The Third Malta

Welcome to the information society - where the telephone line is no longer a glorified piece of string attached to two cans embracing the ears of two young and budding scientists! Welcome to the Malta which thinks that time stood still; where practices that made sense in the colonial 60s and shouldn't be even residing in someone's memory are still upheld and safeguarded by the stakeholders.

Some years ago, there were very heated debates about missed investment opportunities because of excessive bureaucracy. In true Maltese fashion, we discuss, discuss, and keep on discussing till we're blue in the face, and then forget all about the issue. Little or no action gets done.

Now that the whole hoo-hah about SmartCity has fizzled out, we need to wake up and smell the coffee. We are doing our best to attract service-oriented investments to this island, and at the same time we don't want to even remotely think of maybe trying to change.

The Friday before last, I reported a fault in my internet connection. Basically, the telephone line is faulty. I was told that the earliest this can be fixed was the following Monday as the people who are responsible for fixing the fault don't work on weekends! So, if I were a businessman running my online business from home, I would have suffered loss of revenue because our newly privatised telecoms company chooses to keep work practices that, maybe, made sense two decades ago.

This is 2007 not 1937. There are companies - even in Malta - that depend on telephone lines. So much for trying to attract call centres and internet-based companies! Similarly, we still have to keep up with a total slow-down in summer because government departments are still working half days despite the fact that everyone and his dog has an air conditioned office, and despite an ongoing increase in demands from their clients. Yes, we are their clients. We are paying for the services. Otherwise, why would we be paying these hefty taxes?

As if to make life more interesting, last Thursday we had no power at home for the whole morning. Enemalta were carrying out some works (booked by an appointment) 10 metres down my house. Although we had registered for the SMS notification service from Enemalta, we weren't informed about this. SMS service apart, Enemalta is duty bound to inform residents about such a lengthy power outage. What if a resident suffering this outage had workers booked to carry out an installation in the house? Imagine someone taking leave to supervise the works at home only to find out that this is a waste of time because no works can be carried out thanks to Enemalta's modern communication practices? And, once again, what if someone is running a business from home? Who would make up for the loss of revenue? How can we tolerate these companies behaving like troglodytes in today's sophisticated society?

These organisations cannot keep treating us like numbers. They cannot keep on being so inconsiderate towards people's needs. It is unacceptable that providers of such vital and totally indispensable services focus solely on their tasks and totally ignore the implications of their actions. Employees of these organisations are employed to serve the clients and not to choose the easy way out. If they don't care about customers, then they should be trained accordingly. If they're not trainable, then they shouldn't be doing that job.

These practices make us look like a 43-year-old who wants to prove he's a grown up, but still likes to run to mummy as soon as he needs a little bit of help. We'd like to think of Malta as a little London without even considering the implications of change. Change comes at a price; and it's high time for us to decide what we want. Do we want to remain a primitive little state being looked upon as a cute undeveloped country where time stood still, or do we really want to be a buzzing city? In metaphoric terms, the choice lies between being an adult and treated as such by others, or being a crawling toddler in a room surrounded by adults.

Having said that, we are very slowly stepping up the pace of life, and consequentially rest and recreation have become increasingly important and necessary to every individual. Furthermore, most of the businesses the country wants to attract are 24x7 operations. Yet, most of the main traffic arteries on a summer weekend are jam packed with snail-paced traffic because some enthusiasts decide to take a papier-mâché statue for a weekend stroll accompanied by the most senseless and unnecessary sound pollution reminiscent of WWI bombings!

In addition to this mayhem, cars are not allowed to park on most of the streets in the village celebrating the festa. It's a feast for the few village enthusiasts, and a nightmare for the rest of the country. So much for a civilised modern mentality!

If we want to project ourselves like a business city, and attract top professional businesses, we have to think like one. Act like one. Be one. We have to mould and adapt the so-called traditions around today's needs. The cities, villages, and the main traffic arteries do not belong to the local band clubs. The efficiency of a company should not be at the mercy of some individuals stuck in a time warp. The world is changing rapidly, and we have no choice but to change accordingly.

What was valid one or two years ago is not necessarily valid by default today. Such is the fast pace of today's world. Our forefathers were wise enough to coin the sentence "l-ewwel il-pappa, umb'ad l-umpappa" which advocates the prioritising of survival needs over the need to feel pampered.

Who wouldn't dream of being an adult enjoying a kid's hassle-free life? Yet, we all know that it's not possible. As we grow up, we experience an unavoidable change in lifestyle. A change that we cannot escape. Similarly, the country has to experience this change. It's high time we decide whether we want to get stuck in a bubble or catch up with our fellow humans located on the different parts of the globe.

It's already enough to have two different Maltas presented every day on the political media. Creating a third Malta that's so distant from today's realities is just an unattainable dream.

mjg@maltanet.net