It is funny - I started writing this post with 1984 in mind - and a veiled reference to Orwell's dystopian classic when I unexpectedly found this old newspaper clipping. I did a little digging. Apparently, the book had attained cult status during the May 2014 coup. Hence the clampdown.
Orwell or coup or not, 1984 was also the year I was transferred out to Malim Nawar, a rustic ex-mining town off Kuala Dipang on the main road between Gopeng and Kampar in Perak.
I reported to work at the power station on the 1st of March 1984, exactly 4 years after joining LLN/TNB in Prai.
For me an adventure beckoned, for some of my other friends who were posted there as well, it was an unwelcome transition. The commitments were different. A few were single; some already married, and a few with children. Despite that, with all this baggage, we duly settled down in the proverbial one-horse town. I eventually ended up staying there for 7 years.
While my moving away from Prai hardly caused a ripple anywhere, there were a few major news both at home and in the world that signaled the world was changing, some for the better, others not really so.
A collection of 12 stories then, from 1984 is appropriate, 1 for each month of the year:
1. January: Apple introduced the Macintosh personal computer, with the now-famous "1984" commercial airing during Super Bowl XVIII.
2. February: The opening ceremony for the XIV Olympic Winter Games are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, in February. Less than 8 years later, the former Yugoslavia would be torn apart by the second Balkan war.
3. March: CIA station chief based in Beirut, William Francis Buckley, is kidnapped by Hezbollah. He dies in captivity after 15 months of torture to reveal his network of agents.
4. April: One day before his 45th birthday, Marvin Gaye intervenes in an altercation between his parents and is shot by his own father.
5. May: Liverpool and Roma of Italy resort to penalties after a 1–1 draw in the final of the European Cup at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. With this win, Liverpool become the first English club to win three major trophies in the same season.
6. June: Richard Branson’s airline company, Virgin Atlantic Airways makes its inaugural flight from Gatwick Airport in London to Newark, New York.
7. July: The Summer Olympic Games open in Los Angeles, California. Despite the Soviet-led boycott, a record-breaking 140 nations take part. The tit-for-tat leaves athletes like Filbert Bayi and John Walker and dozens of others unable to compete at the highest level due to political interference in sports.
8. August: NASA Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage on mission STS-41-D to deploy three communications satellites.
9. September: The American family sitcom Happy Days is canceled after 11 seasons.
10. October: Indira Gandhi the Indian Prime Minister is assassinated at her home in New Delhi. Her two bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh fire numerous rounds into the politician. Both are later executed for her murder.
11. November: 36 pop musicians from across Britain and Ireland gather in a Notting Hill, London studio to record Do They Know It’s Christmas to raise money for the Ethiopian famine victims.
12. December: In Bhopal, India, a chemical leak at a pesticide plant exposes over half a million people to methyl isocyanate. Known as the worst-ever industrial disaster, thousands are killed immediately and tens of thousands more continue to suffer the aftermath.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia:
1. Sultan Idris Shah II of Perak died suddenly after suffering a heart attack in Lumut, Perak. He was succeeded by Sultan Azlan Shah.
2. The name "Saga" was chosen for the first national car. The first Proton Saga would be launched a year later.
3. The BMF scandal reupted.
4. Sabah gave up Labuan to make it a Federal Territory.
5. TV3 began transmission as the 1st private local tv station. The musical show Solid Gold was a huge hit.