Commentary by Mustafa K Anuar

A NEW year isn’t exactly very new, especially when it carries much of the previous year’s baggage.

And 2020 has heavy baggage from which we hope to draw some lessons for our collective benefit as we anxiously navigate 2021.

The tiny Covid-19 virus that emerged in the beginning of 2020, for one thing, brought humans to their knees despite the wherewithal in their possession, such as material wealth, as well as political and military might.

Perhaps humility is necessary in this context, to bring down our collective arrogance a notch or two, particularly when it comes to our relationship with, and treatment of, nature.

We notice the big difference made to our physical environment when we were caged in our homes – or, to put it euphemistically, locked down – by the menacing pandemic.

The rivers and air were cleaner and animals roamed about freely without fear of being harmed by humans.

However, it appears that, for some people, the lockdown is only a temporary and annoying break from their destructive behaviour towards nature.

Soon after being released from our home confinement, the bad habits re-emerged. For example, certain rivers were polluted by humans, and this eventually brought about massive water cuts in certain parts of the country after water filtering plants concerned were contaminated by the polluting particles.

The so-called new normal that has been thrust on us is that we have to comply with the pandemic’s standard operating procedure, particularly mask wearing, physical distancing and hand washing. This, obviously, should apply to all of us, irrespective of our stations in life, in the foreseeable future and probably beyond. 

What is also laid bare, or made more visible by the pandemic, are the pockets of poverty that lurk in our society. Those who rely on day wages or temporary jobs, for instance, struggled on a daily basis to keep food on the table when the movement-control order was executed – and this also affected the migrant workers.

There are others who joined their ranks after they were laid off by businesses that shuttered in an economy badly battered by the pandemic. According to Malaysia’s Department of Statistics, unemployment rose last October by 1.5% to 748,200 persons compared with the previous month.

The financial sustainability of this group of people collapsed under the weight of mounting debt, mortgages, reduced salaries, under-employment and job insecurity.

This is in addition to the economic woes suffered by families whose breadwinners were infected by the Covid-19 virus. Bereaved families may have to fend for themselves, while the surviving ones may have lost jobs or paid less while they are being treated.

It is also feared that this pandemic may have caused a wider economic disparity between the rich and the less fortunate, which necessitates government assistance of various forms for the latter.

In other words, economic hardship is staring at the faces of the needy and desperate for a long time to come. 

Bloodless coup

Early this year, we also learned that our electoral votes are no longer sacrosanct. The so-called Sheraton Move in late February led to a bloodless coup that toppled the Pakatan Harapan government that many Malaysians, particularly those who yearned for social reform, chose at the ballot box in the last general election.

This political development also subsequently sent a cue to certain states in the federation, particularly Johor, Melaka, Perak, Kedah and Sabah, where power changed hands in similar fashion, much to the chagrin of many voters.

The politics of race and religion remains to be exploited as we enter the new year for as long as political mileage can be accrued from dividing people along these lines. Such divisive politics goes into overdrive, especially when certain ethnic-based parties struggle to stay politically afloat or their political legitimacy is perceived to be under assault.

Relations between the various ethnic and religious groups in this multi-ethnic and multireligious country is bound to worsen if there is no political will to put a stop to the polarising machinations of certain unscrupulous quarters.

The last chapter of 2020 has been filled with a meat syndicate scandal that supposedly implicates certain shady companies that passed off imported meat of dubious origins as halal in alleged collaboration with a number of bribed senior government servants from at least four government agencies.

They made use of fake halal Jakim certification, knowing full well that the Malaysian Islamic Development Department’s certificates and logos have earned the complete trust of Muslim consumers over the years.

This corruption case, which has shocked many, especially those in the Muslim community, indicates that corruption remains a part of our culture. Worse, corruption has reached a level where transgression of religious tenets is no longer considered sacrilegious.

While these are blots in 2020, we, nonetheless, can derive strength and hope from the good Samaritans and the front liners, among others, who have put their lives on the line, and sacrificed time, energy and resources to assist fellow Malaysians in need of help, compassion and justice in the wake of the pandemic.

It is hoped that 2021 will be kinder to us all. Happy New Year! – December 31, 2020.