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 diplomat who came in from the cold - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Malaysiakini : “And I became the envoy of a lost kingdom, ambassador of the best country we never had.” – Dennis Ignatius
(Full disclosure. Dennis Ignatius and I are friends. Although we may
disagree on a range of issues, we understand that Malaysia needs to
change. Our last protest against the Umno hegemon found us walking
together with other like-minded individuals for the Bersih march in
Parliament protesting the redelineation exercise carried out by the
former regime.)
BOOK REVIEW | I wrote the
following as a blurb for Dennis’s book ‘Diplomatically Speaking’ – “Mr
Ignatius dissects the Malaysian political landscape with a skeptical if
emphatic gaze, borne of years of experience in the Malaysian Foreign
Service. More than just a collection of essays, this book is a
historical document by a professional whose clarity of purpose is
evident from the very first chapter.”
The chapter that best exemplifies my blurb is the chapter dealing
with the vigilantism of Papagomo who assaulted a migrant worker because
he claimed that the worker sexually harassed a family member of the
controversial blogger. In this chapter, Dennis stitches together
disparate narratives, our apathy, the nonchalance of the state, the
morality or lack thereof of vigilante acts, the indifference of a
foreign embassy with regards to one of their own but most importantly,
the vagaries that is life for a migrant worker.
Any other writer would have just focused on one topic but not Dennis.
For this former diplomat, nuance is important. It would be easy just to
assign blame to one party and move on. It would be easy for the reader
and definitely for the writer. The writer gets to preach and the reader
get a good dose of confirmation bias. This incident tells us something
about our country and for Dennis, what it tells us is that there is
something very wrong with us.
Back up a moment. In the foreword to this book, Dennis writes – “I
still remember that day (4th September 1972) when I walked through the
palm-lined road to Wisma Putra to report for duty. My heart was bursting
with pride – at last I was going to get the opportunity to serve my
country, to live my dream, to help write in some small way the future
history of our nation.”
Civil servants from the old school look upon service as a calling.
Those were the days when serving your country meant something. It meant
sacrifice, but more importantly, a willingness to understand the faults
of your country and how to correct those faults. In the foreword, Dennis
makes it clear that the country going down a dark path by successive
regimes was initially ignored by him as an anomaly.
Then a pattern formed and the diplomat understood the folly of
patience and inaction. Most former civil servants can relate to that. So
what did Dennis do? He began to write. As the country got deeper into
the mess, Dennis found that avenues for public discontent were
shrinking. Malaysiakini readers know of him through his comments pieces which not only earned the wrath
of the former Umno state but hate mails from former civil servants who
disagreed with his position. All these attacks were always upon his
character and not on the points he raised. Former establishment types
pointed to the fact that Dennis served under regimes that were the cause
of this country’s mess. I can relate to that. I, too, served under
regimes that brought this country to where it is.
Insider perspective
In dissecting the visit of US senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman
in 2012, Dennis accurately points to the absurdity of their statements
and the problem of international hegemons constructing narratives of
“moderate” Muslim nations to further economic interests. Here is a fascinating bit from that chapter – “I recall, as well, a
meeting with then Secretary of State Colin Powell in mid-2001 at the
State Department in Washington, D.C. Much to the chagrin of our foreign
minister, Powell began by taking us to task on human rights and
anti-Semitism.
"However, to our minister’s relief, Powell quickly shifted track and
then excitedly went on to talk about the sale of the latest American
fighter jets to Malaysia. It was immediately clear that he had raised
the issue of human rights and anti-Semitism purely for the record, and
without conviction.” It is this kind of insider perspective that should give Malaysians an
inkling into how the world operates not so much from a geo-political
standpoint but from a Malaysian who views public service as a calling.
This is invaluable because in a post-Umno political landscape, it is
important that the old way of handling international relationships
changes but the question is, will it?
In a fascinating chapter - ‘Does Malaysia need democracy?’ - written
in 2012, Dennis disagrees with current Prime Minister Dr Mahathir
Mohamad’s speech when accepting an honorary professorship by the
University of Santo Thomas where the old maverick pointed out the
weakness of democracy and “we should not put too much stock in democracy
to solve our problems.” Dennis neatly demolishes the arguments put forward by our now
reformed prime minister and neatly summarises how democracy and good
governance can solve our problems. This is a fitting way to end this
review and a reminder of our long work ahead. “In the end, when it comes to governance, the lessons of history over the last few centuries are simply these:
▪ First, people are, on the whole, better off governing themselves;
when they surrender this right to the wise men who claim to know what’s
best for the rest, they invite disaster upon themselves and their
nation.
▪ Second, universal values of freedom, equality and justice are an
important prerequisite for progress and prosperity. It is also morally
right and reflects our highest and noblest aspirations. We can argue
about details but we must never compromise on the principles.
▪ Third, our best hope rests not in the infallibility of great
leaders but in the sanctity of great institutions – a fairly and freely
elected parliament, an independent judiciary, an accountable and
non-political police force and civil service, and a free press – rightly
founded upon just laws.”