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."
Yes, Tommy Thomas is the AG this country needs - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Tuesday, June 05, 2018
Malaysiakini : āThe fascist elements of the state, whose main aim in life seems
to be to protect and serve the interests of the ruling party, must be
reminded that Malaysia does not belong to the prime minister.ā ā Tommy Thomas, āHas Malaysia become a police state?ā
COMMENT | Besides being a co-conspirator to the Najib regime, what Mohamed Apandi Ali is really infamous for in my book, (as detailed in The Wall Street Journal)
is recommending that caning form part of the punishment for those who
violate the Official Secrets Act ā āAt present, those who violate the
law will serve one to seven years in prison. Apandi has proposed that
sentence be extended to life, and that caning be administered as well.ā
I will not even bother going into the details of the sacked AG
malfeasance because it really just stains this article, which is about
an appointment that I am cautiously optimistic. When Tommy Thomas was announced as the Pakatan Harapan choice for the
post of AG, the predictable backlash from the ābangsaā and āagamaā
crowd reverberated through social media. On the other side, there was
the predictable rhetoric that a personās race or religion does not
matter.
Both sides do a disservice to this country. When Lim Guan Eng, the
current finance minister, blathered on about being a Malaysian as if
race did not matter, it was Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
who said, "To have a Chinese finance minister is actually a very good
way forward - this is integration of all the races." Dismantling the āketuanan Melayuā ideology as the deputy prime
minister conceded is a difficult hurdle to overcome and it does Malaysia
no good to engage in sophistry when it comes to race relations in this
country.
The same thing happened when Tommy Thomas was announced as the only
candidate for the AGās post. It is an extremely big deal that a
non-Malay was chosen for the post, which is not to say - like in the
case of Guan Eng - that this is merely ātokenismā, as denied by Wan
Azizah when a non-Malay was chosen to be the finance minister. Tommy
Thomas no doubt meets the necessary requirements but more importantly,
although many would choose to ignore for various reasons, this is
another reminder that things are slowing change.
Furthermore, whether there is a conflict of interest when it comes to
the appointment of Tommy Thomas with his links to the political elite
of Harapan is a question only time will answer. Mind you when I say
time, I mean a very short time. It would become immediately apparent if
Tommy Thomas is biased towards certain personalities, so what we have to
do is wait. This being Malaysia, we would not have to wait long.
The rather vexatious qualifier that the new AG will protect the
special privileges of the Malays and defend Islam is problematic because
as the Harapan grand poobah, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, rightly points out āmany who claim that they supposedly protect Islam, but we find that their actions are contrary to Islam.ā
So do the ābangsaā and āagamaā crowd have a point? Does the AG really
have to defend ābangsaā and āagamaā? I put it to you that this idea of
defending anything is part and parcel of the āketuananā ideology that
needs to be dismantled and that it is merely propaganda that people
could be weaned off if there is a political will to do so.
I put it to you that there is nothing in the role of the
attorney-general where anyone needs to defend the special rights of
anyone but rather uphold the constitution in a manner which nobody's
rights get trampled on by the state.
Let the man speak for himself
Whenever there is an issue with ābangsaā and āagamaā, the grubby fingerprints of the state are always around it. If the state does not condone religious extremism, the religion in
question would not need to be defended. If the state does not condone
and make provocative racist or bigoted overtures, the rights of a
specific race would not need to be defended. If the state does not
manipulate the religion for political gain, then there would not be any
need for religious arguments to intrude into the civil discourse.
While there have been many public testimonials on Tommy Thomas, I prefer to let the man speak for himself. In āThe constitution is supreme, not religionā (Malaysiakini,
2013), he clearly articulates his position when he writes ā āNeither
the government nor any other authority can dictate to any person his
right to choose a religion, relinquish a religious belief (with
limitations for Muslims), change religion and not to be religious
(whether as atheist, agnostic or otherwise). This right is absolute,
entrenched and inalienable.ā
Expanding on this, racial and religious issues should not be viewed
ahistorically and if the state does not make an issue out of them, then
we would not have these ācrisesā where servants of the state have to
intrude into public policy and wade into racial or religious
discourse/discord. See also his public comments
on āhududā law ā āAccordingly, any attempt to introduce hudud, even if
limited to Muslims, by any state legislative assembly would be
unconstitutional because in āpith and substanceā punishment is a matter
of criminal law and procedure, coming solely within Parliament's
legislative competence.ā
Another example of state/federal mendacity from Thomasā articles is his condemnationof
both the BN federal government and Pakatan Rakyat Selangor state
government of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raid of
the Bible Society of Malaysia ā āFinally, the Selangor state government
should not have permitted Jais, as its agency and subordinate to it, to
carry out the raid. Hence, both the BN federal government and the
Pakatan Rakyat state government are responsible for this state of
affairs.ā
Here is why I am cautiously optimistic. If Tommy Thomas is the same
AG as the writer who wrote passionately but professionally of the state
of this country, then we have an AG that this country desperately needs.
If Tommy Thomas is the AG who believes in the separations of powers and
who understands ā as his writings demonstrate ā that for far too long
this country has been run by charlatans and bigots with no respect for
the constitution and this has to change, then we have an AG that this
country desperately needs.
As I said, we wonāt have to wait long to see if my (our) optimism is misplaced.