MARCH 18 ― It seems that the Klang Valley is in a state of suspended animation. Traffic is humming and people are going about their daily business, but there seems to be a state of distraction and tiredness pervading the air.

It feels like the protests against rising prices and the bitter divisions that the “Allah” controversy brought to the fore are but a distant memory. Water shortages, inflation, the sentences against Anwar and Karpal ― all issues that would have brought the collective conversation to a fever pitch in any other context, have passed by with barely a murmur.

Even the haze, an annual affair that consumes reams of newsprint with all the blame to be passed around, is being borne literally and figuratively with a shrug and a mask on the face. Even good news such as Lee Chong Wei’s win at the All England, barely registered.

The Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque is pictured shrouded in haze in Shah Alam March 13, 2014. — Picture by Mohd Yusof Mat Isa

The only story in town is the story of the missing plane. Even though the fate of MH370 affects only a fraction of those affected by the haze and rising prices, it has everybody transfixed. It could be that it is a much more spectacular news story with all the attendant drama and human interest angles, it could also be that after a long time the attention of the world is on Malaysia or it could just be that it makes our problems pale in comparison.

At a deeper level though, the MH370 story just feels like the latest of a long season of bad news. Malaysia is a deeply spiritual nation where whatever the religious divisions, there is a deep set belief in the healing and transformative powers of charity and prayer.

Any disaster, any public story of people in need and communities in trouble brings help and prayers. Even in this instance, there has been an outpouring of messages of hope, interfaith services and candlelight vigils.

But underlying all of this spiritual activity is an increasing sense of despair. Is this just a series of unfortunate circumstances coming one after another, or just desserts for a nation that has squandered both its natural blessings and its legacy of true multiracial harmony? Could it be that the object of all this spirituality has not taken kindly to all the petty squabbling over its name and its ownership? Is this worry, numbness and despair a sign that all is not well in our spiritual selves?

Even the idea of having a good time free of any worries feels sacrilegious nowadays, recently accentuated by the deaths due to drug overdoses at the Future Music Festival Asia. The only silver lining seems to be in the fact that all this cannot last forever. But where will the break in the clouds come from?

Not from the people in charge. Don’t expect the politicians plotting moves to Putrajaya via Kajang to stop or the politics of hate to abate anytime soon, or for Barisan Nasional to stop trying to crush Pakatan Rakyat by any means possible. Don’t expect either prices or corruption to come down anytime soon either.  As to the decline in educational standards or the servility of the local mainstream media, even a cursory look at the quality of English and the cries of “Tan Sri, Tan Sri” at  the daily MH370 press conferences should be enough to dispel any hope.

But the power of prayer is at its greatest where the power of man is at its lowest. A missing plane that cannot be found, rain that will just not come, and winds that refuse to blow our tears away are perhaps much better objects of our entreaties to the almighty at this time than to hope for some humans to mend their ways.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.