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."
Were Harapan supporters promised the impossible? - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Malaysiakini : "To avoid the Wan Ji mishap from happening again, all DPPs should
read the Harapan manifesto on New Malaysia and seek any new instructions
from the attorney-general if they have queries, especially with regard
to cases before the last general election." – Lim Kit Siang
COMMENT
| At the Perak DAP convention, Lim Kit Siang said something rather
queer. He said Harapan had to admit that it promised the impossible in
its election manifesto. He also said that he believed Malaysians would
“appreciate our frankness, with their support and confidence largely
intact”.
Lim Kit Siang is late to the party. The prime minister of
this country, the prime minister that the Harapan political elite
support, has already pooh-poohed the election manifesto.
Here
is what Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently said: “We thought
we were going to lose. We put in tough things in the manifesto so that
if we lose, the (BN) government would be in a quandary (after winning
the polls).
“But now, we are the government. We are victims of our own manifesto.” I
have no idea if Malaysians would appreciate being reminded that the
election manifesto is worthless. I suppose some Malaysians whose only
aim were to remove the Najib regime, would understand that the manifesto
is worthless.
But
for many other Malaysians, being told that what was promised was
impossible, and juxtaposed with the polemics that Harapan was needed to
save Malaysia, may need a little convincing when Lim (above) says “the five pillar promises contained in the manifesto remain our lodestar and guiding principle”.
Moreover,
when we talk about “Malaysians”, who exactly are we talking about? If
we were to believe that Mahathir owes his tenure to non-Malay support,
this would mean that the non-Malays are more invested in the egalitarian
aspects of the manifesto than their Muslim brethren.
If anything,
non-Malays who supported Harapan have been getting the short end of the
stick when it comes to policy decisions of this government. The “don’t
spook the Malays” narrative has become the new normal.
Syed
Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, the young boy minister, has the temerity to
declare open season on the DAP for what Ronnie Liu said, and the DAP
politburo meekly attempts to smoothen things over.
Meanwhile, the
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng is carrying on his petty feud with the MCA
and using the TAR UC issue to alienate the Chinese community. The
rather dumb excuse of wanting state-funded government institutes free
from political influence is the dumbest rationale that Guan Eng has come
up with.
We
live in a society where tax money is funding Malay/Muslim education
establishments that discriminate against the non-Malays, and Guan Eng (above) attempts to use TAR UC to finish off the MCA, not to mention as a vindictive means of revisionist history. Let’s
take something as ridiculous as the khat controversy to understand how
badly Harapan mismanaged this issue. Forget about the fact that it
should never have been an issue in the first place, but observe how
quick Harapan non-Malay politicians attempted to delegitimise dissent to
khat.
(What about the Apartheid Style Income Tax in Malaysia, Guan Eng, isn't that Jizya? - edit) I cringe whenever I hear Lim Kit Siang being called by the
people as Lim “khat” Siang, but I understand the frustration people have
of his defence of this issue. When Guan Eng blames Sin Chew Jit Poh
for stirring up non-Malay fear of khat, what does this say about Guan
Eng and his eagerness to propagate an art form which is linked with
religion, and which the state uses to strengthen its hold on the
majority of this country?
Lim said he blamed political conspirators,
and Harapan was caught off guard by this issue: "Nothing could be
further from the truth as the issue had caught everyone, including
myself, by surprise, as it is a legacy of the previous government." This
brings us back to an important point. Why is Harapan carrying out
policies enacted by the previous government? Before the election we were
told that when it comes to “Islamic” issues, there was a consultative
mechanism in place which differentiated Harapan from the previous
government .
As PSM’s S Arutchelvan wrote: How is Harapan making decisions?
We know that the public discourse is not dominated by discussion of
policies, but rather by the squabbles, machinations and sex scandals of
the Harapan political elite. Lim hopes that Harapan commits
to the pillars of the manifesto, but before the by-election defeat of
Tanjung Piai, nobody in the Harapan political elite seemed committed to
the manifesto.
Lim warns that the “Malaysian” dream could die if
Harapan fails, but this is the kind of political rhetoric that got
Harapan into trouble in the first place. The “Malaysian dream” is like
the “Save Malaysia” propaganda. It really does not mean anything beyond
encouraging certain romantic ideas the Harapan base has about what
Malaysia could be. I think most Malaysians, specifically
non-Malays, just want a little fairness when it comes to the political
process. I do not even mean strict egalitarian polices or full-blown
meritocracy. They just do not want race and religion to be shoved down
their throats, especially by hypocritical politicians at every turn, and
racist policies which affect the economy and standard of living to be
rectified.
All these issues that Harapan is facing - the
backtracking, the deception, the deflections and weasel-worded defences
of past policies - just infuriate a section of the voting public. Forget about Mahathir and Bersatu for a moment. What do we have?
We have multiracial political parties unable to coalesce around common goals, while fascist agents have the upper hand.