Disappearing honesty

I read with interest the letter by Jonathan Debono (May 21) regarding taxi drivers attempting to overcharge. I have noticed that theft seems to have become endemic and is not confined to taxi drivers. Perhaps it is not too late to turn the tide of corruption if Maltese are commenting and trying to do something about it.

Next month, my wife and I will once again be visiting Malta but nowadays I visit with some trepidation rather than the joy of former years.

When we married over 30 years ago everyone in Malta was pleasant and honest. Today there appears to be a thin veneer of pleasantry but honesty is rapidly disappearing.

In the last few years I have noticed a resentment appears to have come in when they hear my English voice and I know that if I order things I will be overcharged while my Maltese wife will pay less. The "tourist rate" is joked about, as though giving it a name makes theft acceptable.

I am sure the barber, the shopkeeper, the dentist, the cafe and... the list goes on and on... who overcharge me think they are honest. But in my view they are just common crooks.

Once I was happy to hold out my hand with money and let the vendor take the appropriate amount but now I am certain that most of the time I would be robbed and have to pay the "tourist rate".

Today I have to ensure my wife, or a Maltese relative, pays and I then give them the money or I will be charged the "tourist rate".

An old man, who had lived in Malta for a few years, once told me, when he knew I was marrying a Maltese girl: "The Maltese are very shrewd, but very honest businessmen". A good reputation is very hard to build but very easy to lose. I am sad to say Malta has lost the excellent reputation its forefathers built and too often the friendly face hides the heart of a small-time cheat.

My family and I shall still enjoy our stay; it is impossible not to when surrounded by my wife's family but it will be tinged with sadness at the thought that what was once a brilliant light of honesty is surrounded by a world of cheats. This small island has succumbed to the evil in the world.

Is it the decay of religion "do unto others as you would have done unto you" or just greater contact with the wider world? Who knows? One can only see the result and it is not pleasant.