THREE more days to a brand new year. The year 2011 seems to have passed by at the speed Mat Rempit take to the highways. Numerous tragedies around the world have marred the year of the Metal Rabbit.
That is not surprising as, based on the predictions of feng shui experts, astrologists and Po, the Kung Fu Panda, it was supposed to have been a volatile year of crime, scandals, party-hopping and natural disasters.
Divorce rates were also supposed to have gone up (but don't they every year?) with a spike in adulterous affairs, sexually-transmitted disease and gynaecological problems among those born in the year of the Rooster.
We can't believe every single thing feng shui practitioners tell us but their predictions can sometimes be spot on. We don't know about Roosters and their intimate problems but it's true that there have been several major tragedies this year, some blighting the year-end holiday mood.
In Malaysia, two major landslides claimed numerous lives. The first, on May 21, killed 15 children and a caretaker at an orphanage in Hulu Langat, Selangor; and the second, on Aug 7, killed seven and seriously injured two others at the Sungai Ruil Orang Asli settlement in Brinchang, Cameron Highlands.
There were also bus accidents, and other calamities involving cars, bikes, and boats. There were heart-wrenching tales of human tragedy. Parents lost their kids to the sea and rivers, in fires, parked cars and to predators that walk among us.
One frightful incident recently was that of a 6-year-old girl who died in a longhouse fire in Mendamit, Sarawak. Sofizza Camella anak Abang was found dead in a water pot in the toilet, likely boiled alive. A 2-year-old died in the blaze, too, in the next room. The images of the dead children -- who clearly died in terrible pain -- are not one can immediately, if ever, forget.
On July 7, a serial child assailant held 30 toddlers and children in a kindergarten in Muar, Johor. Two months later, four Malaysians, including a 3-year-old boy died in a bomb blast in Golok, Thailand. Overdevelopment and climate change wrought havoc on many nations across the world, and Malaysia was no exception.
Right now, floods continue to inundate Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak. Just recently, one of the main towns in Selangor -- Kajang -- was submerged after hours of torrential rain, as were parts of Kuala Lumpur, too.
Things were worse elsewhere.
On March 11, a 8.9 magnitude earthquake, the biggest on record, hit Japan's northeast coast, triggering a 10m tsunami that swept away everything in its path, and sparked fears of a total nuclear reactor meltdown.
A gunman in Norway massacred 69 people at an island youth retreat in July after detonating a bomb in nearby Oslo that killed eight others in the country's worst violence since World War 2.
August saw the worst rioting in decades in London. And in America, Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a child with a member of his household staff, causing the break-up of his 25-year marriage to Maria Shriver.
Many would thus be glad to see the year come to a close and the start of a calmer, more quiet 12 months, courtesy of the Water Dragon.
But will the year of the fierce Water Dragon be a year of change fraught with water and earth-related natural disasters, as feng shui masters claim?
Can't say just yet, but there are several things we can expect next year: THE 13th GENERAL ELECTION, which has been described as the "mother of all elections";