The culture surrounding temp work couldn't be more different, however. Singapore is an extremely classist and racist place. Malta is probably the least racist country in the EU/Europe. I have toured the whole of Europe for work and it amazes me how accommodating we are to temp workers over here. Many of them speak neither of our two main languages (Maltese and English) and we employ them anyway. You can even get people in customer facing positions who can only communicate with hand gestures due to their lack of language skills and that's fine by us. That would be unthinkable in any other country that I have ever lived in.

It's probably because we Maltese have a history of being temp workers ourselves all over the Anglo sphere. Moreover we are a very entrepreneurial people who value substance over trivialities.

Also worth noting that despite having a huge proportion of foreigners we have not experienced any significant criminal elements stemming from these demographics. Probably because unlike in places like Germany and Sweden, we give our foreign residents hope in the form of jobs, instead of keeping them jailed in beurocracy limbo. And you won't find any Maltese bitching about foreigners not integrating, as you will find in all classes of society in places like Sweden and Germany. It's immaterial to us, and we are smart enough to realize that that is not the source of the trouble that those countries are facing.

For all its problem this is one aspect where I believe my country shines in comparison to others.