Happy New Year everyone! Thank god 2014 is behind us. I am sure everyone just could not wait for the year to end looking at the string of tragedies that happened in Malaysia.

It’s already the 8th day in 2015 and reflecting back on last year..phew..what a year it was! All we heard about was one tragedy after another. As a recap, here was what happened:

Drought in Klang Valley

The drought during the 1st quarter of 2014. Most areas in Klang Valley were affected by water cuts and there was rationing, some places got water every 2 days once, some every alternate day and some areas practically none. Water tanks were brought in to these areas.

MH370 & MH17

This was followed by the disaster flights MH370 on 8th March and MH17 on 17th July which will be etched in our memories forever. MH370 was the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and it last made contact over the South China Sea less than an hour before takeoff before completely disappearing from the radar of the air traffic controllers. The flight carried 227 passengers and 12 crew members. There is still no news of MH370 and her passengers till date.

As for MH17, the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down near the Ukraine-Russian border killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members. Investigations are still on-going on what exactly happened.

There are ongoing conspiracy theories about both flights till date. 🙁

East Coast Floods & QZ8501

To end the year, 2 tragedies happened. One was the devastating flood situation in the east coast region. According to reports by the National Security Council in Malay Mail Online on 5th January, “water levels of the recent floods superseded the floods of 1967.  More than 200,000 people were affected while 21 killed on the floods”.

Source: AFP Pix from Malay Mail Online 5th January. Aerial view of Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

The other tragedy was another flight crash, this time it was Air Asia QZ8501 on 28th December. Although it was an Air Asia Indonesia flight, Malaysians felt the pain too because 1) It was an Air Asia plane and we have all been on one, 2) After 2 flight disasters, we knew the pain and 3) 1 Malaysian was onboard.

What can we learn from all these tragedies in 2014?

1) Life is short and you never know what the future holds for anyone of us.

2) Spend time with your loved ones and spread the message of love not hatred or prejudice.

3) Utilize every day as if it were your last.

These 3 points should be part of everyone’s 2015 New Year Resolution…its definitely in mine.

Let’s mourn the departed and help those in need.

Cheers and have a great 2015! Hope this year will be better year for Malaysia and for all of us!