The latest fraud racket that has been revealed by The Sunday Times of Malta, where hundreds are implicated in fraudulent disability claims, shows to what a corrupt state our society has plummeted.
Barely a week passes that one does not come across news related to corrupt practices. The racket of driving licences being issued by Transport Malta, where high officials and ministers are involved, has not yet been concluded.
Last month, Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma, in his homily during the feast of Our Lady of Loreto in Għajnsielem, criticised those people who get paid without turning up for work.
The president of the Medical Association of Malta, Martin Balzan, when referring to the racket where several people fraudulently received monthly disability benefits they were not entitled to, exclaimed: “This looks to be organised crime.”
Balzan insists that “it came from above” and that “we need to go after the perpetrators, not just the beneficiaries”.
But, I ask, why and what makes people indulge so easily in such corrupt practices? The answer seems to be only one: we are living in an amoral society.
Albert Bandura, in his book Moral Disengagement, states: “A full understanding of morality must explain not only how people come to behave morally but also how they can behave inhumanely and still retain their self-respect and feel good about themselves.”
This is the crux of the problem: How is it that people indulge in malpractices and still justify their actions?
It has been reported in this newspaper that many of the disability claimants were aware of the illegality and still justified their actions. Some stated that they suffered from other serious illnesses while others couldn’t make ends meet. Because these individuals were in dire straits they reasoned that their illegal benefits were justified.
This is a clear example where the adage “the end justifies the means” is being adhered to. It is interesting to note the response given by an individual who, though she knew she was in the wrong, still justified her action by stating: “Everyone does it.”
No wonder the Gozo bishop warned his congregation that “you cannot justify doing the wrong thing by saying the people above you do it as well” when referring to those individuals who get paid without turning up for their job.
The fraudulent claimants were made to believe by the powers-that-be that the end justified the means. It is this false morality that needs to be addressed forcefully to all without any distinction.
How is it that people indulge in malpractices and still justify their actions?- Ray Azzopardi
It was reported that, in May, Social Justice Minister Michael Falzon stated that, over the last decade, around 10,900 people had been caught receiving social benefits they were not entitled to. This is the malady that has infiltrated all sectors of society and it is this malady that needs to be cured.
Bandura asserts: “Disengagement of moral self-sanctions enables people to compromise their moral standards and still retain their sense of moral integrity.” People become morally disengaged from their wrongdoings because they either put the blame on others or blame the system.
Though people adhere to certain moral norms, when they come to putting these norms into action they pick and choose which norms to follow in particular circumstances. This pick-and-choose morality guiding people’s actions is destroying the moral fibre of our society.
Bandura affirms that “as long as harmful effects are out of sight and out of mind there is no moral issue to contend with because no perceived harm has been done”.
Once the consequences of illegal actions are not affecting the fraudster directly, they go on with such illicit acts hoping that the bubble never bursts, as in the case of those who get paid for work that is not being done.
Many involved in corrupt practices morally disengage themselves from their wrongdoings by reasoning that “everyone does it” but we are all aware that we are not robots and that we are responsible for our actions.
Bandura contends that since we are the agents of our actions we are bound to exert intentional influence over what we do and it is this influence that gives meaning to the exercise of morality.
He asserts: “If human behaviour were controlled solely by external forces, it would be pointless to hold individuals responsible for their behaviour.”
To eradicate such amoral behaviour we need a concerted effort by all, including the secular and religious authorities, and by us, the citizens, who need to be constantly on the lookout so as not to endorse or embrace illicit means to reach our desired ends.
Ray Azzopardi is a former headmaster.