It was Charles Dickens who wrote these famous words in his classic book A Tale of Two Cities – "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."
2020 has most (if not all) of those elements. February saw the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government. The ensuing months revealed the nasty face of politics — grab for power, treachery and broken alliances.
With March came the Movement Control Order (MCO) as cases of Covid-19 started to rise in the country and elsewhere, heralding a global pandemic.
On March 20, three days after MCO was implemented, cases crossed the 1,000 mark. It was a black Friday, as we were no longer allowed to attend Friday prayers in our mosques – which never happened before.
On April 1, the long-awaited Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Bill was tabled in Parliament. Many of my colleagues asked "Is it not too little, too late?"
May was eventful. First, the government announced the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), hoping to restore normalcy. Second, on May 14, Riza Aziz was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA). Third, on May 18, the official opening of the Third Session of the 14th Parliament took place, creating many "firsts".
It was the best of times for Pas leader Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, who succeeded Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir as Kedah's new Menteri Besar on May 18.
He soon issued several statements (regarding a Hindu temple, water dispute with Penang and his plan to mine rare earth), which displeased several quarters — but that is another story.
On June 9, former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman was acquitted and discharged of all 46 criminal charges preferred against him. He was set free after the prosecution told the court that it is withdrawing all the charges against him.
On July 28, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was convicted of seven charges of corruption and money laundering, and sentenced by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to 12 years' jail and fined RM210 million.
Meanwhile, former Felda chairman Tan Sri Isa Samad is still in hot water.
On June 16, the prosecution had proved a case against him on all nine bribery charges, but set him free on the CBT charge. Also facing an uncertain future is Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. According to a media report, he is facing 87 charges.
History was created on Oct 25 when the Yang di-Pertuan Agong rejected a bid to declare a state of emergency. His Majesty's decision had been hailed as a mark of "royal wisdom". Surprisingly, a young lawyer had filed a judicial review to challenge it.
A "winter of despair" awaits the family of the late Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, who died of massive injuries sustained in a riot at a Hindu temple on Nov 27, 2018. In September last year, coroner Rafiah Mohamad declared that Adib's death was due to criminal action of unidentified individuals.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin told Parliament on Nov 14 that the "results of investigation" would be made known shortly. Adib's father, Mohd Kassim Abdul Hamid told the media that his family had been waiting for a long time to "see the face" of his son's killer in court.
This month saw the arrest of several senior Immigration officers (suspected of being involved in human trafficking and migrant smuggling) and a celebrity youth preacher (charged with rape and other sexual offences). Could this be what Dickens meant by an "age of foolishness?"
The month also saw the passing of Royal Professor Ungku Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid, and the sweet victory of the PN-led government in getting its 2021 Budget approved in the Dewan Rakyat, albeit with a thin majority.
The Public Accounts Committee announced that it would be calling Zahid to answer questions relating to the delay in the RM9 billion littoral combat ships project in his capacity as the former defence minister.
According to media reports, the project was commissioned in 2014, RM5.9 billion had been paid, but none of the ships had been completed to date — another sad picture of Malaysia's broken procurement regime.
To summarise, 2020 indeed seems to be "a season of darkness, at times the spring of hope and also the winter of despair".
The writer, a former federal counsel at the Attorney-General's Chambers, is deputy chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
