The New Straits Times, January 2, 2000
By Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
THE supposed "new" millennium has arrived. Celebrated globally, it was one big continuous event, the likes of which the world had never seen.
Strictly speaking, the year 2000 is not the beginning of the "new" millennium. It actually only starts on Jan 1, 2001.
The reason for this dates back almost 500 years. Then, the year was generally calculated based on the Gregorian calendar, which had an inherent problem.
The Gregorian calendar used only Roman numerals, which do not feature zero as a "single" digit.
In the late fifth century, when the concept of Anno Domini (AD) introduced years to denote the birth of Jesus Christ, it led to the dating of 1 AD to mark Christ's birth date.
In other words, the first millennium stretches from Jan 1, 1 AD to Dec 31, 1000 AD. The word "millennium" is from the Latin "mille", meaning a thousand, and "annus" meaning year.
Together, it means a time period of 1,000 years. The second millennium, therefore, is from Jan 1, 1001 to Dec 31, 2000, and the third millennium from Jan 1, 2001.
The so-called "new" millenium has come a year too early at the insistence of millennium-mania.
Structures were built to immortalise the event. The Millennium Dome in London, Millennium Monument in Fiji, Century Monument in the shape of a giant sundial in China - to name a few.
The Millennium Dome, in addition, holds a giant person with a baby.
Notwithstanding this, others were looking for "living symbols" to ring in new life into the "new millennium".
Last year, as early as April 9, for example, 100 couples were placed in a New Zealand hotel (since New Zealand is among the first countries to see the new dawn) in order to procreate millennium babies.
The British health authorities, too, anticipated sexual activity to peak, and issued the advice to "take a condom on millennium night" for those wanting only to have a good time.
In Singapore, the first 200 parents of babies born in January 2000 will be given a baby gold-plated medallion designed by Singapore Mint.
In the words of the organisers: "The babies in year 2000 symbolise our nation's hopes for the new millennium."
In Malaysia, too, the new-borns will be honoured with unique birth certificate numbers to be issued for each month of the year.
A prize of RM120,000 in "health benefits" was also reserved for the first Malaysian millennium baby in a programme aimed at creating greater public awareness of healthcare.
More intriguing still was the "race" to be the first country to experience the millennium dawn.
No less than four countries were in the race to claim the title - each with their own twists in order to steal the show.
One of them was a tiny Pacific island country, Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas). The island republic had four years ago re-demarcated the International Date Line which until then divided it into a two-day zone.
Now it has a unified zone, with some locations being ahead of the existing International Date Line.
In 1997, Kiribati renamed the uninhibited Caroline Island as "Millennium Island", putting it in the race to be the first to get the millennium sunshine. The Millennium Island saw the light at 5.43am.
Slightly earlier was Kiritimati, or Christmas Island, at 5.31am.
Yet another Pacific Island country competing for the millennium glamour was Tonga. But given the move by neighbouring Kiribati, Tonga was left minutes behind.
But then, by having the Tongan king proclaim the kingdom's first ever daylight saving exercise and putting the clock ahead, Tonga is now 14 hours ahead of GMT.
In any case, Tonga still qualified as the first kingdom to witness the new year sun.
A more serious contender, however, was Fiji. Given the fact that the 180-degree median is the line that separates today from yesterday, it follows that at places where the 180-degree meridian actually crosses is where the new millennium begins.
OF the 333 islands, the meridian cuts Fiji in three places, namely, the islands of Taveuni, Rabi and Vanua Levu (the second largest of the Fiji islands), at various points.
The other country was Russia, at Siberia (but it appeared not to be too keen in the competition).
The 180-degree meridian lies directly opposite and is, thus, exactly 12 hours ahead of the 0 meridian located at Greenwich, London, established in 1884.
Hence, countries where the 180-degree meridian crossed, were the first to see the year 2000 sunrise.
Udu Point, a location situated at the northeastern tip of Vanua Levu, is promoted as "home to the 180-degree meridian".
It houses the world's only Millennium Monument right smack at the 180-degree meridian, complete with a 1.6m wide Meridian Walk, stretching 3km where the 180-degree meridian crosses the island.
Compared to Fiji, as noted in a brochure, other places are only in proximity to the International Date Line which is an arbitrary line and does not have international legal standing, whereas Fiji is GMT +12 hours.
In fact, the South Pacific Millennium Consortium, formed to co-ordinate Pacific-wide celebrations, is located in Suve, Fiji, making it the "millennium capital" of the South Pacific.
New Zealand, too, sought the title. At least it was the first developed economy to greet the year 2000 - about 13 hours ahead of GMT.
At its closest point, New Zealand is only 298km to the International Date Line.
An official First Dawn millennium celebration took place on Chatham Island (about 800km east of the mainland). Population 700.
Pitt Island, in the Chathams, with its population of just 50, was among the first to see the sunrise on New Year's Day.
This claim has the support of the Royal Geographical Society in London.
Still, according to the US Navy, the first point of land to see the sunrise was Bellany Island, at 12.26am, over the Dibble Glacier on the edge of the Antarctic in the South Pole.
Greenwich's Old Royal Observatory dubbed it the first "official" millennium dawn, though it was a spectacle more for penguins than for humans. A snag to this claim, however, was that the sun did not actually set there in January, and there is no true sunrise to speak of.
While South Pacific countries west of the International Date Line were busying themselves to be the "first", those east of it looked forward to being the last to see the millenium sun!
Samoa, for example, being the last landmass east of the Date Line, was marketing "Your Last Millennium Experience".
The last sunset took place over the tip of Savai'i Island, one of the two large Samoan islands.
Others countries among the last to see the millennium sun are the Cook Islands, Tahiti, Niue and American Samoa.
So what's with the rush for the "new" millennium?
As Time magazine observed some eight years ago in 1992: "The millennium is freighted with immense historical symbolism and psychological power.
"It does not depend on objective calculation, but entirely on what people bring to it - their hopes, their anxieties, the metaphysical focus of their attention.
"The millennium is essentially an event of the imagination."
It looks like Time magazine is right. The unfolding events, the twist-and-turns, and all the rush have very little to do with science itself but rather with fame, fortune and partying - at the expense of science!
For the millennium purists, the 'real' dawning of the 1,000-year epoch is a year away. Only then will the real celebrations begin.
At least there won't be any "millennium bug" to dampen the celebrations.
