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."
Don’t expect Najib to answer Rafidah - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Malaysiakini : “When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.” ― Ron Paul
COMMENT | Caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s failure to address the open letter
by Rafidah Aziz regarding the privatisation of over 40,000 hectares of
military land across the country to a three-person company, does not
bode well for the self-described Bugis warrior. Rafidah was not only an Umno insider, she was also a former
high-ranking official of the establishment. While she may have picked a
side in this conflict within Umno, this should not diminish the
allegations she made against Najib personally in her open letter.
Instead of the minions of the state, including a relative of Najib,
taking pot shots at Rafidah, the caretaker prime minister should address
her allegations in an open and transparent manner. Of course, since he can't seem to find the resolve to address the
1MDB issue in an open debate with Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the prime
minister-designate of Pakatan Harapan, there is very little evidence
that he would find some to face off against the former minister of
international trade.
If the Umno state claims that Rafidah is lying – as the state's
minions do – then why not sue her in open court? If the Umno state is
claiming – as the state's minions do – that these allegations are “fake
news”, the genesis of which is supposedly a WhatsApp message passed
around, why doesn’t the state use the newly-minted anti-fake news laws
against her? Rafidah has eschewed the usual Malaysian-style politics of poison-pen
letters and directly addressed these allegations towards the caretaker
prime minister, and if this does not show cojones, I do not know what
does.
Moreover, these allegations are important. Not only to the voters but
to former and still serving security personnel. Why is it important?
Because when allegations of corruption revolving around the security
apparatus of this country, be it personnel, land or the myriad other
concerns attached to the security apparatus of the state, these become
issues of national security. We are not merely talking about any pieces of land here. We are
talking about land, whether “idle” or not, which has some connection
with how the state handles the security of the nation. More importantly,
if business interests could find easy access to those who hold the
reins of the state security apparatus, this complicates things in
obvious ways.
Let’s face facts. The state security apparatus is riddled with
corruption scandals. International arms companies understand that we are
a pliant country when it comes to the way how we do business. There are
recent examples of so-called “rogue” regimes like North Korea, using
local front men to facilitate international arms deals. The state security apparatus is a collection of petty fiefdoms
allegedly connected to organised crime, which has been documented by
numerous government commissions and non-aligned NGOs. We even have had
security apparatus personnel arrested for terrorist activities.
These allegations merely continue a narrative of greed, incompetency
and high-level governmental corruption. This point is neatly summarised
by retired Brigadier General Mohd Arshad Raji: “Besides the commercial
value, any relocation of the military bases would have serious
strategic, security and defence implications. Additionally, relocation
to remote regions would cause much discomfort to the uniformed men and
women and their families.”
Mohd Arshad’s Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan (Patriot) also posed three questions to the prime minister but no doubt these would be ignored too. In other words, the voices of retired service people are not
important except when they are called to sing along to the Umno tune
like deranged old men, and encouraged to show that they have loyalty
towards the country which translates to loyalty towards Umno.
Long-buried secrets
Not only are the allegations in Rafidah’s open letter serious, they are not complicated like the 1MDB issue. These are straightforward allegations of governmental malfeasance and
if these allegations are lies as claimed by the minions of the state
and by Mindef, then why not openly release the cabinet papers that would
determine once and for all if the former minister of trade is lying? The very fact that these allegations are not complicated is what
troubles the Umno hegemon. You can dismiss the 1MDB scandal with
legalese, complicated multinational business practices, grey-area
economics and the arcana of international banking systems but when it
comes to these allegations, it is clear-cut.
The Defence Ministry's rebuttal of these allegations was not really a
rebuttal of the specific allegations and certainly not one that takes
into account the issue of cabinet papers (which is germane), but rather
was merely a denial and the excuse that “procedure was followed”. This, of course, does not answer the allegation put forward by
Rafidah that this was indeed a business conspiracy approved by the
highest levels of government. So, is this what it is? A high-level agreement with private entities
that was kept from public scrutiny? This, of course, is the essence of
the kleptocratic government that governs Malaysians. It also raises more
questions when it comes to the current Umno grand poobah.
This happened when he was defence minister and if these allegations
are true, they demonstrate a pattern of corrupt practices which always
seems to come back and bite Umno in the nether regions. Most leaders in the armed forces just kept their heads down, looked
after the welfare of the men and women under their command, and went
about the business of soldiering. Our omissions contributed to the
breakdown of the system. If this sounds horrid, well, everyone has a
story to tell and these days, it would seem that former establishment
types, including me, who are seeking regime change, have a lot to answer
for.
This is what systemic corruption looks like. Coupled with
institutional discrimination, we arrive at a point when the hegemon
turns upon itself when it discovers that agents who faithfully served
them for years expose all their long-buried secrets. Many people ask, why didn’t Rafidah “make noise” when she found out
about the deal? Why not cause a ruckus then? That is an important
question, of course, and there is no point attempting to sidestep it.
This, of course, are the vagaries that occur when Umno goes to war with
itself and the enduring conflict attracts combatants with agendas, hopes
and feelings of remorse of their own.
What I will say is this - I do not care for the reasons why someone
unearths the dirty little secrets the state wants to hide, only that I
want it exposed so people hold their elected representatives accountable
and never forget that fascism most often is encouraged by the will of
the people, which is something opposition supporters should be mindful
of. Forget about the fact that this issue is about a major financial
scandal involving the state security apparatus, high-ranking government
officials and unknown corporate interests. This is also an issue of
which establishment personalities are lying.
Najib can easily answer this question. Of course, he will not.
Not to forget the Deafening Silence form the the Rulers Council, sultan-agong and those ALIGN AND SUPPORT UMNO-pas NAJIB continual destruction of Malaysia. Question is what are we going to do about it?? There is NO more Pillars to uphold Malaysia apart from an angry and hungry Rakyat.....we have seen how TMJ can cause such chaos in AEON.... AEON should just deliver those rubbish in trolley left behind at AEON to the TMJ and Sultan palace since he paid for it!....or did he NOT Pay??
Not to forget the Deafening Silence form the the Rulers Council, sultan-agong and those ALIGN AND SUPPORT UMNO-pas NAJIB continual destruction of Malaysia. Question is what are we going to do about it?? There is NO more Pillars to uphold Malaysia apart from an angry and hungry Rakyat.....we have seen how TMJ can cause such chaos in AEON.... AEON should just deliver those rubbish in trolley left behind at AEON to the TMJ and Sultan palace since he paid for it!....or did he NOT Pay??