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 youth vote – what Harapan should do - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Wednesday, February 07, 2018
Malaysiakini : “Seven out of 10 young Malaysians
polled said they found politicians to be untrustworthy and the main
cause of Malaysia’s problems today.” - Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research
COMMENT | Kluang MP Liew Chin
Tong discussing the issue of young people not voting (specifically
concerning the Chinese community) said something that really displays
the tone deafness of the opposition. Not his comment, mind you, but the
opposition's failure to understand the demographic that could help them
take Putrajaya. He said, “...(DAP) was now seen by Chinese youth as an ‘establishment’ party.”
Pay close attention. This is not peculiar to young Chinese in this
country. Young people in this country think that the “opposition” is
part of the establishment and you know what, the opposition became part
of the establishment when they became a credible threat to BN. If
Pakatan Harapan manages to take Putrajaya in this upcoming election, it
would truly become part of the political ruling class in a two-party
system. That is the reality. It does not have to be a problem though.
Meanwhile, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng reminds
young people about the consequences of wasting their vote by their
method of preference (giving up), “Once you give up, they win. Who wins?
Those in the ruling clique. The status quo will remain." Again with the
tone deafness, young people are apathetic because they think the
opposition in this country, following its business-as-usual politics, is
already a component of the status quo.
Claiming Harapan “are not the best” but they are “better” than BN
which flows trippingly from the CM’s tongue, is not the kind of
catchphrase which makes young people think they better get voting but
more importantly, displays a profound lack of understanding of what is
expected from an opposition.
Don’t bother erecting that strawman of young people wanting a perfect
system because young people are not naïve. People often deliberately
conflate idealism with naiveté and this just makes the discourse more
difficult because telling young people they should vote for you because
although "not perfect, you are still better" is not an effective
strategy. Young party members telling other young people that they
listened to the “party elders” and have accepted the party’s stand does
not inspire confidence either.
The Kluang MP also said something that applies to all young people –
“They rather focus on earning money or working in Singapore” – okay,
maybe that last part of working in Singapore could be replaced with some
other country. The underlying point of believing that politics archives
very little and they would be better of working the system or ignoring
it, is indicative that the opposition has failed to spark a rebellion
against the system because as the days drag on they behave more like the
system.
Young people or at least those I have talked to, those who voice
their concerns on social media, those who are involved in some sort of
social and political activism, those who participate in the discourse or
just the average young person who vents online, are not looking for the
perfect system. Those involved in progressive politics merely want the
bare minimum they see youths in other countries are fighting for and
winning.
They want to see our politicians or political parties doing that.
They want to believe that progressive politics will lead to a
possibility of change and when politicians using the same strategies as
the entrenched establishment ask them to be pragmatic, they either want
to spoil their votes or not bother showing up at the ballot box at all.
Changing drivers
One activist who read my article
of how former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was reshaping Umno yet
again, asked what is the point of voting for entrenched political
interests even if it establishes a two-party system? He often reads
online how this country is going to turn into a crap hole, so why bother
voting when the entrenched interests would not be invested in changing
the country because actually changing the country would mean that those
interests would have less of a hold on the majority in this country.
“You think I and my friends like looking over our shoulder for the
religious police? If the religious departments ask for more money in a
Harapan administration, you think these people won’t give it to them?”
There is a strong anti-establishment streak in young people in this
country but nobody in Harapan seems interested in mining it for
political gold, instead they are investing in official narratives in the
expectation of political gain.
I have said it before: Harapan should commit to the game that they
wanted to play but this chasing after the rural Malay vote at the
expense of the youth vote is just stupid. In fact, by all accounts from all the surveys, analysis and
commentaries by credible think-tanks, not to mention the experience of
foreign countries, the votes of young people have changed the direction
of the country or political alliances but more importantly young people
who were inspired to vote by the rhetoric - the rhetoric, mind you - of
politicians who understood why that demographic was important, turned up
to vote.
Of course, they did not tell these young people to be pragmatic, or
not be stupid or that they did not know any better. What they did was
take the ideas of these young people and run with it. This is not a
“Western” idea. This happens in countries in Africa, the Middle East and
yes, in Southeast Asia but it is just the West that offers the more
well-known examples of how "old men" have inspired young voters.
In the UK, there was Jeremy Corbyn who changed the fortunes of the
Labour party and in the US, if Bernie Sanders (an independent) was not
sabotaged by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), he could have
saved the world from Donald Trump. These two old men offered something
radically different from the business-as-usual politics that some think
is the only way to gain political victory. Everywhere you look, Harapan is painting itself into a corner by
seemingly emulating the kind of politics that BN practices. Of course,
having Mahathir does not challenge perceptions but young people would
overlook this if the rhetoric of change coming out Harapan was
revolutionary instead of the conventional political thinking that they
do not know any better or that they are idealistic or that the system
will correct itself if it merely changes drivers.
If Harapan really wants young people to roll the dice, they should
make the stakes high instead of the low stakes that young people rightly
or wrongly perceive the current political game offers them.