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."
Jennifer Soars : Today,
I am taking a walk with a nonagenarian. Heās 94, and today, I want him
to remember. So we will start our walk a few days before May 13th 1969
erupted.
And, while people say we should never look back, it is
important that at this time, we do. Otherwise, how will we ever learn.
We can only learn from what is in our experience. Tengku Abdul Rahman,
my beloved Prime Minister at that time, said he was the happiest Prime
Minister because he marveled at how peaceful we were, a country with
different races, different cultures and different religions, and with
people that lived together in harmony.
Before he died, in an
article entitled, āAs I see itā, Tengku Abdul Rahman named the people
who plotted May 13th. He named you, and said that you were part of a
group of rabble rousers called Ultra Malays. As a group , aka the
Ultra Malays, you Sir, together with Musa Hitam and Ghazali Shafee,
were instrumental in the announcement made at Ampang Hilir, that there
was going to be a coup. Then from Datuk Harunās house, where people
with hate in their hearts were assembled, a rumour began that the
Chinese were killing the Malays and the rest is history.
The riots
began. To stop the riots and to contain the violence , Tun Razak
deployed the army and people were shot in the streets. It was a dark
time. To put the final nail in our beloved First Prime Ministerās
coffin, you wrote the yellow letters, in which you accused Tengku of
siding with the Chinese and blamed Lim Kit Siang for the riots, even
though he was not even in town. Tengkuās account of this chronology
had the truth in it. The article has never been disputed. Three years
later, he died.
Still, subsequently, as Malaysians, we moved on
from this very very dark time in our countryās history, and bless our
Malaysian hearts, we forgave it all. So, those of you reading this
article, please understand no malice is intended by my writing it. On
the contrary, this article shows that we all know what happened, but
because, unlike the rest of our families that fled in fear, we stayed
to serve this country, as did all of you. This is our country, Malaysia.
And we are still here.
I have loved this country for 70 years
now, and still do. This is my country. I cannot say it enough times.
In spite of all that has happened and in spite of the fact that my
family was split, post May 13th 1969, this is my country. This type of
love tells the world what a glorious and forgiving and loving people,
Malaysians are. We are special. True Malaysians are one family. But we tarry. Letās move on.
Fast forward to your appointment as Minister of Education. The slide
and rot of our once excellent education system began with you. After GE
14, you Sir, wanted to come back as Education Minister and when it
didnāt happen, you sent us your lackey. All he has done is set the cat
among the pigeons. But again, letās not tarry. We must not waste
any more time on our MOE. He is ineffectual, and despite the fact that
he has a winsome smile he is not going to āKhat Itā. Time is now of the
essence. So, come along, dear Sir. So sorry to rush you, but there is much more you need to remember, Dr Mahathir.
Let us go back to a little more history, post riots. Once established
as the blue eyed boy of UMNO, by no other than Tun Razak, the same one
who ousted Tengku Abdul Rahman, one by one , you got rid of Tengku
Razalie, Musa Hitam and the likes. Guess they got their just rewards.
The destroyers became the destroyed. Karma is a bitch. And throughout
all this time, you played the racial card.
No, Dr Mahathir,
itās not us that use race and religion to divide us. You do it so very
well and provide us our daily bread with the race/ religion rhetoric.
This time youāve even gone one step better. Now youāve allowed ZN to
insult and question our birth right and our loyalties and yet, you keep
him here. He even has outriders. Almost on par with you, Sir. If
thatās not adding insult to injury, what is? By the way, the fact that
ZN says he was misquoted, tells us that like you, ZN has taken
Malaysians for fools.
By your refusal to see what he is creating, you
are telling us how much you care for the people who were willing to
forgive your history, open our hearts and put our trust in you. Yet
underlying your rhetoric, you are saying to every true Malaysian, suck
it up. And so, we are stuck with the man. And yes, we continue to āsuck
it upā.
A couple of nights ago, I was out celebrating Merdeka.
It is ironical that I still believe in the word Merdeka or the concept
of it. And the people, who were with me and who still want to believe
in you, say you are always one step in front of us, way ahead of our
puny brains with your master plan for this country. Forgive me if Iām
skeptical that this is even remotely true. Master plan or another nail
in our coffins? The next few months will tell us. But move on, we
must, lest you get lulled into believing there isnāt more.
We
now walk through the advent of GE14 and the choices voters made. The old
adages ā Better the devil you know, than the devil you donātā and
āHobsonās choice ā, were in play then, and you appeared as the saviour
of my beloved land. So post election europhia, we were excited. Our
country needed money. The real troupers of this land paid into a fund
that was launched to Save Malaysia, so, when Lim Guan Eng came in as
finance minister, he launched this fund.
We all did our part to help put
money back into our coffers. We ALL did. All we wanted was to drag
ourselves out of the mire created by the marauders and rapists who were
destroying our country. We heeded the call to arms. We won. Or did we? If you believe that we cared tuppence for the PH manifesto, you were
mistaken. We are realists. No pie in the sky, no pipe dreams. We had
our feet on the ground. Then you began removing the rug from under our
feet.
Each month your lackey annoyed people. Then you started letting
Dumno has-beens, leap frog into your party to swell your party
numbers. God, there are some real jumpers there. You could hold a leap
frog race and they would win hands down. You came in on a PKR and DAP
ticket, but you knew you were on shifting sand, and sought to strengthen
your position. Your son got some choice offers, slick move that. And
you, barely in office too.
Aiyohlah, how are you different from
Jibby. It wasnāt long then, before a slide built up. Soon we saw that a
new rot, smelling a lot like the old rot, had started to creep in.
And then came the āpiece de resistanceā, a stench of things to come.
And that stench, is firmly entrenched on our soil. Heās here, and it
looks like he is here to stay, while we, the Indians and Chinese,
bonafide Malaysian citizens, are accused of all kinds of things, of
being anti Islam, racialistic and of being bigots. The dirges for DAP
and PKR have started playing. A funeral soon for their demise?
Sir, we are ending our little walk now. I know you are tired. But before
you leave, take a stroll around the Government offices, in Putra Jaya.
How many employees are there in Government Service? Which race
dominates? Visit the Universities and Hospitals and every other Public
Facility. Which race dominates? And then Sir, answer this question.
How much more and for how long more, do the other races have to give in?
As you are driven around the city, pray read the names of
companies that are building highways, have Government projects, own the
canteens in schools and government offices . Then visit the MOE and your
other ministries. Which race dominates? And then ask this question
again. When will Government tenders finally be transparent and opened
to us, the marginalized? How much more do youāll want , Sir, and for
how long more? It must be very tiring staying ahead of the pack
at your tender age.
But you are running short of time. No one is
immortal. It must worry you that God may call us anytime. So while I am
not God, I really believe that one day you will be asked, by God, whom
we all will face , to explain why you never kept your promises to ALL
your voters . ZN did not vote you in. But heās here. We voted you in
and yet we are being told, in so many ways, to go back from whence we
came.
I believe also that you will be asked by God, to explain
how , as the Prime Minister of this wonderful land, you took care of
your āUmmah Wahidaā? What will you say? You will surely be asked how
much you did to mesh us all together with our Muslim brethren? You
will have to answer. Did you do right by us, or did you just pit us
against each other?
And most importantly, what did you do to eradicate
racialim and religious bigotry in this once glorious land. I think, my
precious nonagenarian, youāve got your work cut out for you. Time is
not on your side. But because Iām a nice person, I will pray for you to
get it right this time. Please Sir, get it right, this time. I will
pray everyday for my country. God Bless us all.