Politics, to many, is a dirty word, but for me, it's a very important and natural phenomenon.

It carries several meanings: the art and science of government; the management and conduct of government as a business or profession; political methods or manoeuvres, especially for gaining or keeping power, often suggesting scheming or dishonesty; political activities, practices, or policies; political principles, values or opinions; and the complex of relationships involving truth and trust between the people, especially as it involves the authority or the rule of power.

Recently, I was asked by a foreign diplomat friend of mine, if there was one word to describe contemporary Maltese politics, what would it be?

It's not an easy question to answer. Malta's politics has, in recent years, regularly been described as the quest for personalistic power, or corruption.

In recent times, there has been attention to broadening democracy and political instability, with an appreciation of a dynamic transformation occurring as a new generation of voters is speaking out and changing political narratives.

When pressed again by my foreign friend, my one-word answer was "betrayal".

It has long been my contention that people who truly love their country are attracted to a political party because of its ideology and then its principles. Granted, some fall all over themselves as they rush to endorse and then support a particular candidate, simply for their narrow personal gains. Such a vain thought is dangerous, as it tends to undermine the basis of serious consideration for how the politician will govern. Benefits for a few party loyalists cannot assure good governance.

But then some thrive on ignorance and simply go along with the flow, gleaning all that they feel they need to know by reading the mass media or listening to the twisted views of their earthly masters as expressed on radio talk shows or rehearsed speeches on television, the one medium that can distort and divide more than truthfully inform.

These people bring hardship upon themselves and to the honest, right-minded and decent citizens. They care little or nothing about how to seriously decide on which party would best serve their interest and best help to develop the country in the interest of all the people.

Yet, the betrayal that stands out is a public one, of citizens' trust broken over scandals that remain Malta's largest cases of kleptocracy in history, scandals that would not have been possible without the government ministers and officials' direct and indirect roles in them.

Enigmatically, though, those ministers and officials hardly risk paying the price by losing power and facing conviction. But Maltese taxpayers continue to pay the price for the crimes involved and will do so for generations.

For many Maltese, wrapped up in the emotions of hope and the promise of change after the country's first political turnover of power in 2013, this betrayal hit hard. Others saw this as vindication, as the Labour Party, sitting for long years on the opposition benches, was returned to govern.

The betrayal brought in a period of unprecedented political instability and reshaped political alliances. It allowed new leaders to take over power, outside of the traditional political hierarchy, bringing new blood to leadership.

Many are convinced that this Labour administration is in power through elite deal-making.

The betrayal is a public one, an apparent abandonment of the principles of democratic reform and dismissal of the mandate of the voters. Little meaningful changes have been made to address electoral reform, expand political rights, bolster pivotal state institutions, improve the quality of life and the environment, curb corruption and check abuses of power and patronage.

Rather than strengthening political accountability and political institutions and building inclusion across groups in this tiny nation, the focus remains on maintaining political power. There appear to be few red lines that this government will not cross to hold onto power. Its governance is effectively punishing the voters who voted for it, especially middle-class voters.

A great economic crime of our time is the growing inequality of incomes between the vast majority of Maltese and the richest of the rich. It reflects what the government has done to aid the rich and what it has not done to safeguard the interests of the middle class. The winner-take-all economy is primarily a result of winner-take-all politics.

Maltese political history shows that alienating your political base comes with political peril. Will the current betrayal come back to haunt those who engage in it, both personally and politically? It remains unclear what this current period of betrayal will bring, be it internal defections, a strengthening of rehabilitated political outcasts or new political alignments. Ambitions and antagonisms at the higher level persist, as does distrust. The shadow of betrayal is ever present.

A betrayal sentiment among the public has been evident in greater political disengagement and ambivalence, with fewer people voting, especially.

From now to the next general election, one should not underestimate the politics of quiet disappointment and frustration.

For now, however, betrayal remains an overriding factor shaping national politics, in which Malta's governing political elites are riding high, and more voters increasingly feel they are being taken for a ride.

These political shortcomings and blunders must be nipped in the bud. The bar of individual political standards must be lifted instead of being lowered for there to be any national progress, and we must find pragmatic ways to hold these rogue politicians in power to account.

Dr Mark Said is a lawyer