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2022: A terrible year, but with silver linings
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Light up the night: Lantern Festivals are the signature New Year's celebrations at Dieng and Borobudur temples. (Unsplash/Leon Contreras) (Unsplash/Leon Contreras)
I
ndonesians are bidding farewell to another terrible year, 2022, the latest annus horribilis, filled with global conflicts, national tragedies and lingering uncertainties. But while we say good riddance to it, 2022 appears to have revealed some silver linings, giving us reasons to be more upbeat about the new year ahead.
“Twenty-22 was a bad year,” said 30-year-old Ilmia Safitri, a lecturer from Yogyakarta, who said she had been concerned about the health of her children following reports of increasing cases of acute kidney injury (AKI) — which were caused by consuming toxic medicines — among children in the country. “My children easily get sick after the pandemic.”
Her sentiment is hardly an outlier.
A year of tragedies
Globally, the Omicron-driven wave of COVID-19 infection brought a painful start t0 2022, which was followed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. The fresh war in Europe triggered a ripple effect throughout the globe, including in Indonesia.
At home, the country also saw some of the worst, and deadliest, tragedies throughout the year. On Oct. 1, more than 130 spectators of a soccer match in East Java were killed and about 600 others injured in a deadly stadium stampede caused by the unwarranted use of tear gas by the authorities. More than 40 of those killed in the incident were children.
The tragedy has forced the country to do some soul searching, prompting fresh calls for a review on the use of excessive violence by the police as well as an overhaul of Indonesian soccer, which has long been beset by scandals and controversies.
