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."
Malaysiakini : “For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." (Little Gidding) – TS Eliot
COMMENT
| Another new year is upon us. I know some people feel as if Pakatan
Harapan is the new BN. I have pushed this narrative in nearly all my
writings. I desperately sound the alarm bells that Harapan is becoming
neo BN – but I do not do this out of spite.
I do this because I
come from a generation that saw how BN evolved. A generation that
witnessed alliance politics morph into something ugly but more
importantly, saw how the public supported a corrupt system out of
pragmatism or fear or just plain self-interest. I remember when
Lim Kit Siang and the opposition were decimated in one election, and how
those of us who were rooting for him were shocked that people did not
vote for at least the DAP, which offered something else to the politics
that were tearing us apart. However, this is the past. Admittedly,
things have changed.
These days I see articulate young leaders toe
the party line. I see young leaders more interested in maintaining
party discipline, egged on by the base who assume that they speak for
all Malaysians.
I see a kind of fascistic patina slowly forming
around young leaders more interested in inter-party ascendance than
inspiring people – young people especially – that things can change if
only you worked hard enough for it. Hate to break it to you but playing
the political party game works well on social media but it doesn’t
inspire people – especially young people – to vote for the change they
want.
It is pointless chronicling the whys and hows of the fall of
Najib Abdul Razak. When the old maverick claims that Bersatu was needed
in the removal of Najib, I think it is more complicated than that. I think he was needed for the removal of Najib. Dr
Mahathir Mohamad always knew how to play the political game better than
his comrades in Umno. If Najib had just listened to him, I doubt we
would be having this conversation. However, the removal of Najib
is more than just the legacy of the old maverick.
It demonstrated that a
ruling coalition could fall. I want young people to take note of this.
From what I gather, young people are infatuated with the old maverick
and while I understand this, I hope the young people who were standing
in the sidelines in the 14th general election now understand the future
of this country – and more importantly, the power they could wield in
determining this future.
Going through my files, I reread an article
in the BBC earlier this year about the power young Malaysians have but
do not wield. It is an interesting article, not only because it neatly
condensed many of the data points that I have put forward concerning the
youth vote in this country but it also reminds us that young people
have the power to change things.
“If this is genuine lack of
interest, it is reflected in one poll by Merdeka Center, an independent
Malaysian polling organisation which last year looked at how young
people in West Malaysia felt about politics. Merdeka Center found that
as many as 70 percent of them do not believe that their vote will bring
about tangible changes in the government and don't think their elected
representatives really care about people like them.”
Young voters
are the key, even if they do not care. Look, while I think that DAP,
PKR, and Amanah are making an effort, I also think that there are many
young people in Bersatu who know that things need to change. I mean,
look at someone like Wan Saiful Wan Jin. Smart guy, but he has to
conform to the politics of Bersatu, which is an early Umno pastiche.
Honestly, I tried to give Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (photo)
the benefit of the doubt but if someone like Wan Saiful had brought the
kind of American-inspired conservatism to Bersatu, which is what he did
when he was in Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas),
this would have been a good thing. Bersatu, whether we like it or not,
has the best chance to lead the way but if it continues down this path,
we are going down the crapper.
Jostling for power, contracts
Change
does not take time. Political will stalls for time. We can move forward
slowly or you could convince people that you are moving, but walking
slowly on the same spot. I keep getting these clips of the old maverick
saying that the education policy needs to change. I keep seeing young
and old political operatives in Bersatu talking about how the Malays
cannot rely on the tongkat and Bersatu needs to lead the way.
I
have heard all this before. Maybe you have too. Take education for
instance. Firstly, why doesn’t someone give Azly Rahman a job sorting
this mess out, but more importantly, if Bersatu and Harapan have the
political will to slowly remove the tongkat and change the education system, they would make some good faith gestures.
First,
they would recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC). Then
they would do away with Malay-only institutions. They would recognise
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (Icerd) for instance, and not in various political ways,
propagate the "do not spook the Malays" meme.
What we are hearing
from the supposedly closed-door Bersatu AGM is the same game of federal
control, of power, through proxies. This is why people are jostling for
power, contracts and positions. Decentralise power, which would allow
state-level affirmative action programmes for all races. I bet my last
ringgit that more Malays would benefit from these programmes than
non-Malays, if that is the fear of Malay and non-Malay political
operatives.
This way you could name the new agenda the Best Ultra
Malay Initiative – BUMI – and nobody would care if everyone was getting
the help they need, regardless of race. But everyone knows what
separates Bersatu and the far right of Umno and PAS - polemics not
policy.
And while I am bitching about policy, this 1am closing time
for nightspots in the Federal Territory is the dumbest and I would say a
mendacious policy of the Harapan regime. Interfering in business – the
price of KFC too high, really? Is it mendacious when you claim we have a
trillion ringgit debt?
There is a whole host of small businesses
attached to nightclubs, not to mention the traders who service the
after-hours crowd in local fare, that would be affected by this
malicious rule.
What Harapan is doing is destroying part of the
culture of this country. Big City culture and what they want to do is to
turn it into what some parts of this country are. Remember this day,
because no matter what some people say about closing hours in the West,
what we have here are sub rosa moves by the Islamist to slowly impose
hegemony, Harapan style. This is just the beginning.
Who knows
what the following year will bring in the permutations of Malay power.
Frogs jumping, political opponents having lunch, internecine conflicts
among Malay brokers in the major parties.
In this climate, do you blame people for feeling jaded and thinking that nothing changes? I
have two hopes for the new year. The first that young people discover
the power they wield. And the second that the people who supported
Harapan pressure the government so it does not become another BN.
Have a productive new year, Malaysia, whoever you are.