CaRIng and CaREfRee: The Decade that was... 2000 -2009

Many things happened in the decade which is fast drawing its curtain. I am being selective here and mention only those which I feel significant . The tumultuous decade started off with the Y2K scare which, yes ,you guessed it, just a scare. Millions of dollars were spent to prepare us in Malaysia to face the possible computer havoc. Later some experts said "Damn if we do and damn if we don't". Anyway some IT-related companies laughed all the way to the bank!

Y2K compliant indeed!

The event which changed the world forever took place in 2001, the 9/11 which not only killed innocent people but was further used to justify killing more innocent people. It also saw the making of the worst American president in living memory and the attack on Iraq based on false intelligence as part of the war on terror.

The ensuing years, 2002 and 2003 saw many Arab tourists visiting Malaysia. I used to see many of them in London before 9/11, shopping in major shopping favourites like Harrods, Mark&Spencer, John Lewis and Selfridges. They even have hotels in Bayswater named in Arabic but last year I noticed those hotels have closed down. The trend of Arab tourists' arrivals to Malaysia has endured till today, so now you hear plane arrival/departure announcements in KLIA made in Arabic. Just this month I noticed about 80% of guests having breakfast at a five star hotel in KL were Arabs.You did not see this in the last decade before the new millennium.

On Boxing Day 2004, the great tsunami annihilated about 200,000 people mostly in Aceh, Indonesia and parts of Thailand, Sri Lanka and to a small extent Malaysia. The tsunami triggered by the earthquake on the 9.4 Richter scale off the coast of northern Sumatra. It brought a flurry of multi-million USD in international aids. The devastation was enormous and the tales of survivors were heart-wrenching. But we heard of wealthy celebrities like Formula One Schumacher and moviestars like Jackie Chan and famous singers like Ricky Martin coming forward to contribute some of their personal fortune to help rebuild the devastated areas.

Ricky Martin

The devastation in Bandar Aceh. Only the mosque was left standing.

Other major notable disasters were hurricane Katrina which pummeled New Orleans, Louisiana, in the US in 2006 killing 1800 people with damages estimated to be USD 81 billion, the costliest in American history. And the Szechuan Earthquake in May 2008 killing more than 10,000 people and making more than 500,000 homeless. In 2009, a series of typhoons and floods battering the Philippines causing much misery to its people. In 2009 also saw the deadliest Australian bushfire in South Australia killing more than 170 people and wreaking gargantuan damages to homes and properties. And as I write the volcano Mayon in the Philippines is spewing its lava and set to erupt.

In March 2008, the reigning party which had been governing Malaysia for over 50 years suffered massive losses in the election. denying its usual comfortable two-third majority. Like the Liberal Democatic party (LDP) in Japan, that lost the election for the first time in 60 years. Somehow these losses planted the seeds of rejuvenation of the nations, just like the bushfires which destroy flora and fauna so that new lives would emerge completing the cycle of life.

It is noteworthy to mention the 2008 Olympics staged by China in August 2008. It was one of the most spectacular openings the world has ever seen on 080808. Though I remember well that the steel prices were at all time high as China was using a lot of it for construction works for the Olympics creating a temporary shortage but long enough for people like me who had to renovate my new house, having to pay almost four times the usual cost!

Then the subprime crisis in US evolving into financial crisis, credit crunch, economic melt-down and global financial disaster in October 2008 wiping out trillion of dollars, affecting people from all walks of life especially in US and Europe. We also felt the impact in Malaysia. I lost more than 20% of my stock market investment. Fortunately I managed to recover more than 10% since March 2009. It was a time of heartache for many people who lost their jobs as demands for goods and services plunged and inter-bank confidence retracted. Hard to believe that it happened as I remember in 2007 one of the advisers to NEAC (National Economic Advisory Commission) in Malaysia was saying that the world was flushed with trillions of dollars! Now we know it was just worthless bubbles.

The Lehmann Brothers

One of the financial juggernauts which collapsed during the crisis 2008

The year 2009 saw the historic inauguration of the first African American, Barack Obama as the 44th president of America. It never crossed my mind that I would see this in my lifetime. Thanks to the power of the internet, Obama was able to galvanize the nation fast into believing that CHANGE was what they needed after the disastrous unilateralism and policy on war on terror. The American people and the people of the world were already tired of the war President Bush.

President Obama- more articulate, charismatic and multi-lateralist.

Tomorrow is the start of a new day of the year 2010 and the first day of the Decade. Though the stock market has somewhat recovered as shown by the Wall St indices, concerns are still being expressed as to its sustainability. We saw the market short-lived panic last November on Dubai World debt problems as US and other European banks are major subscribers of the bonds issued by the Emirate. Indirectly some ripples would be felt in other parts of the world markets.

The Copenhagen Climate Change Summit (7 to 18 Dec 2009) has come and gone and the world is still divided on their share of carbon. Climate change is the politically correct reference to global warming thought to be have been contributed by carbon emission from various sources. There seems to be no urgency for united global action as the impact is still on a fear-free scale.

Climate change causing ice in Antarctica to melt jeopardizing the native penguins and raising the sea level with its consequences

Just as the world is enjoying some kind of relative peace, we heard of a person who is bent on killing innocent people by taping explosive chemical on his body while on the plane on Christmas over Detroit US. When will these people ever stop? They make life difficult for genuine air travellers. They make life uncomfortable for people of a certain religious persuasion.

I want to take one thing at a time. I want to enjoy and be grateful for each day, each week,each month and each year and forget the next Decade 2010-2019.... that reminds me, this is the decade before 2020! And what about the prophesied end of the world in December 2012?.... I must have that cup of coffee... sugarless thank you!