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."
The truth is that it is a 'malaise' system - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, January 22, 2018
Malaysiakini : “Conventional people are roused to fury
by departure from convention, largely because they regard such
departure as a criticism of themselves.” ― Bertrand Russell
COMMENT | Malaysiakini columnist Thor Kah Hoong’s ‘It’s a malaise of the system, not Malays’,
is a snapshot of what is wrong with the discourse in this country. Thor
is a friend and this piece is not a rebuttal or anything like that, but
I just feel I have to say a few words.
Saying not all Malays are lazy is just as meaningless as saying all
Malays are lazy. Why? Because whether Malays are lazy or not is not the
issue when it comes to discussing the system. Let us say that the system
of privileges actually benefited the majority of the Malay community.
Let us say that Islam was applied “fairly” to all and we were all under
the shadow of syariah law. Would this be an acceptable system? Would
race relations in this country be better? Would it still matter if a
Malay was lazy or not?
Okay, let us say that not all Malays are lazy. Would it make a
difference if those not lazy Malays also supported Malay rights and
believed that Islam should be imposed on all Malaysians because they
believed that Malaysia was an Islamic state?
Is there really a difference between a “lazy” Malay who supports this
system and a “not lazy” Malay who believes that the system serves a
purpose? People love to talk about corruption as if, if there was no
corruption, the system that enables a whole community to believe that
they were the “masters” of this land and Islam defines their identity,
would be okay. Get rid of MO1 (Malaysian Official 1), and that is the
first step.
The first step to what? I made my case forvoting and a two-party system,
but the reality is that unless we change the system, unless a majority
of Malays truly believes that the system is detrimental to all
Malaysians, we will never be able to change anything in a meaningful
way. People blame the indoctrination programmes of the Umno
establishment for destroying the Malay mind but seem oblivious that the
opposition in its current incarnation is doing the same thing.
Some people like to use the lazy Malay/not lazy Malay argument as a
means to introduce “class” into the discourse. In other words, the
system disenfranchises a large section of the Malay community. However,
what it boils down to is the efficacy of the system and perhaps even
utilitarian arguments instead of the morality of the system. I am sorry
it took so long to get here, but the system and the Malay community are
not mutually exclusive.
Partisan politics in this country has reached ridiculous levels.
There is a right-wing Malay website, which idolises Donald Trump,
believes that Najib Razak should not give in to the “left” and quote
Western new sources about the evils of the left which they equate with
the DAP and Malay activists and politicians who do not subscribe to
mainstream Malay dogma.
A cursory reading (and fact checking) of some of these sources they
quote will reveal anti-Islamic writers who would most definitely laugh
themselves into a right-wing hysterical fit, if they knew that a
so-called right-wing Malay/Muslim site was agreeing with them.
Demonised as ‘liberals’
Never mind that there has always been agitation in the Malay
community. However, mainstream Malay power structures post-1969 has done
everything in their power to define the narratives in the Malay
community. This is why when Malays who want to radically change the
system stick their heads out, they are demonised as “liberals” and
anti-Muslim.
They are not supported by mainstream Malay power brokers
(establishment and opposition) or the mainstream of the Malay community.
They are penalised because they are a constant reminder that the system
and the Malay community could be mutually exclusive. They understand
that beyond corruption and the Arabisation process, the Malay community
is the system and this is deleterious for the country and the community.
I have attempted to make this point before. I get that most people are not interested but it is worth repeating–
“I do not think that the problems of the Malays are that they are not
unified; I think the problem of the Malays is that they have no real
choices when it comes to ‘Malay’ leadership. Race and religion is the
basis for all ‘Malay’ political parties and Malay politicians are
hampered by these two imperatives – or so they say – which makes it
impossible to have a greater Malay polity that is progressive and
egalitarian.”
Now I know that I am going to get a lot of flak for this but it is
true. The ideological and constitutional foundation of mainstream
Malay/Malaysian politics is that the system and the Malay community are
not mutually exclusive. If you support the opposition or you support the
Umno establishment, then you support this narrative. Whether it is true
is not the point. The point is that you are voting for political
parties that define the system.
This is why a close friend of mine who is a Malay – which is
important – told me that despite my exuberance for Harapan – a gross
mischaracterisation I would argue – the idea for voting for Harapan is
one of diminishing returns. In fact, he always he always send me this
YouTubevideo, whenever Harapan plays to script instead of deviating from it.
Now I am not saying that the non-Malays had no part in making this
system but as recent events have demonstrated, most of us have very
little intention of destroying the current system. Replacing Najib, in
case you did not get the memo, is not destroying the system. It merely
means we are setting the system back to its default setting.
Maybe this is why so many young people can’t be bothered to vote and
many others who do not buy into the apocalyptic fantasies of the
opposition can’t wait for this election to be over.