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."
Malaysiakini : COMMENT | In the pre-computer era
of the Eighties, the newsroom was never a quiet place to work. The
clatter of typewriters -- the Olivettis, the Remingtons and the
Underwoods usually drowned the voices of those who spoke in whispers.
Elsewhere, a slew of neatly-cut newsprint carbon papers were strewn on
tables and desks.
Add to this was the din from three teleprinter machines from
Associated Press, Reuters and United Press International which would be
providing feed on what was happening around the world, 24 hours a day.When the editor-in-chief,a stern man of few words steps out of his
glass-panelled room, it usually means trouble. He headed to the
sub-editorsā desk and demanded: āWhoās the sub who let this through?ā A
fairly new journalistās hand went up.
āYou donāt refer to them as āPLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation)
terrorists.ā They are freedom fighters,ā the young sub was told. The
message was clear. āWhenever you get wire copies, make the changes
immediately,ā he was told. Three days later, the editor came out of his office waving a piece of
paper. It was a letter from the Sri Lankan High Commissioner who had
objected to members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) being
stated as āfreedom fighters.ā
The same young sub who was the āculpritā stood up and held his
ground. āIf PLO people can be referred to as freedom fighters, why not
the Tigers be accorded the same status? he asked. He was told: āThis is the governmentās stand and we follow it.ā These
two different references to groups fighting for the same cause was to
be later included in the newspaperās stylebook ā a loose collection of
pages which are updated whenever a crisis occurs.
These days in Penang, the LTTE or the Tamil Tigers of Tamil Ealam
have become fodder for some who seek their five minutes of fame or want
to be noticed by party stalwarts and warlords. Itās the same mob
(photographs portray the same people) who make it part of their SOP to
hold demonstrations after Friday prayers.
Their target this time was Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy
on his alleged links with the LTTE. To the uninitiated, the former
university professor is held in high esteem by the Tamil diaspora and
peacekeepers as a middle-of-the-road ideologue. He had taken part in the
Norway-brokered peace talks before the Tigers were decimated in 2009.
My two years in 'Tamil Eelam'
How do I know this? I spent two years in Tiger country or what the
Tamils perceived as āTamil Eelam.ā For several weeks at a time, I would
be there to ensure the aid is distributed to the needy. Even resin to
make fibre glass boats and fishing nets were donated. These were part of
āget them back on their feetā programme.
I was not there for indoctrination or guerrilla training but coordinating rehabilitation efforts undertaken by theSun after the tsunami hit the north and east of that island. Their hospitality was exceptional. After spending the first night in a
war veteranās rehabilitation centre, photographer Raj Kumar Soman and I
were moved into their āluxuriousā guest house ā Tank View ā where we
had a selection of dishes for breakfast. I was to relate this to the former Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary (and
later High Commissioner to Malaysia) Nanda Goodage to which he quipped:
āThe Tigers are tops when it comes to dealing with foreign media. They
want your sympathy.ā
So, what is this brouhaha over Ramasamy? Didnāt he do what Baling MP Azeez Rahim (photo)
did for the Palestinian people? Unlike Azeez, who was flushed with
money and flaunted it publicly, Ramasamy made his little mark at a
series of peace talks.
During the post-tsunami period, there were no less than 60 aid
agencies in the LTTE-held areas. In the course of our rehabilitation
work, we were taken to the Tigerās naval base, to their TV and Radio
Station, where I was interviewed. I met the entire echelon of the
Tigers, except the supremo, V Prabakharan, who was as elusive as ever.
I was taken to the Warriorās Cemetery where rows of Tamils killed in
combat had been buried; did my banking in a bank where there were no
guards. (āThe people know that we look after their money and they wonāt
dare rob or steal.ā)
I had contact with the Tiger cadres on a daily basis, sometimes as
our guide as we visited the stricken areas. I had to work with them,
especially on logistics and aid which we had brought. Let it be
reiterated that never at any time was there an effort to indoctrinate,
brain-wash or programme me in their belief that power lies in the barrel
of the gun. But one thing struck me and is still etched in my memory: there was
integrity at all levels. One afternoon, I was standing by the lorry and
counting the boxes of food and supplies which had come from Malaysia, a
Tiger cadre said: āDonāt worry Annan. No one will touch your boxes. If
anyone touches one box, we will put a bullet in his head.ā
Fighting for self-rule
After the whole exercise, I took two bottles of water from what we
had brought as I was thirsty. A minute later, the same cadre was
standing beside me asking me sign for the two bottles.
Yes, the Tigers, like the Palestinian people, were fighting for
self-rule and they resorted to violence when talks fizzled out. We donāt
decry Azeez and his Putra Umno merry men who charted a ship to defy the
embargo imposed by Israel.
I was back there in December 2014, on the 10th anniversary of the
tsunami. North and East Sri Lanka has changed. Our favourite watering
holes had been flattened and in its place, new brick buildings.
The hospital in Puthukudiruppu on the coast was a row of
palm-thatched buildings when we presented a portable x-ray machine.
Today, there are three rows of buildings and two ambulances parked in
the drive way.
There are no signs of the Tigers or the remnants. There seems to be
little left of the Tigers. The bullet-ridden holes in some old brick
buildings are standing monuments of a civil war which took over 100,000
lives. What remains as a tourist attraction is huge water tower, laying
flat, which was blown up as the Sri Lankan army advanced.
Ten years had been a long time. Elections have been held and Jaffna
in the north elected a retired judge as its mayor. Now, 18 years later,
there are no signs of the Tigers. There have been occasional clashes
among the three main races ā Malays, Singhalese and Tamils. Each time,
they die off with a whimper, thanks to the Sri Lankan Army. Malaysia has participated in peace-keeping missions in areas of
conflict and no one utters a word on our alliances and allegiances. The
moment you act in an individual or NGO capacity, the mob mentality is
ready to lynch you.
Many of us believe in the peaceful settlement of armed conflicts. To
lump all of us together with those who resort to violence is
meaningless. The so-called do-gooders who assembled after Friday prayers would be
better off fighting an urgent cause at home ā child marriages.
R NADESWARAN has taken part in many non-journalistic missions and has
enjoyed recording some of them. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com