Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504697
OK, a small word of explanation. This is supposed to be 'Part Two', of an article that was meant to appear in last Wednesday's print edition of MaltaToday. But alas! At exactly 1.25pm last Tuesday, my hometown of Ta' Xbiex became the ump- teenth victim, of a blackout epidemic that had by then en- tered its ninth [!] consecutive week... and I was unable to complete the article in time for publication (or even at all, un- til the electricity came back on well over eight hours later.) For this reason, 'Part One' never actually appeared in print (though you can still read it online). And as there may still be some people out there – very few, I would imagine – who still only read their news- papers in printed form: I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise for missing that Wednesday deadline; and also, for what must now look like a rather incomprehensible 'se- quel-without-a-prequel'. Right: with that out of the way... let's just pick up where we left off, shall we? Some of you (basically, the ones who read the earlier arti- cle) may remember that I had specifically asked you to keep a small detail in mind. Name- ly, the fact that 'Mr Mojo Jojo' – the supervillain of a 1990s cartoon called 'The Powerpuff Girls' – had been theoretically responsible for the creation of said superheroines: owing to an accident he once caused in Prof. Utonium's secret labora- tory, when still just a 'chimpan- zee lab-assistant'. Naturally, I won't bother re- peating all the details here; but one important thing I omitted to mention, in Part One, is that this same belated realisation also contributed directly to Mr Mojo Jojo's downfall, in the end... as a 'supervillain'. Viewed from any other per- spective, however: that same downfall, could easily be inter- preted as the beginnings of a whole new career for Mojo Jo- jo, as a 'superhero' (and, what's more, the very type of super- hero this country is deperately crying out for, as we speak!) Look at it this way. Despite his lack of any true 'superpow- ers', in the comic-book sense of the word – Mr Mojo Jojo did nonetheless possess a unique ability, that – to the best of my knowledge – no other super- villain (or superhero, for that matter) has ever been known to possess, before or since. Actually, make that two unique abilities... no, wait: THREE. 1) The ability to recognise the TRUTH, when this is finally lain bare before his eyes; 2) The ability to instantly acknowledge HIS OWN RE- SPONSIBILITY, for a situation that had been directly caused BY HIS OWN ACTIONS; and lastly, 3) The ability to ACCEPT that responsibility... by sim- ply bowing his head, and re- signing himself to his ultimate DEFEAT, at the hands of his arch-enemies. And here, I am tempted to add a fourth superpower: the ability to translate all of the above, into a single dramatic monologue that – were it not lifted from a children's cartoon – could easily be mistaken for the final 'crie-de-couer', of a dying Bond-villain: "WHAT? I created the Pow- erpuff Girls? I am responsible for their birth? It was me, who caused them to be? I triggered the events, that led to them be- ing on this earth? I dedicated my life, to destroying what I had a hand in creating? I creat- ed them! It's all my fault! I did it! It was me! It was me! It was me... ... IT WAS ME!" There, see what I mean? I'm half-tempted to nominate Mr Mojo Jojo for the 'Gieh Ir-Re- pubblika', on the strength of that one final speech, alone... Meanwhile, however – just to illustrate how sorely lack- ing this form of 'critical in- trospection' has become, in today's Malta – consider, for a moment, the following press release issued this week by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (aka the MHRA: which also represents the col- lective interests of Malta's tourism lobby, as a whole). The statement begins: "Gov- ernment should address a number of issues impacting the tourism industry, or else risk the country's reputation as a holidaying destination..." And among the MHRA's list- ed concerns – apart from a few others I think we can all safely agree on: like, 'Why has Malta become so disgustingly FILTHY, all of a sudden?'; 'Why has our energy distribution system suddenly degenerated to (lower than) Third World standards?', etc., etc. – there is the following little gem: "[Another] area of concern is the activity related to road infrastructure by the public sector and the CONSTRUC- TION PROJECTS [my empha- sis] which together are turning Malta into a permanent con- struction site experience, cre- ating gross inconveniences for both locals and tourists alike." Wait, there's more. Accord- ing to the MHRA: "Malta has reached a stage where no lo- cality or street is spared from any construction activity caus- ing noise, dust, and aesthetic pollution. No proper central coordination and management of such activity is in place lead- ing to chaos and long queues of traffic everywhere, all the time. We need to take the bull by the horns as the situation in our streets is in a dire state and will do nothing but put off tourists and their families and friends from ever considering coming back again to our islands..." maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 JULY 2023 10 OPINION Why 'Mr Mojo-Jojo' is the superhero this country really needs, right now Raphael Vassallo While the MHRA takes pains to point out that 'roadworks' are the sole responsibility of 'the public sector'... it stops short of admitting that 'construction projects' (especially, a couple of truly GARGANTUAN ones, currently going up in a 'tourist area' near you) are overwhelmingly the prerogative of 'private-sector' entrepreneurs