KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — As 2020 comes to a close and the world ushers in the new year, Malaysians are expressing optimism in the year ahead even as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating.
Even as the capital is still under conditional movement control order and all major celebrations have been cancelled, revellers met at the city centre’s hot spots were in high spirits as they celebrated the end of a milestone.
For 25-year-old Farah Elynna, she hoped that 2021 would be a better year for everyone, more so with the vaccines now being developed against Covid-19.
For her, she said 2020 was not so bad for her but couldn’t say the same for others.
“2020 wasn’t so bad for us, we got married recently so that trumps everything,” she told Malay Mail, with her spouse by her side when met at Pavilion KL.
Farah said she was aware that large-scale New Year’s Eve celebrations were prohibited but chose to head out nonetheless to usher in the New Year albeit in a more subdued manner.
Youngsters Farah Deanna and Yung Ern said they wished to travel again following the government’s decision to impose a travel ban on international flights indefinitely since March when the movement control order (MCO) kicked in.
“We hope 2021 is much better than this year. I hope that next year we can start travelling again!” the 18-year-olds said.
As for Anita Siddhu, she lamented the setbacks experienced by her family in 2020 brought about by the pandemic and how wasteful the year was.
“I have had friends who have cancelled weddings that they had been planning for years, family holidays that had to be cancelled, which are ridiculously hard to organise.
“I’m glad 2020 is coming to an end, and I sincerely hope 2021 is better for everyone,” the 31-year-old said.
In light of the high Covid-19 cases, the government has extended the conditional movement control order (CMCO) in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Sabah until January 14.
This also meant that large-scaled events or activities via gatherings were still prohibited as stipulated due to difficulty in controlling physical distancing.
