Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen 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 soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt 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."
The fabrications of Hadi Awang - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Malaysiakini : āBigotry against any group should be disqualifying for high office.ā - Alan Dershowitz
COMMENT | DAP supremo Lim Kit
Siang does not want to be prime minster. Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan
Eng does not want to be prime minster, and since I know politicians like
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang mean the Chinese when they go on about non-Malays, nobody in the greater Chinese community wants to be prime minster.
Some would argue that this is a problem ā hold on a minute, I did make that argument, right here, when Lim Guan Eng said that non-Malays would never want to be prime minister: āBut if you accept this premise, then you have to accept the premise
that non-Malays will never truly be citizens in this country. You have
to accept that what we will have are non-Malay powerbrokers working with
Malay potentates having some control of the direction of this country,
but this will always be a weapon that will be used against non-Malays
when the hegemonic interests of Malay power structures are under threat.
This applies to not only BN but also Pakatan Harapan, or whatever it is
called.ā
Hadi also claimed that Islam is fair to all. But religion cannot be
fair to all when, as Hadi has said numerous times, the non-Malays have
to be āpak turutā. Ask the people who have have been surreptitiously converted to Islam
here in Malaysia. Ask the parents whose children have been separated
from them because of religion in this country. Ask the people who, by
virtue of their religion, cannot use certain words.
Ask the people who have looked on helplessly when the state security
apparatus claims that there is conflict between religious law and civil
law. Ask the people who have had their public and private spaces
invaded. These people will tell you that there is no such fairness as Hadi
claims. This is why people leave this country. People do not leave this
country because of corruption, they leave this country because they know
as non-Malays, they will not be treated fairly. They will be told by
politicians like Hadi that they are ānot cleanā and ānon-believersā.
Just can't win
But that is not all. Even Muslims are allegedly leaving this country.
They apparently leave this country because they do not belong to the
privileged ruling class who are not harassed for their beliefs. They do
not have the money or power to shield them. It is why someone like
former law minister Zaid Ibrahim - isnāt he in enough trouble already? -
says,
āSo I urge young Malays to plan their lives properly. Donāt make the
same mistake I did. Malaysia is a sick Muslim country that teaches you
the wrong things - and people all over the internet either cheer or
babble on about staying and fighting."
But the reality is that there is no winning with bigots, especially
when they are amidst the majority. While a Malaysian Muslim like the
great late Kassim Ahmad is vilified by the establishment, preachers like Zamihan Mat Zin are valued
as deradicalisation assets. There is no winning against politicians who
weaponise religion, because these politicians know that people are
afraid. Muslims are afraid to go against this bigotry because they will
be vulnerable to sanctions from the state and their own community.
Does anyone ever wonder why I vehemently rage against the religious
machinery in this country? Besides how it intrudes in our in most sacred
private and public spaces, more importantly because under the guise of
religious beliefs, politicians like Hadi and nearly every mainstream
establishment politician incites racial and religious hatred against the
non-Malays - in this case, the Chinese community.
That, and the hypocrisy of course. Always the hypocrisy. Forget about the lavish excesses of
well-connected Muslims compared to the state in which the
disenfranchised community has to make do with. Forget about the special
rights that are supposed to grant privileges, but of which there is no
evidence beyond an artificially created middle class borne out racists
and bigoted policies. The most recent and perhaps most shocking displays
of hubris and hypocrisy are the rabble-rousing when it comes to US
President Donald Trumpās Jerusalem move.
Where was all the protest when children died in an Islamic school
fire that was deemed a safety hazard? Where was Muslim solidarity in
demanding that the state explain why schools like this were allowed to
function without proper safety? Where was all the Muslim anger when
children perished in a fire that could have been avoided if the school
was not a safety hazard? Where was that righteous anger towards a
bureaucracy that had allowed the school to operate even though it was a
safety hazard?
Instead what we get from people like Hadi are the lies that Chinese
opposition personalities want to be prime minster. What we get are the
lies that Malays will be ābangsatā
in their own lands. What we get are the lies that Christians want to
usurp Islam as the religion of the country. What we get are the lies
that Chinese want to destroy Malay rights and Malay institutions.
All this because there is conflict within the Malay community, as I wrote
earlier: ā What would happen if a majority of Muslims in this country
decide that they have had enough with state religious authorities
intruding in their lives? They have had enough with money going into
religious organisations while essential services that benefit their
community are underfunded and mired in bureaucratic corruption. What
would happen if they grew tired of the hypocrisy of the state where
Muslim elites were immune from the harsh glare of Islam but the rest of
the polity were not?ā There was a time when PAS could claim the Islamic high ground, even if it was the battle ground for people like me.