The results of a survey that The Malta Independent on Sunday is publishing today should be sending a warning to the government. It is now up to the government to take the decisions that are needed to rectify all that is wrong in the country.

The survey is the first to be carried out following an agreement signed by Standard Publications Limited and IDEA Intelligence, which administers maltasurvey.com, to develop periodic national surveys on politics, current affairs and other subjects of public interest.

We were not surprised by the results, and the stark reality of how much people are fed up with the prevailing situation should open the government’s eyes. So far, it has been unable, or perhaps unwilling, to tackle the problems head on, perhaps thinking that its popularity (read: one record election victory after another) will not wane.

The government – and all that is Labour – may be convinced that in spite of everything, it is still in a position to capture the people’s support. But the overall feeling among people across all ages and educational background is that we are living in a country where little is right.

The great majority of people are unhappy with the staggering rise in the population over the past decade, which has exacerbated other pre-existing problems related to traffic and pollution, including the extensive road works which are not planned well enough so as not to create inconvenience.

They are unhappy with the ever-increasing inflation that has not been coupled with wage increases that are commensurate with the rising costs.

They are unhappy with the power network although, in this case, there is the proviso that the survey was carried out a few days after Malta went through a series of electricity cuts that were a frustrating addition to the heat wave that we were experiencing at the time.

They are also unhappy with the political climate, which can be interpreted to mean that they see a government in difficulty but an opposition which is not yet ready to take over.

In a nutshell, nearly three-fourths of the respondents – the survey has a margin of error of 3% - are experiencing a summer which is worse than that past ones. A high 72.1% say that the 2023 summer season is worse than the past years, while only 3.5% believe it is better.

It is only health care that scraped through to get a positive reading; yet, even here, the government should not be too happy that only 56% of respondents think that the health care system in Malta is worthy of praise.

Surveys are carried out to gauge public opinion, to find out what the people are thinking. They have now spoken, and what they said depicts a painting with more shadows than light. It is highly indicative of a country that is annoyed with the way things are going.

As we said earlier, it is now up to the government to act.

It may choose to ignore the signs completely, thinking that it is doing enough to win the next election, irrespective of the people’s unhappiness. After all, saying that one is irritated that what should be a 10-minute journey takes one hour does not mean that they will not be voting Labour. It may argue that the rise in the population is a necessary evil that is helping the economic wheel to continue to turn. It may also believe that the burden on the infrastructure can be sustained and that, on the whole, people will forget the nightmares they went through when road works on major arteries are completed. It may think that there is no need to extend Mater Dei Hospital in spite of the fact that it was built to cater for 400,000 people, and now it has to deal with nearly 550,000 residents. It may reckon that breathing dust emanating from construction sites is not a matter of great concern.

But a better option would be to take action. It needs to see that, for example, road works do not take longer than necessary, and are better planned so as to avoid instances where a diversion leads to another diversion and another blocked road. It needs to bring the construction industry in order. It needs to change the economic model it launched in 2013, one that is based on population increase, into one that reduces the burden on the infrastructure and makes it less suffocating to live here. It needs to find a way to tackle traffic issues.

The government will reply that it is doing all it can. Apparently, this is not enough. The responses given to the questions of the survey speak loudly and clearly.

The people are not happy.