There is a certain section of Maltese society who would not think twice about inconveniencing others by parking and blocking other cars if it means saving themselves a five minute walk, who have no problem skipping queues, and who find no issues blasting loud music well into the early hours of the morning.

There is a section of society that needs to have an attitude adjustment, the section who think they are gods amongst men, and that the world revolves around them and their daily routines.

Every so often, such people gain real power, and then serious issues begin to arise. Their attitude then begins to have certain effects on the country. Indeed such people don’t care about how certain actions would look to the rest of the world, and once exposed, don’t have the courtesy to step down, thus bringing even more criticism to the island.

 Being a politician whose reputation is marked by scandal, being hard-headed and staying in power, such as Konrad Mizzi did following the Panama Papers and the VGH deal, could make others believe that they could do whatever they want.

Indeed the blatant disregard shown by the government to such actions, and not making such persons uphold political responsibility for their actions sends the message that it truly is a jungle out there.  A ‘do whatever you want’ signal to those who have certain ties to people in power to commit certain acts which they normally wouldn’t.

More than that, however, the everyday Joe then starts to become more selfish, and the little acts, like blocking someone in, like speeding out at a roundabout causing those who have right of way to brake suddenly in fear, ignoring zebra crossings become more frequent.

There is a moral consequence for politicians at the top of the pole putting themselves and their friends ahead of the country, and we have been seeing it getting worse.

Some companies within the construction industry for example, have no problem taking up parking spaces by placing slabs when they have no permit to do so, no problem with watered down cement from a mixer seeping down the road under cars taking no measures to stop this from happening, no problem with creating so much dust it engulfs an entire neighbourhood.  And this stems from developers themselves knowing that they have the run of things.

This is the Malta that the government must be striving for since this is the Malta of today. A dustbowl filled with constant driving irregularities, where some people are more than happy to step on their neighbours toes just to save a few minutes and not inconvenience themselves. A country where the authorities are seen as nothing but figureheads when it comes to dealing with people with power. A country where those at the top of these authorities are seen to be weak.

This all stems from the lack of action the government has taken on high profile cases, from the Prime Minister himself being too weak to take the actions that are necessary. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat always says he is a man of action, yet when push comes to shove on major political scandals he either takes too long to take action, or does something which in the long-term would not really have been an action worth taking.