It is only a couple of days before 2014 takes its bow and gives way to 2015.It has been a turbulent year with more bad news than good. Malaysia’s national airline lost two aircraft with all their crew and passengers.
One disappeared under mysterious circumstances and no trace of it has been found although search efforts are still continuing. The other was blown out of the sky by a missile while passing through war-torn airspace. To date body parts found have been repatriated while the broken pieces of the aircraft have been retrieved for reconstruction in an attempt to establish what actually happened and to understand the tragedy.
The monsoon months towards the end of the year have brought deadly floods that have inundated towns in many states in Malaysia. The floods this year are the worst and there is still more rain to come. Thousands of evacuees are still sheltering in relief centers while aid is being sent to them. It doesn’t look as if the waters are going to recede any time soon.
Kidnappings of tourists and locals from seaside resorts and local fish farms by terrorists from a neighboring country have dealt a severe blow to the tourist trade with hotel cancellations and a drastic fall in businesses that rely heavily on tourist arrivals.
As if all these are not bad enough, news of another air tragedy hit the headlines today. Air Asia, a home grown budget airline which has expanded to many countries in the region, lost an aircraft en route from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore. Air Asia Indonesia fears that the 162 people including children and an infant on board, could have gone down due to bad weather and the search and rescue efforts are underway. Everyone is praying that there will be survivors and our thoughts are with the families of the passengers and crew.
2014 has been a year of trial and tribulation for Malaysians and we hope for a better year with the coming of 2015.
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