By Chong Lip Teck, Sin Chew Daily

The local Chinese community has picked the Chinese character if the year for 2020. Given the ravaging coronavirus pandemic that sweeps the world this year, expectedly the word "疫" has emerged as the winner by a landslide.

As this is well within the anticipation of many, some feel that the selection has lost its significance because there couldn't have been a better word to sum up the year about to conclude.

No doubt the pandemic has taken the world in a big way, adversely impacting the day-to-day lives of every single individual on this world, as many have lost their jobs while national economies sink to a low, as epitomized by the four little words beneath a crossed out 2020 on its latest cover: The worst year ever.

Towards the end of a difficult year, the daily numbers of new coronavirus infections continue to linger in the four-digit territory for weeks, a whole lot worse than early this year even though we have far fewer restrictions now under the so-called CMCO.

Looking back at the year about to end, we are not only near to the "Wawasan 2020" Tun M chanted three decades ago, but we are fast caught up by our neighbors. This has nothing to do with the pandemic matter-of-factly. The "wawasan" is but a political slogan.

Soon the year will be behind us as we usher in 2021, but that will not make us any less worried about the unpredictability of the viral outbreak. Will our politics, economy, livelihood and education ever get back to what they were before the onset of the pandemic?

If the word "pandemic" best describes the year 2020, hopefully the Chinese character of the year for 2021 can be more realistically reflect Malaysians' longing for a more bountiful, secure and peaceful year ahead.

I have recently consulted a number of people across a wide spectrum of industries on what they expect of the new year by picking from a selection of keywords.

With a new year comes the new hopes. There are quite a number of respondents who have picked the word "hope". Even those who have picked other keywords to qualify their moods for the new year have inexplicitly expressed their hopes when explaining their choices.

Fr. Anthony Heng of CDD Malaysia has said this year's pandemic has inflicted war-like fears on humanity, surrounding with negative energy of apprehension. To him, this is a time for us to repent for the destruction we have wrought to man-to-man, man-to-Earth and man-to-God relationships in the midst of our worldly pursuits. As such, the year to come should be a year of "restoration", a year full of new hopes and blessings.

"Restoration", yes, this is the word that I particularly like.

As we restore our relationships with ourselves, or with other people, or Nature (including God), we should feel the importance of "appreciation".

If not for the virus, we may have overlooked the stark reality that we have been so unappreciative of all that we have been given.

Still remember when we were locked indoors during the MCO earlier this year? Because humans momentarily stopped destroying our natural ecosystem, Nature was accorded a rare respite from human annihilation. The heavily polluted Melaka River became clear again. If we were to study the changes taking place in our natural environment this year, you would be shocked how speedily and robustly it has restored itself!

We must learn to live peacefully with Nature. While we have drawn a hole lot of resources from Nature to satisfy many of our daily needs, we have done only colossal damages in repaying such goodwill.

We will suffer the consequences of our own wickedness if Nature decides to fight us back one day.

An immense lesson we have drawn from the coronavirus is that if we fail to restore our relationship with Nature, the price to pay will be unimaginable.

The Economist mentioned in "The World in 2021" new year special that one silver lining amid the crisis is the chance to take action on climate change, as governments invest in green recovery plans to create jobs and cut emissions. How far we can go will nevertheless depend on how determined our government is in developing a green economy.

Annie Ng, a church friend, says even if a virus can evolve, more so should humans keep improving ourselves to become better persons.

Many will see 2021 as a year humans will triumph over the virus. And vaccine is where their hope is derived from.

Grace Wang, founder of The Pink Shoes platform for volunteers, has therefore picked "rebirth" as her preferred keyword for 2021. She explained that we will gradually keep the virus at bay with the new vaccines. Everything will be put back on the right track and humans will be reborn again!

Having said that, WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the progress made in the development of vaccines has made us see the "light at the end of the tunnel", but to it is still a long way to go to put the pandemic to a decisive end. We still need to adhere to all the SOPs even if the vaccines are available in the market.

Some countries have started vaccinating their citizens in recent weeks, which is a good start. But there are still uncertainties.

First and foremost, will the production enough to meet the needs of the entire world's population? And how to overcome the issues with transportation and storage?

These are the challenges that must be overcome if nations were to acquire sufficient stock for their citizens.

And then we have the question of confidence and the fact that many people may resist vaccination.

Anna Yan, a PR officer at a private college, has decided to embraced "caution" as a reminder. She says many believe that 2020 is only the start of the worst and that we will only hit the rock bottom come 2021 before we could expect a V-shaped rebound, and no one has any idea how far things will bounce back and how much effort we have to throw in too see the rebound.

As such, we should remain constantly cautious, and cautiously optimistic.

What needs to be treated with caution includes also the country's economic outlook for next year.

The Economist has pointed out the post-pandemic economic recovery of a country has something to do with the virus has come under containment.

The tourist industry has been the hardest hit in 2020, as nations impose travel restrictions.

While answering a question from me, Apple Vacations founder Lee San has decided that the keyword "revival" would best describe his expectations as well as concerns for the new year.

He says while the virus has plunged the entire world's economy to a depression unseen in many decades, the crisis nevertheless offers a unique opportunity for those who have readied themselves for it. Unfortunately, politics and religious populism could stand the way for such a "revival".

Talking about politics, the utter chaos that we have seen this year will most definitely bog down the country's development in the coming year. Could early general election fix all our problems?

Dr Jeniri Amir, Senior Fellow, of National Professors Council (MPN), meanwhile, has gone for the keyword "uncertainty", pointing out that vicious rivalry will remain the "new normal" in Malaysian politics whether Perikatan Nasional gets to rule again after the election, and this will be exacerbated by uncertainties over the viral outbreak.

Universiti Malaya's Associate Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi has adopted "uncertainty" and "vulnerability" for the year to come. While the "uncertainty" is largely derived from the politicians' selfish calculations, "vulnerability" is stemmed from our lack of determined and courageous political leaders.

Despite the many uncertainties, veteran newsman Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar insists to embrace "hope" as he sees 2020 as a turning point, the start of a new era for Malaysia which should have seen as being accepted into the league of developed nations. We should have achieved the "Vision 2020" goals but we have not.

"We can only hope that the vaccines can help control the spread of the virus, and that we have a better economy and greater unity among Malaysians. Hopefully our politicians will not disappoint us again and hope we can continue to move forward."

Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, meanwhile, believes 2021 will be a year of new hopes, but this can only happen with restructuring and transformation.

In conclusion, having experienced the ups and downs of 2020, it's a mixed bag of feelings for most people for 2021 although they agree that whether 2021 will be a better year depends on our own input and effort.