democracy, the minister and, possibly, the prime minister would have resigned and a general election called. Malta’s political landscape seems immune to such ethical standards.

It’s time we stopped being taken for a ride. For a decade, the Labour government sold the country’s gold to the highest bidder, prostituted our passports and created an atmosphere which led to the murder of a journalist. Yet, it continues dishing out jobs and favours based on political allegiance.

Is it too much to ask for respect?