Last year 2020 was the year the vision expect Malaysia to be a "developed nation". To say it did not turn out according to expectation, it is an underestimation.
Then 2021 came with the hope life could return to normal but it did not turn out to be any better.
Currently a dark sky is hovering over Kuala Lumpur. The annual affair of flood in the East Coast states of Malaya has began. Even former Johor Baru MP, Tan Sri Shahrir is worried of river water level in Johor Baru. Selangor and Kuala Lumpur is not out of the wood yet, hydrology-wise.
Its certainly made 2021 another and perhaps worse annus horribilis. The hits may keep on coming in.
This is despite Tan Sri Muhyiddin vacated the premiership just more than 100 days ago, and prior to that, imprisonment of citizens at their homes ended. The country is still struggling, in reverse order of priority, socially, economically and politically.
Despite the lockdown, emergency, outright forced vaccination and endless SOPs, Covid -19 infection has not lowered in numbers to three digits yet, and new variant Omicron and booster is the vogue.
The economic toll was too much to continue the lockdown.
The politically motivated emergency backfired violently on Muhyiddin and politically, it was unsustainable for him. His replacement from UMNO, Dato Seri Ismail Sabri to steer the coalition government, Dato Seri Shahidan insisted it remain as PN government, is struggling to get the ship moving smoothly.
The outlook for the country in all aspect are bleak. Young professionals are seeking employment abroad. And now comes the flood.
However, it is not unique to Malaysia. An Indian website www.news9live.com described it as the darkest year in history:
Annus horribilis 2021: Learnings and musings from the darkest year in historyEditor's Note: Even Dickens would have agreed circa 2021 was the worst of times, perhaps in the entire documented history of humankind. The world had seen the horrors of great wars, famines, plagues and other catastrophes in the past, but nothing compares with the magnitude and spread of the fear, desperation and death wreaked by a horrifying pandemic that affected almost every single person on this planet.
Humans remember tragedies much more than anything else. So, you may ask, why are we revisiting a year that won the title of 'annus horribilis' against all the preceding years in history by a Mike Tyson-esque knockout? Why invoke memories that should be forgotten?
There are many answers. The simplest of them is every tragedy leaves behind lessons that should not be forgotten, lest we repeat them, especially when the shadow of that calamity not just lingers but also threatens to become darker and longer, like it does with the arrival of Omicron. The complex answer is that revisiting a catastrophe we survived gives us hope in our own destiny, fortitude and ability to overcome a monster like the year 2021.
With these two objectives in mind, our writers and guest columnists have their compiled musings and learnings from the year we are eager to bid goodbye and good riddance.
The God of Death, as one of our writers calls the pandemic, was the main show this year — literally a tragedy in three acts and counting. But a lot happened on the sidelines: an end-of-days type election in Bengal, a rare show of defiance by farmers, a desperate global meet on the environment and some heroic achievements on the sports field.
On the last day of the year, we are revisiting some of them. Happy reading (?) and, hopefully, a happy new year.
The compilation from the Indian experiencce can be read on here and likely do not differ violently than what Malaysians had to undergo. Media began to write about it since last week. More today and tomorrow
The celebration to usher in the new year will be more sombre and spiritual with PM holding a special Islamic hajat prayers and zikir recitations to the chagrin of Teresa Kok who questioned Ismail for not joining the celebrating Christmas.
That's all politics. The 15th general election could be coming. She should know better that there is a massive flood affecting six states in the Peninsular.
DAP is on a racial and religious instigation mode. It will not work this time. They are on a slippery slide. PH is in a shamble, so is "PN government".
Despite certain faction in UMNO still trying to keep the PN ship together, it is an uphill task to convince grassroot to accept PPBM on a permanent basis.
The discomforting tripartite arrangement PPBM insist will mean UMNO will be in the unaccustomed less dominating position.
Only a major catastrophe could shoved into the members throat will make them sway. There are sceptics suspecting the poor handling of the flood may have its own political twist.
New coalition will likely form and politics will still not get settled. PN has to be terminated and country governed by either BN or PH.
Despite its own shortcomings, the former is still more capable and experience in administration and should be preferred choice to end this nightmare and achieve stability.
Hopefully there is hope and a better year coming. Happy new year 2022.