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."
Malaysiakini : COMMENT Predictably,
Dr Mahathir Mohamad cannot quite remember whether he was in the country
when the Memali incident occurred in November 1985, four years and four
months into his 22-year premiership.
His deputy then, Musa Hitam, said in Kota Baru last Thursday that
Mahathir was in the country, not just when the incident occurred on Nov
19, but also up to four days after the episode in which 14 police
personnel and four villagers were killed in Mukim Siong, Baling. At that time, the Malaysian public was given to understand that their prime minister was abroad - in China, to be sure. Mahathir held the customary press conference at the airport upon his return from abroad. He took questions on the Memali incident in which police opened fire on a
house where religious cult leader Ibrahim Libya was holed up with
several villagers. The ensuing shootout became a cause celebre. Pressed
for a response to what Musa had said about him being in the country
during that incident and then affecting to show he was not, Mahathir (right) parried his former deputy’s implied attack on his probity with, “I can’t remember.” Mahathir pleaded his advanced years (he will be 89 in July): “Since this
happened a long time ago, I need to check back to see what he [Musa]
said is true.” Mahathir has a convenient sense of recall: he remembers what it is
expedient for him to remember and trots out pleas of amnesia when it
suits his purpose. At the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam videotape in January
2008, Mahathir not infrequently responded with “I don’t remember” to
critical questions on his role in the matter in which a senior lawyer
was captured on video attempting to fix the appointment of judges during
the period of Mahathir’s tenure as prime minister (1981-2003). At that time Mahathir’s infamous chiding of Malays - “Melayu mudah lupa”
(The Malays easily forget) - for their supposed ingratitude came back
to haunt him. “Dr M mudah lupa,” (Dr M easily forgets) became his critics’
catch-phrase of raillery against him when it was seen that the former
PM’s powers of recall were conveniently self-serving. Musa's motive Political observers are wondering about the motive of Musa, a one-time
ally-turned-opponent of Mahathir’s in raising a matter that took place
almost 29 years ago. They ought to wonder no more: Musa (left) is attempting a block. He knows Mahathir wants Prime Minister Najib Razak out as PM. The incumbent PM is beleaguered by the disappearance of flight MH370,
now three weeks into the greatest mystery in civil aviation’s history. The circumstances of the plane’s mysterious disappearance with 239
people on board places Najib, Home Minister Zahid Hamidi and Defence
Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on notice of grave lack of fitness to hold
office. Incidentally, all three of the abovementioned individuals are stalling
points in the career path of Mukhriz, the Menteri Besar of Kedah,
regarded as inheritor of the Mahathir mantle of national leadership. In most countries in the world, North Korea excepting, an incident like
MH370’s disappearance would have had the trio of Najib, Zahid and
Hishammuddin with their necks on the chopping block. Not Malaysia where the 47 percent of the voters who endorsed the ruling
BN coalition in the general election last May are embodiments of the
validity of the philosopher George Santayana’s dictum: “Those who forget
history are condemned to repeat it.” Command and control Twice in the recent days Mahathir has talked about matters that bespeak a
desire to return to a command and control role in Malaysian politics. First, he advised that the government should get ready to tackle a
financial crisis and trotted out his expertise at prescribing for just
such a malady. Days after this advice, analysts toted up expected losses to the economy
from the suspension of the Visit Malaysia Year 2014 because of flight
MH370’s disappearance, and from the anticipated further bleeding of our
already loss-hobbled national carrier, MAS. They said it would be RM4
billion at the very least.
The second alarum Mahathir sounded was even more unsettling. He said that if he were to return as PM, he would censor the Internet
which would be a clear violation of the bill of rights he vouchsafed
cyber practitioners when inaugurating the Malaysian Multimedia Corridor
in 1996. Well, no prizes for guessing what the former PM would say if reminded of
his promise of no restrictions on freedom to publish on the internet:
“I can’t remember.” It has become a mantra of the man who had ruled the country for 22 years
(1981-2003) during which he built it up physically and emasculated it
morally. The country’s problem is that it has enough masochists who may want more of the same. Not Musa Hitam, though. TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for four decades now. He likes the
profession because it keeps him in touch with the eminent without being
under the necessity to admire them.
Pressed
for a response to what Musa had said about him being in the country
during that incident and then affecting to show he was not, Mahathir (right) parried his former deputy’s implied attack on his probity with, “I can’t remember.”
They ought to wonder no more: Musa (left) is attempting a block. He knows Mahathir wants Prime Minister Najib Razak out as PM.
