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."
What message is Penang sending to children? - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, June 03, 2019
Penang
Malaysiakini : āHow wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.ā ā Anne Frank
COMMENT
| I read with dismay the news report of a Penang Island city councillor
wanting the police to look into the matter of the participation of
children at a climate change protest by NGOs hostile to the Penang
Transport Master Plan (PTMP) initiative. I get that this project
is controversial, with public opinion is mired in partisanship and there
are people who support or oppose the project. This call by the city
councillor for the police to harass the NGOs is typical of BN era
politics, which was supposed to be in decline in Malaysia Baru.
The
hypocrisy is evident. Back when Pakatan Harapan (in its various
incarnations) held protests against the Umno/BN state, children were
always brought along. Indeed, personnel of the state security apparatus
expressed (to me) their irritation that protesters were bringing along
children, claiming that these protesters were using children as some
sort of human shields. My response to this was always, why would they
need human shields?
If you go on social media, there are hundreds
of pictures of children in Bersih T-shirts protesting with their
parents. They are even pictures of infants in Bersih garb. When I
attended the anti-Icerd (International Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Racial Discrimination) rally, there were children there
too.
There
is a discussion to be had about the role of children in protest
rallies. However, the reality in this instance is that this Penang state
councillor is mendacious and hypocritical in wanting the state security
apparatus to intervene in the protests of NGOs (and children) who are a
part of civil society.
MIC Bayan Baru Youth leader Mathis
Sarawanan is correct when he writes: āThis entire suggestion rather
looks like a desperate attempt to hopelessly defend the PTMP and PSR
(Penang South Reclamation) projects, as well as warn off other civil
society organisations about the consequences of going against the
state.ā
The āsadnessā that these children were āusedā demonstrates
that for all the talk by Harapan that they want young people involved
in the political and social discourse, what it comes down to is that if
children are protesting against the establishment, then they are being
used by adults. Were the children protesting during the Umno/BN regime,
being used by adults as some claimed at the time?
Education
minister Mazlee Malik hailed the school some of these children were from
as eco-warriors. This is probably why the children were wearing their
school T-shirts. To get publicity for the school, which in turn could
translate to funding. Why does the councillor get āperturbedā about
something like this? Schools these days gets the wrong attention for the
most upsetting issues. Encouraging a sense of community is what
schooling should be about and is what the administrators of this school
are doing. With all the pressures facing schoolchildren these
days, protesting against climate change and a government project seems a
far better alternative than the "social ills" we keep reading about.
Reform movement Aliran, which covered the event,
reported: āKeeping an eye on the group was the school principal, Sangga
Sinnayah, and Parent-Teacher Association chairman Vimalan Narayanan.
āSangga
said the pupils had received their parentsā permission to take part in
the event. Two of the pupils were celebrating their birthday, but they
had requested their parents to delay their celebrations as they wanted
to participate in this climate event. They are learning so much by
taking part in such activities.ā
Forget
about the children for a minute. What angers me is this city councillor
asking the state security apparatus to investigate a protest using the
same justifications that Umno/BN used to use against legitimate
protests.
āProtest held illegallyā and āno valid permitsā made up
the kind of duplicitous nonsense Umno/BN used when cracking down on
dissent. I despise it when Harapan politicians or members of its
bureaucracy talk this way because it is a betrayal of everything people
who went out on the streets fought for. It is a betrayal of the
principles that Harapan operatives talked about before they assumed
power.
What kind of message is the Penang state government trying
to send to young people? What kind of message is the Penang state
government sending to civil society? On the one hand, people decry the
apathy of young people and on the other, they accuse adults of
manipulating them when they protest against things that affect them.
What kind of message are the Penang authorities sending to
schoolchildren when it comes to dissent? We have a government that
wants to lower the voting age because it thinks this will help them
politically. What about educating children on their basic democratic
rights when it comes to participating in society? Donāt you think this
will educate them on their voting choices as they grow older?
There
is also this talk on teaching children about the dangers of kleptocracy
and instilling in them the spirit of democracy. When they do
demonstrate ā and climate change is a bigissue with young people the
world over ā a city councillor tells the kids that what they did was
wrong.
I think this city councillor is using these children to get
back at the NGOs which the state government is at odds with. It fills
me with sadness that this city councillor would use children as
collateral damage to get back at the NGOs that are against the projects
that the state wishes to carry out. Would this city councillor have
approved if the state security apparatus had broken up this protest?
What message is she sending to the children that adults who encourage
their activism would be investigated by the state security apparatus?
Instead
of intimidating NGOs using children, the city councillor should have
held a dialogue with the school to explain the stateās position. This
way, the state demonstrates how democracy works, through dialogue
instead of fascist tactics like hoping the state security apparatus
would investigate NGOs protesting against state initiatives.
There
is a lesson here and it is not the children who need to learn it. Or
maybe the children need to learn that whatever it may profess, the state
is rarely interested in democratic first principles.