So, 2020 is coming to an end. I know, the year Wawasan 2020 was all about. The hype around it - we basically envisaged it as a modern, high-tech, incredibly advanced Malaysia with flying cars, skyscrapers and those dorms you see in science fictions. Quite funny, isn't it, that our country has headed in an entirely wrong direction. We thought we saw a glimmer of hope when BN was ousted in 2018, but then PH collapsed and our country's political landscape got altered altogether and has gone down into the unknown. All political coalitions in Malaysia are deeply fractured - the Malays are very divided.
Anyway, let's see what's next - oh, Covid-19 struck. It got full-blown in March, and successive lockdowns began worldwide. I went back to Penang for CNY, and came back to Singapore with trepidations, and a month down the road we entered Circuit Breaker (CB), a fanciful term invented by the minister who is an electrical engineer to mean 'lockdown' without, however sweetly, trying to create chaos and panic. Try as he had, panic did ensue. Instant noodles were gold and snatched clean. Till today I've no freaking idea why the hell people stock toilet papers. All canned food were swept clean as well, but this is rather understandable. Snacks were taken. The absurd part was the fight for sanitisers. Some people got so desperate they even hoard alcohol swabs meant for injections and some diabetic patients couldn't get their insulin shots because they didn't have the swab - selfish bunch of people. During a crisis it's clear, the people's priority has always been self-survival. Collective action my ass. Look at the people trying to rip people's off by selling masks at a cut-throat price. Ya, masks were ridiculously expensive, could cost ten times what it cost now.
Okay, I'll probably wrap this year up on Thursday. Well, I've got to work tomorrow, and I'm working half day on Thursday, and on Friday we will be welcoming a next year. For the better or worse, we don't know, but what's life without some suspense ei?
Here's a picture of the Marina Bay Sands, taken on Christmas night, which was incredibly cheerful and ceremonious in Singapore. Normality has pretty much returned and life is inching back to pre-covid level, although some scars and alterations may have become permanent. Still, life goes on.
