MUSCAT, 5 January 2004 — Five days ago, the world bid farewell to the year 2003. It was a year saturated with good as well as bad things. It was a year full of controversial, sometimes shocking, events and situations. Whichever way the people dissect the year 2003, we know for a fact that all of its 12 months are now behind us, and the dawn of New Year is upon us.
The year 2003 witnessed many natural disasters and ended with an earth-shattering bang in the form of a devastating earthquake which left the historic city of Bam in Iran in total ruins, killing over 30,000 people and injuring over 50,000.
The tragedy has shocked and saddened the entire world.
Though traumatic in the extreme, the event showed a huge extent of human solidarity in helping Iran cope with a gargantuan disaster.
Sympathy poured in, as did aid — in men and materials — from pretty much all quarters of the world. It must be said that the whole world came forward to share Iran’s sorrow and suffering.
The year 2003 was flecked with other tragic events as well. There were plane crashes, the latest being one that happened in Benin in west Africa last month, involving a Lebanese aircraft. An earthquake rocked Algeria, killing thousands of people. Floods wreaked havoc in several countries, claiming hundreds of lives. Some countries like France and America witnessed huge fires, destroying rainforests and racking up huge losses in men and materials.
Furthermore, the year 2003 was witness to several developments that changed world history.
The United Nations lost its leading and pioneering role, prompting big countries to invade small countries, for overt or covert reasons.
The result: More bloodshed and more destruction. It would have been far better if the big countries had led by example helping the poor nations over hard times, whether they stem from natural or man-made tragedies, or by helping to bring improvement to the lives of the oppressed.
Such humane acts would have encouraged the world’s weakest people to live on with a measure of happiness and facilitated human togetherness.
In 2003, terrorists struck in many cities with explosions that left death and destruction in their wake, causing enormous pain and sorrow.
Meanwhile, the world’s superpowers spent vast amounts of money in producing and purchasing deadly weapons. This was at a time when the world was in dire need of money for combating poverty, diseases and other tragic situations.
Today is the fifth day of the New Year. Let us wish and pray that the year 2004 will be marked by peace, security, stability and tolerance. Above all, we hope that a comprehensive, permanent peace will dawn on the Middle East. Here is wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.
— Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali is editor in chief of The Times of Oman.
