Not only because of COVID-19 pandemic that wreaked havoc in our lives, but it is almost as if Murphy's Law is at work and as many things that could possibly go wrong, went wrong.

To top all the disasters that the world had to face, we also had to face the utter incompetence of some public figures who are supposed to serve the country, sexism and views that could undo years of work towards achieving gender equality, and more.

There were many such moments in 2020, but here are some that stood out for us in no particular order.

Drinking "air suam" to fight COVID-19

Who could forget the time our Health Minister Datuk Dr Adham Baba suggested on national television that we should start drinking a lot of warm water to fight COVID-19 because the virus doesn't like heat?

The video went viral and he became so infamous that he is still known as the "air suam minister".

That was not the only gaffe by him; in another interview, the minister also accidently said that there were 500 countries in the world.

Not that either incident had any effect on him or his position: he has remained the Health Minister although we almost never hear him talk about COVID-19 since.

That responsibility seem to have been placed on Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Nor have we heard much about the work he or his two deputies do when it comes to improving the healthcare system in the country or handling the pandemic.

Sexist PSAs

It's bad enough when the regular joes make sexist comments, but it becomes much worse when a ministry that is supposed to protect the interest of a certain group of people does the opposite of exactly that.

Remember when Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) came under fire for PSA to survive the lockdown which said women should dress up at home with make-up and all, as well as speak to their spouses with "cute" voices like Doraemon?

It was so cringe-worthy and ridiculous that Malaysians even came up with funny content taking potshots at the ministry.

We'd really like to have a talk with the people who came up with these and allowed it to be shared on social media platforms. Are they okay?

Scammed or scammer?

We Malaysians love success stories. Whenever a fellow countrymen acheive something great be it locally or internationally, we're always ready to hail their success and take pride in it.

However, there are times when the celebrations are cut short.

Early in May, 20-year-old Muhammad Azhar Ali claimed on Twitter that he has received a prestigious scholarship from none other than the space agency, NASA.

Malaysians were quick to congratulate him...until people started noticing that some things didn't add up.

The things that didn't add up included language errors, issues with the logo (which many says looked like a copy/paste job) and Muhammad Azhar's name not being found in the NASA database.

Azhar then said that he was scammed into believing that he received the scholarship.

Scammer or scammed, the whole incident definitely made us go "What the fudge?".

Climbing trees for internet connection

We have nothing but admiration for 18-year-old Sabahan student Veveonah Mosibin, whose story of climbing a tree to sit for exams so she has the best internet connection went viral mid this year.

What makes the story "WTF?!" is that even in 2020, there are many in Malaysia who do not have proper internet access and how it affects them.

It's not like most of us didn't know that there are places in the country with poor internet connections. Even those of us who grow up in Semenanjung and in cities have experienced the lack of connectivity when we pass through more remote areas in the country.

But Veveonah's story made us all realise how big an impact the lack of infrastructure makes to those who have to live with it.

When Veveonah was called a liar by ministers

Adding salt to the wound, Kudat Member of Parliament and Deputy Finance Minster Abdul Rahim Bakri said that Vevoenah has "ulterior motive in posting her video of climbing a tree to sit for her exam.

Right before that Communications and Multimedia Deputy Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin, in parliament no less, had claimed that the Universiti Malaysia Sabah student made up the story about having to climb trees to get internet connection.

There were a lot of finger pointing between him and Abdul Bakri on who gave the wrong information, but Zahidi finally offered an apology to the poor girl who was just highlighting the plight of students like her in rural areas.

Which is the worst?1. Powerful man calling a young woman a liar.2. Getting facts wrong.3. Blaming his colleague.4. Day-job is in Comms.5. Still wanting to check Veveonah's exam status.6. Ignoring the main problem: low Net access in Sabah.https://t.co/TC8v0LOt8j

— Dr Khor SK (@DrKhorSK) September 7, 2020

Speaking of Zahidi, we're just like to point out that he was also the guy who blamed the rakyat for the latest wave of COVID-19 cases, despite it starting with the Sabah elections where plenty of politicians were caught not following the SOPs.

Flip-flopping regarding university re-opening

Not every student who goes to a local university live anywhere near the institution. Many have to travel far and spend lots of money on travels and accommodations.

The poor planning by the Higher Education Ministry caused thousands of students to be stranded when it made a U-turn on decisions to re-open universities after being closed for a period due to the pandemic.

Thousands were stranded without a place to stay, so much so that kind Malaysians started hashtags on Twitter and other social media platforms to help the students.

#RakyatJagaRakyat and #SiswaJagaSiswa went viral, with many offering places to stay, financial assistance and other forms of help to these students.

Although some parts of the story is heartwarming, the government's lack of foresight definitely makes this incident perfect for our list.

Multiple water cuts

We've lost count of the number of time Klang Valley residents, and even those in other states, have faced water cuts this year.

Whether it's on a large scale, or small; caused by pollution, sabotage or burst pipes; the result is the same.

The people suffering without water for hours or even days.

Will this ever end?

Water pollution causing water cuts for millions of people

Water cuts are nothing new to the folks of Klang Valley. But having it caused by factory owners who dumped chemicals intentionally into our water sources? That's just fudged up.

Twice this year, irresponsible people have caused millions of people to suffer without water for days.

Good news is, the government has decided to go hard on people who are too stupid to realise the consequences of their actions.

For the first time ever, a company director and a lorry driver were charged under Section 124K of the Penal Code under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma), facing life in prison.

They were also charged under several other sections, facing more prison time and fines.

So, who's running the country?

Does anyone else feel like 14th General Elections happened a lifetime ago?

Less than two years later, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad is no longer the Prime Minister, Pakatan Harapan seem to be barely there, Pakatan Nasional was formed but nobody really seem happy to be working with each other, two parties are waiting to get registered - one headed by the really old, and one by someone quite young.

All that and much more within just a year.

What will happen next? Who knows? Only a handful of politicians from either side seem to still have the interest of the people in heart. Most are just taking care of their own backs and this doesn't give us much hope for the near future.

Needless to say, 2020 has been an interesting year for sure.