The Maltese expression Mal-hazin jehel it-tajjeb sums up the mood on the streets these days, and the English version (the good get blamed with the bad) just does not carry the same sort of weight and depth.

It is not a good perception to have created, and it must be worked on very hard because the most reasonable of people are saying this. When I saw the tsunamis on television, one of my later thoughts was that I hoped that a few of those thousands of paedophiles (some of these areas are a Mecca for these sickos) who congregate in some of the stricken areas got swept away too. But obviously with them went thousands of totally innocent children, mothers and fathers. And that is the feeling right now on the streets.

The government may have the right ends, but in its means it is hurting the good as well as the bad, and we elect governments to be sensitive to these issues. So in order for the buses and cars to stop abusing of paraffin as vehicle fuel, those who were not abusing and use it to heat their homes got punished too.

The way I read the political landscape in the first days of 2005 is this. Most staunch unquestioning Labour voters remain the same. Many intelligent and successful Labour voters are still wary of Alfred Sant and actually prefer Lawrence Gonzi, if not the Nationalist Party.

In the Nationalist camp the diehards remain the same too, but there are less of them than Labour diehards. The more intelligent, questioning and successful ones still dislike the Nationalist Party and the government to a lesser degree, but have the beginnings of an admiration for Lawrence Gonzi. Some, but very few, have converted to AD, the rest remain with a wait and see approach. They are not so totally sickened that they would make Alfred Sant PM ,but they are uncomfortably close to this point.

With this kind of climate you can afford to make few mistakes, and more importantly you must not create perceptions which are damaging and hard to eradicate. Sometimes quick and not too quiet backtracks are in order, otherwise you will not be forgiven.

I was away from these islands for a couple of weeks, the weather got colder here, and still no compromise on the paraffin issue. The big union boys are still huffing and puffing about holidays, while those who have to use public transport and/or paraffin to heat their homes are left ignored.

And yet the problem is not with the ordinary consumer, it tajjeb, for want of a better word. The problem is with our bus drivers who were using the wrong fuel and dirtying our air. Why was there not a very visible attempt to deal with this abuse first? And by visible I do not mean posters. I mean checks at the bus termini and elsewhere, much like they test athletes for doping, to see if they were using the right fuel.

Of course it is not just bus drivers. Many a time I have been stuck behind some car belching this poisonous white smoke, and later phoned the Transport Authority. Apparently, they then haul it in for a VRT test one a complaint is received. There should have been powers to get these cars, buses or taxis off the road immediately (after giving them some warning!), as there should be to remove the abusers who were using this fuel.

I mean the buses could not hide this could they? If they knew they would be policed they would have stopped.

But what happened? There was no serious attempt to stop the abuse. Mal-hazin jehel it tajjeb. Paraffin went up beyond the reach of many and yet the bus drivers got compensated with higher fares. So the hazin got looked after, and the tajjeb were told to look after themselves!

Now I know you can interpret this all differently and say it was a good decision environmentally, which it was, and that bus fares had not gone up for years which is true too, but inadvertently or otherwise, government created the perception that mal-hazing jehel it-tajjeb, something which is already part of our culture anyway, and government certainly does not need or want this label at this point.

There is this same problem in the area of property and property taxation. The same problem of mal-hazin jehel it-tajjeb. When you take into account how attached we all are to our homes, how much we prefer to invest in property than in anything else, you have to be careful with taxation. Ask any notary and they will tell you that the changes made in John Dalli’s last Budget did little to cut out abuse, but that very ordinary people were being fleeced. You just can not treat speculators and people who own two properties in the same way. It is ridiculous.

In Sliema, for example, prices have gone mad. People who bought on plan for only Lm60,000 two years ago then sold on and those same properties are worth more like Lm150,000 now. So enormous profits in two years, simply staggering ones.

But think of people who bought a Summer flat for say Lm10,000 30 years ago (not in Sliema!) and its now worth Lm40,000. These would be expected to give government about Lm10,000 in capital gains tax if they do not underdeclare or overdeclare for furniture or whatever. What kind of incentive to sell is that? Is it fair that the speculator who buys and sells every year or less should pay the same tax as an elderly couple for their lifetime investment? Mal-hazin jehel it-tajjeb again.

I hope this does not become the new rallying call for the MLP. It is the way a lot of Nationalists are feeling right now.

And while it is true that the media in general does not seem to like the government right now, it is very important that those who represent government, particularly high up at Castille, do not let this spill out into bad tempered arrogance. When they treat others rudely, they are after all only damaging the PM, a man who does not deserve this. And this is not a one off from the Castille PRO,because I and many others have been at the receiving end of this high handedness before, and not only in email form. When the PM of a country is far, far more polite and less arrogant to anyone and everyone than his PRO, you know something is wrong. The PRO should realise this too and try harder to emulate the attitude to people that his boss has which is one of unfailing niceness and politeness.

Last night when I watched the news and saw Dr Gonzi and his beautiful, simply elegantly turned out wife Kate, being their own natural, lovely selves among the public who came to greet them with New Year wishes, I thought what a let down it would be if we do not allow Dr Gonzi to succeed. We could not have anyone better to represent this tribal nation, who seems to revel in being rude to each other.

But sadly even for him mal-hazin jehel it-tajjeb and ‘PN people in power arrogance’ could cost the PM dear, which will then cost us all dear with Alfred Sant as PM and not even one seat for AD. That is what will happen if this perception grows any further and mistakes are not rectified.