The World Ahead 2022

Reflecting on this year's World Ahead, editor Tom Standage, wrote, "If 2021 was the year the world turned the tide against the pandemic, 2022 will be dominated by the need to adjust to new realities, both in areas reshaped by the pandemic and as deeper trends reassert themselves."

Source:https://asianpolyglotview.com

While The World Ahead includes many predictions, the ten major themes for 2022 are as follows:

1. Democracy v autocracy. America's mid-term elections and China's Communist Party congress will vividly contrast their rival political systems.
2. Pandemic to endemic. New antiviral pills, improved antibody treatments and more vaccines are coming. For vaccinated folks in the developed world, the virus will no longer be life-threatening. But it will still pose a deadly danger in the developing world. 
3. Inflation worries. Supply-chain disruptions and a spike in energy demand have pushed up prices. Central bankers say it's temporary, but not everyone believes them. 
4. The future of work. There is a broad consensus that the future is "hybrid", and that more people will spend more days working from home.
5. The new techlash. Regulators in America and Europe have been trying to rein in the tech giants for years, but have yet to make a dent in their growth or profits. Now China has taken the lead, lashing its tech firms in a brutal crackdown.
6. Crypto grows up. Like all disruptive technologies, cryptocurrencies are being domesticated as regulators tighten rules. Central banks are also looking to launch their own, centralised, digital currencies. The result is a three-way fight for the future of finance—between the crypto-blockchain-DeFi crowd, more traditional technology firms and central banks—that will intensify in 2022. 
7. Climate crunch. Even as wildfires, heatwaves and floods increase in frequency, a striking lack of urgency prevails among policymakers when it comes to tackling climate change.
8. Travel trouble. Activity is picking up as economies reopen. But countries that pursued a zero covid "suppression" strategy, such as Australia and New Zealand, face the tricky task of managing the transition to a world in which the virus is endemic.
9. Space races. 2022 will be the first year in which more people go to space as paying passengers than government employees, carried aloft by rival space-tourism firms. 
10. Political footballs. The Winter Olympics in Beijing and the football World Cup in Qatar will be reminders of how sport can bring the world together—but also how big sporting events often end up being political footballs. Expect protests directed at both host countries, though boycotts by national teams seem unlikely.

For Malaysia wishful thinking would suggest the following:

• GE15, and a “new” government with new agenda for all people;
• Covid and its variants are held under control. Tourism and travel resume substantially;
• Economy recovers to 6% GDP growth;
• Race and religious issues are sidelined or “outlawed”;
• NEP (and its variants) is replaced by a  Needs-Based Policy;
• Education is re-set for a progressive Malaysia;
• Corruption is curtailed with a Commission on Truth and Restoration;
• Institutions like the police, civil service are rebuilt to their “former” glory.

And many more initiatives that make Dubai or Saudi Arabia’s reforms insignificant by comparison. That’s my hope and may be yours as well! May we have more of that in 2022.

Reference:

2022 will be the year of adjusting to new realities according to The Economist’s The World Ahead 2022, The Economist, (www.prnewswire.com, 9/11/2021)