The real issues

No one is creating vociferous Facebook groups or circulating petitions to make abortion legal in Malta, so I wish some people would stop acting as if this eventuality is on our doorstop. It isn’t.

Nor does the fact that gay couples now have the right to apply to be considered as adoptive parents, be the end of the world as we know it, for the simple reason that the number of gays who actually want to adopt is probably not as large as the wild heterosexual imagination is making it out to be.  It isn’t.

This is reminiscent of the unfounded fear that every married couple would immediately go out and file for divorce, just because they could. They didn’t.

The point is there are so many other very real, tangible issues which affect all of us which are happening at this very minute and yet, we don’t see the same level of agitation, the public outcry, the anger and the rallying cry of anguish, “what is happening to our country? Something must be done!”

Or, to be exact, we do see people and NGOs objecting but too often it fizzles out because it does not gather enough momentum on a wide national scale to make our politicians sit up and take notice. I’m starting to think that we have all given up, collapsing into a heap of defeatism because we are faced with powerful lobby groups who hold much greater political clout than the rest of us ever will.

And before anyone starts spluttering and getting all red-faced with self-righteousness about “whose fault it is”, let’s be honest here.  Irrespective of who is in government, both big parties are equally culpable when it comes to hunters being out of control, land developers being out of control, illegal building taking place (only to be given a ministerial benediction several years down the line) and squatters seeing a nice piece of land they like and thinking “hey, let me just turn this into a permanent summer home”, and getting away with it.

The mindset of a hunter who breaks the rules regulating spring hunting and that of a construction magnate who ignores MEPA enforcement notices is not that different

The reason that those who take the law into their own hands are not that bothered about being caught is because they are usually people who, by their very nature, will stop at nothing until they get what they want. They are unscrupulous and ruthless, whether it means going after a protected bird in the name of “sport” or gobbling up more and more land even though they already have more wealth than they know what to do with for the next two lifetimes.

I cannot help but compare the two. The mindset of a hunter who breaks the rules regulating spring hunting and that of a construction magnate who ignores MEPA enforcement notices is not that different: “I want it, so it’s mine for the taking. Just try and stop me.” 

It is the same with anyone who sees a rule or regulation and can think of 1001 ways of getting around it, finding loopholes, or as we have often seen in the past, finding some government official who can be bribed to turn a blind eye. I imagine people like this seeing the latest law or legislation being announced in the press, smirking and thinking, “yeah right, like that will ever apply to me.”

Whether it’s abiding by the speed limit or submitting VAT returns on time, it’s as if all those pesky, annoying things one is supposed to do have absolutely nothing to do with them.

On the other side of the divide are the rest of us who do things by the book (more fools us, I’m starting to think).

More and more it seems like the country is split into two distinct different cultures: those who work hard for what they want, are diligent about paying their bills and tax to a fault and are content to live a quiet, decent life… and then there are the rest. Those who look at every opportunity with greedy eyes, steely-minded calculation and a complete lack of morals, wondering how they can best exploit the system and cut corners so that they can get to their ultimate goal (which usually involves money and power) faster than anybody else. The danger, of course, is that the more people get away with illegality, the more the rest of us will start reasoning that if we cannot beat them, we might as well join them.

The two cultures are worlds apart in every respect: some look at what remains of our countryside and want it to remain unspoilt to be enjoyed as part of the simple pleasures of life. Others look at that same countryside and are mentally calculating just how many apartment blocks they could squeeze into each precious acre (and they’ll worry about the permits later).

Are there enough people willing to speak up and take a stand against the latter?  Isn’t it time that we, too, threatened politicians with our votes (because that seems to be the only way to get their attention)? Or will we only shake off our apathy when we wake up one day to find that there is seriously no more countryside or rule of law left? Just a spread of concrete filled with towering blocks of cubbyholes for apartments, while armed hunters roam Malta like the Wild West, shooting at everything that moves…which, one day, might just be you.