A year to fear and worry
There are times when cautious optimism takes a back seat to paranoid anxieties.
I WON’T deny it, I have begun this year full of dread.
Maybe it’s my middle age and some debilitating medical conditions that have come with it. Maybe it’s personal circumstances that have shaken some of the foundations of my life. But whenever I look around, I struggle to be positive about the future.
Looking at this world through a veil of melancholy hardly makes me the best person to be around at this point in time, but I do like to be confronted by the real picture rather than be fooled by a soothing or glamorous filter.
So you tell me truly, what about 2017’s political scene gives cause for optimism? Is it the continuous rounds of violence in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan which happen with such regularity that we are immune to it?
We have seen outgoing US President Barack Obama grapple with the difficulties of diplomacy, a recalcitrant Congress and the complicated web he assumed control of. Do we really think that the unpredictable maverick Donald Trump is going to sort the world out?
My fear is that the IS militant groups, al-Qaeda and the like are just waiting for Trump to take office before unleashing another round of deadly violence.
Perhaps they are counting on him to react dramatically and push the world into an even more polarised situation, one in which it is well nigh impossible to remain neutral? After all, the Sept 11 attacks occurred just eight months into George W. Bush’s first term as president. Are the militant groups counting on a similarly illogical reaction from Trump? I fear so.
We have seen that even if the masses are rational, and militants are few, the latter can destabilise a society. What more when the masses become desperate in the face of economic constraints.
And even in Malaysia, sooner or later we have to confront the impending reality of Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s Private Member’s Bill. If it gets through Parliament, will it be the start of a domino effect spread out over a period of time culminating in syariah law becoming the law of the land in another 20 to 30 years?
Have we not learnt the lessons of other countries where a desire for more order and justice result in handing over too much power to religious extremists, who then abuse their power?
How will our moderate, multi-racial Malaysia survive such a push? Should those of us who believe in secular principles stand and fight, or turn and run?
And even if the social contract does survive, how optimistic are you feeling about the economic prospects?
Even if one chooses to move, I have UK relatives worried about the fallout of the Brexit and US relatives who feel that it is a worse place to live in since Trump’s election.
The Latin American left wing wave that saw the exciting presidencies of Lula, Chavez, Kirchner and Mujica appears to be rolled back every few months. And just a few weeks ago, I was writing excitedly about the surprising election results in Gambia in which dictator Yahya Jammeh lost to Adama Barrow. Jammeh initially accepted the loss and was supposed to hand over power this coming Wednesday. But now, it looks like he’s pulling a U-turn and challenging the results. Who’s to say he won’t be in power in a decade’s time?
How about Myanmar? Weren’t we happy when Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won the election and a long-awaited transition to democracy was on the cards? Well, how happy are we now with her handling of the Rohingya situation? Doesn’t it seem that an unpleasant stalemate has been reached in which progress is minimal at best?
The Arab Spring? Which country seems better off now? Ok, ok, I’ll grant you Tunisia but not much else appears to have changed for the better in the region.
What’s there to be positive about? The environment? The future direction of the media industry? The spiralling cost of medical care? As far as I can see, my children are happy with the Malaysia they have grown up in, yet I am fearful of the path it may take. Maybe it’s just a state of mind, maybe it’s darkest before dawn but there are times when one simply cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Star online news editor Martin Vengadesan regrets the gradual decline of his once-strong belief in the future.