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."
If the opposition is lying about 1MDB, sue them - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Malaysiakini : āShow your bravery.ā - Shahbudin Husin, blogger and Umno member
COMMENT | The Economistarticle
about the āthiefā Najib Abdul Razak was not exactly accurate. To the
best of my recollection, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has not
named the current Malaysian prime minister as the āMO1ā. If the DOJ had named the current Malaysian prime minister as āMO1ā,
we would have heard about it. In fact, it would be manna from heaven for
an opposition dealing with the bureaucratic nightmare which is the
Malaysian electoral system and pushing a former prime minister who they
had demonised as a kleptocrat back in the day, as a suitable agent of
change.
The so-called rebuttal
by the Malaysian high commissioner to the UK, Ahmad Rasidi Hazizi, was a
competent attempt at spin which, of course, had that most odious of
talking points ā āarrogant colonial mindsetā ā a deal breaker for me,
especially when it crops up in the beginning of a piece, but I
persevered and fell asleep at the end of the article, which was
convenient. The 1MDB issue - while complicated - also exposes the dubious; I
would say larcenous underpinnings of international geopolitics. This is
understood or it should be. If Najib is a thief, then he is in good
company.
When the article first came out, the usual antics of the opposition
were on full display. Opposition personalities were tripping over
themselves asking the prime minister to sue and what not. Maximum
mileage for an issue that is worryingly unable to gain traction where it
is needed most. However, where the high commissioner's spin derails is in the last
paragraph of his response: āYour reporting appears to have been based
exclusively on falsehoods pushed by opposition parties and their
sympathisers for political gain ahead of the coming election.ā
If the 1MDB issue is mere falsehood spread by the opposition, why
hasnāt the Najib regime sued the opposition in open court? If the state
security apparatus has cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing, why
hasnāt the government or the Najib personally sued anyone for making
allegations against him or his government? More importantly, why hasnāt Najib sworn in a mosque as he did when
he swore āthat he did not know or had any connection with Mongolian
woman Altantuya Shaarribuu who was murdered in 2006 in Puncak Alam,
Selangorā?
Please keep in mind that the prime minister did not actually swear on
a Quran so it was not really āofficialā but still it was a gesture. And
as Umno blogger Shahbudin Husin pointed out a couple of years ago, why
didn't the PM do the same with the 1MDB issue back in 2015? And Shahbudin is right. If Najib can swear in a mosque that he did
not have anything to do with the Altantuya murder, why not swear in a
mosque (on the Quran this time) that the 1MDB issues are lies by the
opposition? Why not invite Muslim opposition leaders to do the same ā swear that
Najib is a thief and let God decide who is right or wrong on this issue.
Damning indictment
It makes you wonder, doesnāt it? A man can swear in a mosque that he
has no connection with a murdered Mongolian woman but cannot do the same
when it comes to one of the biggest corruption scandals in this
country. Why is that? What does it tell you about this whole sordid case? Which is more
damning in a spiritual sense - murder or corruption? What does it say
about someone who makes that distinction? Something important I reckon,
but as I said, I have neither the intellectual capability or spiritual
acuity to explore this question so I will leave it to greater minds than
my own.
Of course, suing opposition leaders for such libel and slander would
be better than swearing in a mosque and would show the international
media, governments and various other international organisations that
the opposition is lying when it comes to the 1MDB issue. I have spoken to numerous opposition operatives and they welcome the
prime minister, or the government for that matter, taking them to court.
In fact, there is a long line of opposition candidates begging for this
honour.
This, of course, is strange because we are constantly told that the
judicial system in this country is biased ā I have pushed this narrative
also ā but it does make you wonder, if the opposition knows that the
judicial system in this country is compromised, then why are they
willing to take the risk of being sued? On the other hand, if the government knows that they influence the
judicial system in this country, why not sue the opposition and their
sympathisers, instead of merely claiming that these people are spreading
falsehoods? And you do not have to target many people. Just the
opposition heir apparent, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
I would pay to see that. Najib suing the former prime minister
Mahathir for calling him a thief. That works on so many levels. Just the
thought of Malaysiakini columnist Thor Kah Hoong contemplating this issue brings a smile to my face. And that is really the issue, right? Forget about the complex details
of the financial scandal. Forget about the numerous articles, documents
and boring-as-horse-manure legal documents surrounding the 1MDB case.
The most important idea that the government cannot get rid of is that the opposition is lying. It is really simple. If the opposition is lying, then the prime
minister should sue them. Forget about the fact that an international
publication has called you a thief. They are not important. But if the Malaysian opposition and a former prime minister are doing
the same, then in order to demonstrate to your base that you are not a
thief, you have to sue the people making those claims.
The fact that Najib does not is the most damning indictment of the whole 1MDB corruption scandal.