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 problem with 'extremist' rhetoric - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, April 01, 2019
Sisters in Islam
Malaysiakini : “Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it.” - Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life
COMMENT | Howard Lee’s rather opaque article on how extremism
was an impediment to nation-building is the problem with Establishment
politics in this country. I have often argued that “religious extremism”
is the existential threat facing this country, but this is not what
Lee’s article was about. In fact, this is the kind of propaganda that
clouds issues when it comes to Harapan’s racial and religious politics.
Let
me give you an example. Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin recently chided PAS
for questioning the Harapan government’s allocation of funds to Sisters
in Islam. Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Ministry
Minister Hannah Yeoh – who was queried by the PAS political operative on
the funding – said the government did the right thing in providing an
allocation to SIS. What we are talking about here is encouraging a
different Islamic narrative.
When the government funds Islamic
schools and funds the Islamic bureaucracy only, they are encouraging a
specific kind of narrative. Allocating funds is the first step to
encouraging a plurality of voices when it comes to religion. What would
have been great is if Mujahid Rawa, the Islamic affairs minister, had a
meet-and-greet with representatives from SIS, thus legitimising their
social work in the Islamic context.
This would be a far better
method of battling the “extremism” Howard talks about. Instead, Mujahid
Yusof Rawa finds someone like Zakir Naik “inspirational,” and does not
attempt to set a moderate agenda for the Islamic bureaucracy in this
country. Umno, when it was in power, created a policy for the Islamic
bureaucracy and used it for its own purposes.
So, is “extremism”
solely perpetuated by the likes of Umno/PAS? This is where spiels by
political operatives pushing a certain type of New Malaysian identity
contribute to the extremism in this country. What new Malaysia needs is a
marketplace of ideas. The propaganda organs of the state – it pains me
to write something like this – should be a platform for alternative
Islamic narratives.
Sisters
in Islam, with their free Telenisa legal clinic, is part of a hidden
Islamic narrative that could be used as a counterpoint to the kind of
establishment religious narratives that Harapan political operatives
claim they want to move away from. Can you imagine the potential if
something like Telenisa was given national coverage on state-owned media?
“One
of their ideas is to have more Telenisa mobile clinics, which would
send more teams of counsellors and volunteers to visit low-income
communities to spread awareness on domestic violence, women's rights in
marriages and to offer legal advice. “Another proposal is to
employ more experts to sift through data to spot trends in Telenisa
cases to help the ministry come up with better laws or amendments.”
As it is, there is no marketplace of ideas in Malaysia when it comes to race and religion. What
is the difference between the MP talking about how Netflix has LGBTQ
elements that could disturb a certain segment of the population, and
Mujahid talking about how the women’s right march was hijacked by LGBTQ
elements, and the police investigating the organisers of the march for
sedition?
Actually what the government is doing in this instance is worse then fretting over the LGBTQ themes on Netflicks.
Howard
argues that the racial and religious narratives coming out of Umno/PAS
(although he does not mention them) are an impediment to
nation-building. Howard is wrong. The “extremism” which is impeding
nation-building is the lack of political will from Harapan. It is the
supine reaction from Harapan towards the racial and religious
provocations of Umno/PAS.
Howard writes: “Unsuspecting members of
the public could easily be entrapped by this rhetoric and become victims
of misinformation, and end up helping to spread extremist narratives.”
Howard should give some examples of how “unsuspecting” members could be
caught up in the racial and religious rhetoric of certain quarters.
As
far as I can tell, Harapan and Umno/PAS are playing the same racial and
religious game, but the Umno/PAS combo is doing a better job. They are
not constrained – yet – by non-Malay expectations. All they have to do
is bang the drum and people will come to them. Why? Because we get
non-Malay political operatives claiming that Umno/PAS are Taliban. This
muddies the waters.
I talked about the futility of this kind of rhetoric
here: “ Firstly, the Taliban ideology is not anathema to the mostly
conservative Malay base that Bersatu wants to court. Secondly, it gives
the far right the opportunity to claim this as another instance of the
DAP not respecting Islam. There is no dissonance in these statements
because the base that Umno/PAS represents, and which Bersatu and the
other Malay powerbrokers in Harapan want, has no problem believing the
DAP is insulting Islam, while believing that there is nothing wrong with
the Taliban ideology.”
However, it is more than just playing the
game strategically. “Extremism” flourishes for a variety of reasons. But
the kind of domestic extremism that Howard is talking about, is not the
geo-political problem he erroneously links it to. The reality is not
that Harapan is facing an extremist threat, but rather the foundations
of mainstream Malaysian politics have extremist elements.
Instead
of inspiring young people and advocating an inclusive policy, what the
Harapan government seems to be doing is conforming to an agenda set out
by Umno/PAS, while the non-Malay political operatives keep silent and
occasionally write about how “extremism” is an impediment to
nation-building.
Harapan has the power, if not the majority
support. It should exercise that power. Encourage alternative
narratives and make sure the rural heartlanders are exposed to it with
the propaganda organs of the state. When Harapan caves in to Umno/PAS
religious demands, people see weakness. They see that Umno/PAS are
better at protecting Islam than the weaklings who talk big, but
ultimately dance to the tune of Umno/PAS. Even when it comes to backing a
non-Malay political operative, Harapan's Malay political operatives are
scared to do so.
Imagine what would happen if the federal
government had the kind of gumption that Umno/PAS have. Imagine if they
decided to offer narratives which they believed in as fervently as those
in PAS? Imagine if the discourse was not controlled by the far right?
Howard, extremism is not an impediment to nation-building. It is the
complete lack of political will in encouraging a plurality of religious
voices, the mendacity of propagating ideas which are not grounded in
policy, and hiding behind realpolitik when pressed to fulfil election
promises.