By Natalie Shobana Ambrose
theSun, Malaysia
December 30th, 2010
We’re not just starting a new year; we’re waving a whole decade goodbye. In that vein, let’s look back at some of the stories that defined Malaysia’s decade. For 20 years we had one Prime Minister who in 2001 shocked the nation with the announcement of leaving office and since then we’ve had 2 more Prime Ministers govern within the decade and gone through the 8th and 9th Malaysian plans. The introduction of the MyKad, saw our little blue laminated IC’s put to rest, while the launch of Malaysia’s conscription training program National Service had many 17 year olds not only anxious about SPM results but also being chosen for NS training.
City traffic has become as notorious as Bangkok’s, the KL Monorail doesn’t connect to the well used LRT, SMART tunnel becomes a monsoon drain when KL floods and we’ve said goodbye to the pink minibuses, welcoming the red, blue, beige Rapid KL busses. We also have had to add to the acronyms of SPRINT, PLUS, Guthrie, DUKE and whatever else which all come with tolls and confusing signboards but thankfully we have the Touch ‘n’ Go and the SmartTAG only to zoom into a jam or a lane that has a system glitch. We’ve also started flying low-cost with FireFly, Air Asia and it’s X thanks to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). We’ve bought jet fighters, submarines, had many helicopter deaths and lost a few engines in the process.
We’ve sent a cosmonaut to the International Space Station to have a look around, while reverting back to the slow march version of the Negaraku, recognizing Malaysia day and celebrated over 50 years of independence and not so good judgment.
The International Court of Justice gave us Sipadan and Ligitan, though we lost Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore. We’ve since been aware of disputes for Limbang and Spratly Islands. Though within our boarders, we’ve seen an influx of unskilled foreign workers to the point that now I’m not sure if Malaysians are to speak Burmese, Bengali or Khmer when ordering food or at a petrol station.
The public became more vocal, aware and took their disapproval to the streets from issues of water to teaching math’s and science in English. There was the BERSIH and HINDRAF rally and then other marches that should not have happened with a cow head.
Religious tensions have increased this decade witnessing the defacing of religious houses and an increase of apostasy cases. We’ve become more aware of fatwa, sharia law, Islam Hadhari and what words can and cannot be used to keep the peace. There was also the much talked about Imam Idol and Malaysia’s first Islamic channel TV Al-Hijrah.
From a handful of universities to colleges sprouting out ever so often in the hopes to be the education hub of Southeast Asia, though with it comes a different set of problems – culture shock for foreign students and Malaysians to militant training.
We hoped that if we closed our eyes, the stories of victims of– Canny Ong, Nurin Jazlin, Aminulrasyid Amzah, Teoh Beng Hock, Kugan Ananthan, Sosilawati might not be true.
New media, online news portals, bloggers have created awareness and also gone into hiding. We’re more aware of the Federal Constitution after March 8th; by-elections have not fazed us while ISA has become a point of contention for many.
Some of our sportsmen and women - Nicol David, Lee Chong Wei and the Malaysian football team have come out tops and brought big cheers.
We’ve added to our vocabulary buzz words, acronyms and general knowledge– BTN, corridors, statuary declarations, baby hatches, MACC, loan sharks, PEMANDU, sodomy, police brutality, ETP, GTP. Malaysia Boleh, Correct! Correct! Correct! 1 Malaysia, pendatang and learnt that Mahidol University was one of Asia’s top five universities.
The Malaysian 5 ringgit note cannot grow on trees and subsidies were reduced, increasing the price of petrol, sugar and regulated the price of the humble roti canai while prices of basic goods have skyrocketed. Though we now have to wear seatbelts even as a rear seat passenger and plastic bags may soon be banned.
Malaysian cinema boomed but we lost quite a few pioneers – Krishen Jit, Yasmin Ahmad, Tony Kasim and Loga Arumugam of Alleycats fame to name a few.
Pudu Jail torn down, Bukit Bintang Girls School torn down, too many heritage mansions torn down and talk of a mega tower – the gains don’t balance out tearing down history.
We’ve had to deal with multiple floods, landslides, bus crashes, state assembly sitting under trees, political bickering, party hopping and so much more.
Looking back it’s been an eventful decade, as a friend summed it up quoting Dickens “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. The next ten years is critical because at the end of it, we should be celebrating a vision fulfilled – 2020.
Natalie couldn’t recap everything within the world limit but hopes that we can somehow move forward maturely into the next decade. Happy New Year Malaysia!
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