THIS year will see a crisis, the experts say, but we know, ‘fate’ is a tale that always arrives too late. We can draw the conclusion only once the journey is over.

How history will end is no easy thing to answer. Because, as in Chairil Anwar’s allegory in Notes from 1946, we are hunted dogs that

—see only part of the present performance
Not knowing if Romeo and Juliet will embrace in the grave or in bed

Once there was optimism that we