On Monday, we will celebrate the lights of peace and harmony away from the darkness of war, conflicts, Covid-19 and extreme climate change.

Christmas, Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Gawai, Sabah Harvest Festival, Deepavali or Baha’i New Year in war-time and during armed conflicts elsewhere are always rather poignant.

In the traditionally troubled parts of the world, millions and millions of people will mark the day in absolute darkness, in explicit sufferings and in intense anxiety. No place is safe!

Bombings and destruction with unbelievable loss of innocent lives and property are taking the place of the warmth of family festive joy and happiness in many corners of the world.

Freedom of worship, a fundamental human right, is not respected. People are being persecuted.

Billions of people across the globe are now enormously affected by Covid-19 worldwide, notably from the new subvariant JN.1, as well as the untenable and unprecedented climate change which is the worst in the entire human history.

The latest climate change summit was a disappointment, as it is implicitly clear that wealthy nations are not prepared to go along into sustainable green energy and development, phasing out fossil fuels and coal, the root cause of today’s pollution.

Most of the rainforests have been mercilessly cut down by a group of borderless businessmen. Even the urban areas are not spared.

A strictly non-businessman, a charity worker whom I know intimately, had his personal hundred-foot hilly 6-acre property flattened, other prime urban properties acquired for a few percent of the prevailing market price, while he is busily engrossed with his passion in voluntary charity and environment works.

Today, poverty is incredibly universal, even in developed countries.

People are finding it hard to put food on the table for their families. People are losing jobs, small businesses and stalls are still struggling. Homeless people are found everywhere.

The world is in great turmoil. Unrest, violence, endless protests, man-made environmental disasters are the orders of the day!

If mankind, particularly the wealthy, are not prepared to immediately compromise by making some sacrifices for the future now, the global problems we are confronted with now will be worse than during the Great Depression and the last two world wars put together!

The torrential rains, uncontrollable floods, extreme heat, wild fires, tsunamis, typhoons, draughts, freezing Arctic temperatures, the deadly 366-day pollution in many countries, landslides and earthquakes, are making life untenable.

Everyone suffers, regardless of status, the rich or the poor, the mighty or the humble, the aggressor or the bullied, the enlightened or the uncivilised.

Man must change for the better after a few centuries of abuse of our fragile environment and the dignity of man, especially those from the poorest and least developed corners of planet earth where human beings were, and still are treated no better than personal property!

We must all move forward together, and not otherwise into the Dark Ages for the wrong reasons.

However, it is a source of immense satisfaction that some institutions and countries are reforming for a better world, and to be more relevant at this time and age.

Whatever we do, make the world a better and more peaceful place to live in!

The Scandinavian countries are the envy of the world. So is New Zealand.

It is source of immense that Sarawak is aspiring to be, So is Johor.

Sarawak is trying, after its people were neglected for a century before the last world war. But drug, opium and gambling were encouraged to contribute to its small economy.

Johor in the then Malaya was the first state to open to the world through its far-sighted ruler even to this day.

We can get better through good modern and sound education, given to the people to meet the modern and challenging world. We do or we will be left behind.

It is imperative that we must also live in harmony with nature and environment.

We must live in peace and harmony with all in the country.

We must not just tolerate, but accept, one another.

We must learn that “within the four seas we are all brothers and sisters”.

We must love one another, and not hate in the name of religious and political beliefs.

Nothing is impossible, if we have the will and determination.

Invest in the future, in words and in deeds.

Together we can build a world which we all can be proud of.

Be sincere and never be a hypocrite.

Give a helping hand to the poor, the underprivileged, the disabled, the deprived, the ostracised, and the minority.

We must realise that as long as we are not prepared to change and reform, we will forever remain a less than desired country.

We give thanks for being able to celebrate what we believe in, our fundamental human rights, under the full protection of the law.

May I wish the lights of all festive occasions to continue to brighten our beloved county today and always.

Merry Christmas to all, wherever you are!

(Datuk Seri Ang Lai Soon is Sarawak social activist, philanthropist, founder of St John’s Ambulance Sarawak.)