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."
DAP’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t problem - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Malaysiakini : “If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.” - Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu and Fronsac
COMMENT | I am not really a fan
of police reports lodged by members of the opposition because nothing
ever seems to come of these reports but the recent report lodged by DAP members with regards to the prime minister’s speech at the recent Umno general assembly is an absolute delight. I do not think anything will come of it but it points to the
hypocrisy and mendacity of the system where people are warned not to
make “sensitive” remarks but the establishment is given a free hand to
run down anyone it thinks is a threat to its hegemony.
Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng exposes not only the mendacity of Umno but
the hypocrisy of the whole system when he reminds people that if the
lies of DAP being anti-Malay and anti-Islam were true, that would mean
that the royal institution was complicit in collaborating with DAP in
promoting an egalitarian and secular state.
I really dig it when opposition politicians bring forth uncomfortable
questions into our public spaces. For instance, if DAP were really
anti-Malay and anti-Islam, this would mean that Penang is governed by a
political party which is a threat to the Malay community and Islam but
they do so without any sanction from the state which is supposed to
safeguard both. Doesn't Umno care that the Malays in Penang are
“bangsat” in their own lands?
This would also mean that the royal houses in states where DAP enjoys
support are complicit in supporting the anti-Malay and anti-Islam
agenda of DAP. Is Umno really telling the Malay community that DAP and
the royalty are conspiring with their anti-Malay and anti-Islam agenda?
Is Umno really claiming that Penang is a secular state where Islam is
not recognised and that the Malays are second-class citizens and that
Selangor is abandoning those “Malay/Muslims” institutions that are there
to safeguard the interests of the Malay community, the royal
institution being the primary one?
I mean really, just a couple of months ago, Lim Kit Siang, the
whipping boy for Umno, got into a heap of trouble for claiming that the
“DAP supports Islamisation based on the constitution”. Naturally this
did not go down well with many people, including me
– “Attempting to claim that DAP supports Islamisation based on the
constitution is nonsensical since the Islamists claim the very same in
their quest for religious supremacy. The reality is that the
constitution, like Islam, is open to interpretation hence any attempt to
impose an ideological or religious agenda when framing policy ‘based on
the constitution’ is an exercise in sophistry.”
I realise I give DAP a whole lot of grief but what this demonstrates
is that if anything, it seems that most times DAP’s raison d'être is
proving that it is not anti-Malay and anti-Islam. The problem is that
DAP has had to make too many compromises when it comes to egalitarian
politics and policies because of this sad reality. This is perhaps the
most devastating results of these Umno lies.
Syariah-compliant hospital
You want another example. Remember last year when Deputy Health
Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya got huffy because the Penang state government
claimed that it was building the country’s first syariah-compliant
hospital. Hilmi had to remind everyone that even the medicine and vaccines used by the ministry were “halal”
- "Only the vaccine for rotavirus is non-halal and we did not have
that. It is available only at certain private hospitals or clinics. The
ministry's pharmacy department has also carried out DNA tests to ensure
that the vaccines that we use are free from pork and pig derivatives.” Can anyone really make the claim that DAP is anti-Malay and
anti-Islam?
Now, for folks like me (and maybe you too) who do not want
religion - any religion - in our public institutions, the case could be
made that DAP is pro-Malay and pro-Islam when they should be neutral
when it comes to race and religion. This, of course, makes the lies
spread by the establishment even weirder.
“Sensitivity” is the terrible burden that non-Malay politicians have
to operate with. The same applies to Muslim opposition politicians but
the burden is a different kind. Non-Malay politicians in the
establishment have to justify, and most often help, disseminate racist
and bigoted rhetoric of their dominant partner, all the while claiming
that religious and racial equilibrium is paramount to a functional
Malaysia.
Opposition non-Malay politicians have to make their case with one
hand tied behind their back, because the sensitivity of the majority
community is used by the state as a means to control dissent and
sanction non-Malay political operatives on trumped-up racial and
religious charges. A good example of this is when criticism against
public institution becomes attacks against “Malay” institutions.
What are these sensitive issues anyway? When it comes to race and
religion it means that whatever Umno deems is sensitive. Non-Malays are
not allowed to uses certain words deemed “Islamic”. When it comes to
conflict between religious laws and civil ones, even though the
constitution is clear on this, religious laws trump civil ones.
Umno information chief Annuar Musa gets to say that he is a “racist”
and this is in line with Islamic teaching and gets away with it. He says
this while attending a red-shirt shindig that often makes racial and
religious attacks against the Chinese community. Correct me if I am
wrong, but did any Muslim politician or group make a police report
against Annuar for offending the sensitivity of Muslims? Or does Islam
really condone "racism"?
He said:
“Being racial is endorsed in Islam as long as you are not cruel towards
other people. This rally if you say is racist, yes. What are you scared
of? Islam has put in place guidelines, what is not allowed is racism
that is cruel towards other races.”
Remember people, as long as you are not cruel to other people,
according to Annuar, Islam allows you to be racist. The irony, of
course, is that even with this definition, the establishment would be
considered “unIslamic” because lying about your political opponents and
demonising an entire community is cruel.