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."
Welcoming racists and bigots into Harapan - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Malaysiakini : āBaldrick, I have a very, very, very cunning plan.ā - Blackadder
COMMENT | Blogger Hafidz Baharom rightly asks,
who are they (Pakatan Harapan) trying to convince when Harapan
loyalists question analysis pointing to a possible BN victory.
Especially important is the PAS problem - the one-time bete noire turned ally turned bete noire
(again) of DAP. PAS vice-president Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah is floating
the "unimaginable" idea that PAS could lead the country, and while
everyone else laughs at them, they are playing the long game.
No doubt, Umno is weak but being in a vulnerable position does not
mean that victory is impossible for them especially when the system is
rigged in favour of the establishment. Add to this, the opposition is
fragmented, spending as much time fighting amongst themselves as they do
dealing with issues of race and religion because they do not have a
unified message on both.
The problem is that the opposition does not have a clear message for the average citizen ā āBersatu central committee member Tariq Ismail Mustafa (photo) said
that rural folks needed to be convinced that āchangeā can happen, but
what exactly does change mean? What are they changing to? Whenever I
talk to PSM people, I know exactly what message they are sending to
people. A grassroots message that involves how the system oppresses the
average citizen, which is linked to the local affairs of the community
they are contesting in.ā
This, of course, is purely anecdotal but nearly every PAS supporter
whom I have spoken to who despises the close friendship between PAS
president Abdul Hadi Awang and the Umno regime, will still hold their
noses and support the agenda of the PAS leadership, because at this
moment in time, it is party over personality. The feeling is the same as
those in the GOP (Grand Old Party) who despise Donald Trump and his
candidates but who vote for both because of the party Trump claims to
represent ā the Republicans.
Dismissing PAS as inconsequential is a mistake. In fact, I know that
PKR understands this more than any other party in Harapan. Unfortunately
for the opposition, Hafidzās opinion on the dialectic within the Malay
community is correct, which brings us to MCA leader Ti Lian Kerās worry
that the DAP is welcoming extreme Malay-centric leaders into Harapan.
Can we just call them bigots and racists? While MCA is in no position
to question this move ā merely because Umno has become more extreme in
its Malay-centric perspective ā the reality is that DAP is in no
position to do anything about extreme Malay right-wing elements within
Harapan. By embracing former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, his
newly-formed party and the desideratum of Bersatu, DAP has forfeited the
moral high ground. Malay power structures in the opposition are
desperate to bolster their credibility in the Malay demographic.
Meanwhile, non-Malay power structures are desperate to secure the Malay
vote by any means necessary.
I worry about this
ā āHere is the thing, though. There is nothing anyone can say that
would change peopleās mind. I worry about the day when a smart Umno
political operative would debate an oppositional political operative and
it would be revealed that beyond the 1MDB issue there is not much
difference between the opposition and the establishment when it comes to
policy and ideology, especially now that Bersatu is in the mix.ā
Destabilising Umno
Ti makes a very good point when he asks, āIs DAP going to be
responsible for empowering Perkasa later, the way they have empowered
PAS before?ā The only reason why PAS is mainstream is because of the
pragmatism of the late Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat (photo) and the equilibrium that the DAP managed to create within the disparate alliance.
However, the signs were always present that the extreme elements
within PAS were waiting patiently to make their move. There can be no
denying that DAP, as the sole mainstream oppositional voice of
non-Malays, enabled PAS.
In hindsight, even though the opposition went through their messy
break-up, the alliance with PAS demonstrated to Malaysians that it was
possible to form and succeed in alternative coalitions, if politicians
were willing to work together. It was what Malaysians desperately needed
and the so-called marriage of convenience hinted at a possible way
beyond Barisan National.
At this point, nobody in the opposition would bat an eyelid if
members of the red shirts decided to join the Harapan because they had
lost faith in how Umno defended āMalayā rights. I doubt DAP or any other
non-Malay political operatives would draw a red line in the sand, and
news of these racists and bigots joining Harapan would be met in the
same way as how PAS members hold their noses and vote for their party
even though they despise the company their leadership keeps.
The real tragedy, of course, is that this may actually work. The
ātragedyā will happen after a possible Harapan electoral win, but this
is something which in typical Harapan fashion would be dealt with after
the Najib regime is vanquished. While Hafidz's contention that Umno scored points with the Jerusalem fiasco, the headscarves brouhaha and PAS in their RU355 dance, this idea
that Harapan is open to extreme right-wing Malay elements is also a
draw for many within the Malay community who view the Mahathir years as
the epitome of Malay power.
More importantly, while the youth vote is floundering for various
reasons, the older Malay demographic that is a reliable vote bank for
Umno could be turned in favour of the wiliest Malay political operative
this country has had - Mahathir. Securing new votes is important but equally important is securing votes in play. We have to keep in mind that all Mahathir has to do to win is to
destabilise Umno to the point that the powerbrokers in Umno see no
profit in supporting the current Umno grand poohbah. Then all manner of
unimaginable ways through reconciliations and reformation could herald
the birth of a new Malay power structure favouring the old methods of
Umno.
In the land of endless possibilities, unimaginable ways can come to fruition.