They call them the Paradise Papers, a sequel to the Panama Papers leaks that rocked the Labour government in its first legislature but which had no lasting effect to dent the outstanding electoral support it received again at the June election.

The massive data leak was published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its partners that include this newspaper. The documents come from the offshore services firm Appleby and company registries in 19 jurisdictions, among them Malta. Unlike the last time, no senior government figures have emerged from the Paradise Papers but something more significant stands out: Malta.

The Prime Minister had promised to make this country the best in Europe, possibly even the envy of the world, as his predecessor Dom Mintoff had once done, with astounding disastrous results in the 1980s. Then, the country’s premier had been dubbed a “pocket Napoleon” and it was not a compliment. But what is the country being called now?

The international fallout from the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia has been tremendous, though the local impact was not impressive. Malta has been called a Mafia State, a money-laundering centre, a place of tax evasion, of illegal oil bunkering and, naturally, a place of crime. The Paradise Papers do not help Malta’s reputation.

At stake are the country’s financial services, a leading economic pillar where a crisis would have immense economic repercussions. It is an industry that has been painstakingly built and enormously successful but, given the international onslaught following the Bidnija murder, everything is suddenly at stake. Ignoring the problem, acting like it is business as usual, could be catastrophic.

The Malta Employers’ Association is concerned at the economic direction of the country. It wants a study into the enormous influx of foreign workers on the island, a trend it describes as unsustainable.

This foreign influx is boosting the building industry like never before on an island that is clearly overpopulated. The employers are calling on the government to be more selective and strategic and not embrace every economic opportunity like there is no tomorrow… because there may be no tomorrow.

The Prime Minister has promised a cosmopolitan Malta but what that policy is leading to is environmental degradation and greedy opportunism of the worst kind.

Given that the economic situation is good, it is truly time for choice and strategy, as against turning the country into an international bazaar and all that comes with it. The quality of life of people should come above all else and that’s much more than money in the pocket.

Family Sunday afternoon strolls have been replaced by shopping sprees in sprawling malls. Instead of wild thyme we see fresh concrete and plastic packaging. The fallout is all around to see, most especially in the government’s failed waste management systems. This country is living beyond its means, not financially, but in the very basics that make us a society where life is worth living.

The Paradise Papers remind us how myopic thinking can bring about our downfall. We are in a world that does not like much of what is perceived to be going on here.

In a country shorn of any resources except its people, image and reputation is all. And that reputation has been badly rattled.