Coffee Break: Twenty-one wishes for 2021

Wednesday 23 Apr 2025

By Supriya Surendran / The Edge Malaysia

16 Dec 2020, 04:00 pm

This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 14, 2020 - December 20, 2020

It’s about that time of the year again when we get all excited about Christmas and New Year and our resolutions for the coming year.

Well, considering the year that 2020 has been, suffice to say that Christmas celebrations will probably be as subdued as those of other festive occasions this year.

As for New Year’s resolutions, is the thought process even worth it as there are more than 19 million active Covid-19 cases globally — and counting?

That’s why for 2021, I’d rather make wishes than resolutions.

To all fairy godmothers reading The Edge, here is my humble wish list for 2021.

For Covid-19 to have as much importance as the recorder lessons we took in primary school and add maths we learnt in secondary school — completely forgotten and utterly irrelevant to our lives.
For all our frontliners — the doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, paramedics and so on — to get a well-deserved rest.
For us to be kinder to one another. Please leave your xenophobia and politically incorrect statements in 2020.
For there to be more baby hatches around the country — or for sex education to be taught in schools — so that babies are not treated like rubbish and thrown out.
To be able to complain about how crowded Malaysian malls are and what a pain it is to find parking given that malls were empty in 2020.
To travel again like a normal person, without the paranoia of worrying whether the guy seated next to me on the plane who just innocently sneezed, has Covid-19.
Similarly, to watch a movie in the cinema without wondering if I could end up in Sungai Buloh hospital when someone coughs.
For AirAsia to fly high again. Before Covid-19, thanks to AirAsia, many of us got to see the world at a rate which didn’t bleed us dry. You can deny it all you want, but with its red cap branding and rock music blaring on landing, we all were proud to have a “cool” Malaysian brand we could call our own.
For travel bans to be lifted and Malaysian tourism to be revived.
For our country to produce more Ustaz Ebit Lews, Uncle Kentangs and Cikgu Samuels, and fewer politicians who say the most ridiculous things.
For the brain drain to stop so that we can have more Pua Khein-Sengs. He invented the USB drive technology and now resides in Taiwan.
For the growth of our economy to miraculously beat consensus expectations and for salaried employees like you and me to receive our bonus pay cheques.
For the US president to “Make America Great Again”, this time without offending the rest of the world. Here’s looking at you, Joe Biden.
For some miraculous overnight ayurvedic cure for Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk’s injury.
Related to the point above, for Liverpool to win the English Premier League again.
For us to get a proper “Bella Ciao” ending to the Netflix series Money Heist — one which does not involve more characters dying.
To hear our favourite bands play at our favourite hangouts again. (I miss you, Backyard Pub bands.)
On that same note, for our friends in the entertainment industry, the deejays and the emcees to get their livelihoods back on track.
For the Tokyo Summer Olympics that was postponed in 2020 to actually take place.
For the TikTok generation of females to stop looking at people like Cardi B and the Kardashian-Jenners as models of female empowerment and to start looking at ladies like US vice-president-elect Kamala Harris instead.
Last but definitely not least, for you to renew your subscription to The Edge.