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 : āI'm sorry, did I break your concentration? I didn't mean to do
that. Please, continue, you were saying something about best
intentions.ā ā Jules Winnfield, Pulp Fiction
COMMENT | Dear Khairy Jamaluddin, I do not normally write open letters. The last one
I wrote was to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, and he didnāt reply.
This made me, as Donald Trump would put it, sad. Now, I know I have
publicly declared you as my bĆŖte noire. But really, this was when Umno
was winning, and as you can tell I was pretty pissed. So donāt take it
to heart.
Anyway, since you are the only one from Umno who speaks āsense,ā
as Hannah Yeoh claims, I thought I would address these question to you.
I had attempted to address these question to some of my other Umno
friends, but they demurred. Truth is, I also asked some of these question to Pakatan Harapan
operatives.
Same reaction. So, I thought, why not Khairy, who really has
nothing to lose. Sorry, didnāt mean to bring up losing. Anyway, the last article
I wrote was about the eventual sublimation of Umno into Harapan. I
received a lot of hate mail from my Umno friends, who said that I should
give the opposition a chance, like I did when Harapan was not the
establishment.
Now, I donāt know if all these people are your friends, but most of
them said that you are the future of Malay politics, even though most of
them could not stand your guts. I really couldnāt tell if this was
because of what you say, or because they had nothing new to say. But donāt worry. I wonāt hold your political baggage against you
because, well, I voted Harapan in and those guys have baggage up the
wazoo. Iāll ask the question and give a little context in italics.
1. What is Malay wisdom? I addressed this question to a few political operatives from Harapan
and they said, whatever Dr Mahathir Mohamad says. Ok, Iām kidding. They
told me that by asking this question, I was spooking the Malays.
All jokes aside, one of them said, it was Khalid Samadās explanation of the move to compel tahfiz centres to register with Jawi. I thought that this was a pretty good answer. And of course, this same political operative said, āWhat the hell is
Malay wisdom?ā This political operative is Malay, and even she has not
heard of Malay wisdom. I tried asking some of my friends from Umno, and they said Malay
wisdom, is listening to Mahathir when he told them to dump Najib Abdul
Razak. So I guess there is something to listening to the old maverick,
but I digress.
2. Since the majority of Malays voted for Umno and PAS, do you really think that they want a progressive Umno?
See, when you talk about progressive values or ideas, this appeals to
a specific base. I wonder if the Malays who voted for Umno and PAS ā
even if they knew Najib was a kleptocrat ā really want the kind of ānew
Malaysiaā that some folks keep babbling on about?
I spoke to a few Malay Harapan operatives, and they attempted to
avoid the question. But you made some pretty interesting choices in your
manifesto, like appealing to the woman vote by creating a woman's seat
for the Umno vice-president post. Thatās pretty progressive, but since you lost, do you think that
progressive is the way to go, especially since Harapan also struggles
with this issue?
3. The talk among Umno potentates is how they will pay for
things now they arenāt in government. How exactly do you think that Umno
is going to keep the base intact when the usual modes of enticements
have been cut off?
I mean Harapan talks about an austerity budget, but I am thinking
that Umno must be really scrambling for funds to keep the base happy.
Some folks have told me that theyāre wondering if theyāll be targeted by
the Harapan state next. I mean all that looting was not solely done by
Najib, right?
4. You mooted the idea that Umno should or could be
multiracial. How exactly would this work, when someone like Mahathir
says the reality of Malaysia is that the majority needs a race-based
party?
Is conventional Malay thinking wrong? If so, then why stick with Umno
or even attempt to reform it? If conventional Malay politics is wrong,
does this mean without an infusion of talent from Umno, Bersatu is
doomed to fail?
5. Do you think lesbians should be caned?
Corollary to that, do you think that watching lesbian S&M porn is
worse than watching a livestream of two lesbians caned by a woman
officer? I only ask because some people are worried that the
Communications and Multimedia Commission are monitoring them when they
watch porn, which is not really true ā I think ā but who knows with this
country.
6. Do you think that Umno should cut ties with Najib?
Some Harapan supporters have said that Umno is complicit in what Najib did. Just recently, Lim Kit Siang said that Umno should cut tieswith its former president. What is your stand on this issue? From interviews, I know you say that Umno drank the Kool-Aid, but do you think that having Najib around does anything for Umno?
7. If Umno somehow manages to make a deal with Harapan, what would be your response?
Do you think that Umno should make deals with Harapan to form the
government? If not, why not? Many of the Umno folk I have spoken to seem
to think this is a good idea. Some of your public comments seem to
imply you do not.
8. Which is worse, a kleptocracy or a theocracy?
I have said the latter. Some folks think the former. As someone who
has been part of the former, what do you think? This also goes for
working under ā sorry, with ā PAS. Do you think this political copulation unnatural?
9. Do you think that Umno should punish defectors, or do you think that maybe you should seriously consider abandoning Umno?
I only ask because I find the current crop of young Harapan political
operatives pretty boring. Itās all about kowtowing to the old maverick,
or fretting if Anwar will become the next prime minister. I think that
you want to be the next prime minister.
10. What recent event do you think that Harapan handled
badly, and what would be your response if you were a Harapan political
operative?
Well, these are the ten questions. Hope you reply, unlike Hadi, which again, I was extremely sad about.