Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Uthayakumar: A word from the inside by Commander (Rtd) S Thayaparan formerly of the Royal Malaysian Navy
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
From Malaysiakini I was not born an activist but this government is giving me the training to become an activist – S Indra Devi
COMMENTI
had no idea what shape P Uthayakumar would be in when I visited him
with his wife and her family recently. I consider Uthayakumar a friend
and we had spent many hours arguing his position and mine, that we had
reached an equilibrium in our relationship as far as our politics was
concerned. My former profession allowed me interaction with the
so-called demi monde of society and visiting prisons to confer with
clients was not something I was unused to. I often remind people that it
is a completely different world and prisoner and guard are both friend
and tormentor depending on the situation. There are many who do not
understand this.
Negotiations to visit Uthyakumar were an ordeal
in itself. Why this should be is beyond me. Surely, there are
regulations in place that are not subject to the whims and agendas of
the authorities but like I said in my previous piece about Uthayakumar,
his loved ones are as much prisoners as himself and therefore not spared
the indignities that a dysfunctional prison system confers on its
unlucky inhabitants.
After
agreeing to allow five people to visit him at a time at the entrance to
the prison facility, the prisons officials reneged on the deal and said
that Uthayakumar’s stepdaughters would not be allowed to visit their
father. At this point Indra (right) broke down after having
been stoically negotiating for some time and questioned them on their
change of attitude. She questioned them on their behavior in this holy
month and demanded to see the prison’s regulations on visiting inmates
and whether stepchildren were not allowed to visit their incarcerated
parent.
They had no logical response to her request
beyond claiming that there were merely following orders. Her constant
haranguing must have had some effect because most times these hardened
prison officials were looking at the ground sheepishly and avoiding eye
contact at all cost. All was in vain because these poor children were
not allowed to visit the father that had sacrificed so much to build a
better tomorrow for them. We did eventually get to meet
Uthayakumar. I stood back allowing his family to confer with him and
looked around the prison remembering the times I had visited clients and
wondered how an activist like Uthayakumar would fare in a desolate
place like this. I consider Uthayakumar a political prisoner and to
think of him languishing in a place like this saddened me.
'They cannot break me'
When
I finally sat down to talk with him, a glass panel separating us and a
phone the only means of communication, I was relieved to see my friend
in good spirits. We joked about his bald head and my unruly hair and he
said, “They cannot break, me, commander”. Anyone who knows
Uthayakumar knows that he talks quickly and excitedly, and taking notes
was an exercise in manual agility not to mention that I too had to carry
out a conversation. We talked of his interment and what he was going
through. “The guards are generally okay with me but some of them
are rude,” he says. “This is not a problem because I always maintain my
dignity and think that all this is vitamins as far as fighting for civil
rights is concerned”
I asked him if there were threats or
intimidation coming from the prison officials. “The intimidation is done
to other prisoners in front of me,” he said. He goes to describe two
situations were prisoners were punished for violations in front of him
when there did not seem any legitimate grounds for the sanctioning. “This
does not bother me but I feel bad for those prisoners,” he continues,
“I was comfortable in the hospital wing of the prison, doing my writing
and reading but they shifted me back to general population.” Uthayakumar
wonders why other “political prisoners” were allowed the comfort of the
hospital wing but special attention is paid to him.
Interested in prison reform
They
are giving him his medication but his back poses a problem. “I am not
asking for special treatment. If they have the doctors here, who could
see to my health then so be it. But if not, why not let me see my
specialist or make provisions for him to come here. My wife is not even
asking for my release but just that my health is taken care of”. If
“they” think that imprisoning someone like Uthayakumar would mean that
he learns some sort of lesson, “they” have a lot to learn. Although he
worries about his health, he is far more interested in his surroundings
and what he observes. “You know, brother, what I am getting interested
in is prison reform”.
“I
look around and see, so many people who go back to crime because this
atmosphere encourages them to embrace the life they left behind outside
prison instead of channeling their energies to something useful.
“I
give you an example, commander. The system’s idea of ‘rehabilitation’
is outsourcing the work to six former convicts. Inmates are squatting in
the sun while these ‘jurulatih’ (coaches) hurl abuse at them and
attempt to humiliate them into submission.
“Yes, I understand
using former prisoners to help in the rehabilitation process but where
is the psychological counseling? Why this kind of humiliation? The
inmates are not learning anything. We should be encouraging these
inmates to get an education. Tough love has its place but not this kind
of verbal abuse.
“NGOs and activist who work with released prisoners should be part of the system and not thought off as enemies.” He
talks for some time about how he is observing his surroundings and how
prisoners act and think but more importantly how the prison system
treats those who are in many ways outcast. “I am not saying that
these people do not deserve to be here. But we should treat them fairly
and help make them functional members of society” he says. The
time allocated with Uthayakumar was brief and I assured him I would
visit him again. It was good to see that the flame still burned in him
and he was as interested in what was going on “out there” as what was
going on “in here”.
I have no idea how this will eventually play
out and I hope that his family and him are allowed some kind of relief
in whatever from that may take. It does make me wonder though, what is
the aim of keeping someone like Uthayakumar locked up? If anything, it
has merely given him another avenue to highlight the discrimination of
the System.
After
agreeing to allow five people to visit him at a time at the entrance to
the prison facility, the prisons officials reneged on the deal and said
that Uthayakumar’s stepdaughters would not be allowed to visit their
father. At this point Indra (right) broke down after having
been stoically negotiating for some time and questioned them on their
change of attitude. She questioned them on their behavior in this holy
month and demanded to see the prison’s regulations on visiting inmates
and whether stepchildren were not allowed to visit their incarcerated
parent.
“I
look around and see, so many people who go back to crime because this
atmosphere encourages them to embrace the life they left behind outside
prison instead of channeling their energies to something useful.
