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."
Najib's four types of Umno leaders restated - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, July 07, 2022
Malaysiakini : Now, of course, we could speak of the corruption trials of various
political operatives, including those from the opposition, but the
former prime minister, who is playing the optics game better than any of
his political adversaries, including those from his own party, seems to
forget that corruption is a desiderata for Umno.
In reality, there are four types of Umno leaders that people should be wary of:
Those that were convicted of corruption and did their time.
Those convicted of corruption and going through the process of appeal.
Those who are undergoing corruption trials or under investigation for corruption.
Those that had their corruption charges dropped for mysterious reasons.
Let
us not forget that when we talk of corruption, we are not only talking
about the corruption of the political elites but also of institutions
which are considered sacred cows to the “bangsa and agama” (race and
religion) crowd.
‘Nobody in Umno batted an eyelid’
To
understand how corruption and the enabling of corruption is part of the
Umno culture, we do not have to touch the 1MDB totem. All we have to do
is go back to 2017 when a veteran Umno leader admitted to having played a role in a North Korean spy front.
When
Umno talks about the struggle, we have to remember that a high-ranking
veteran Umno member did business with North Korea and claimed ignorance
of international sanctions against that country, and nobody in Umno
batted an eyelid.
What we witnessed is a possible criminal
enterprise linked with possible foreign intelligence services. This, of
course, does not even take into consideration the possible links between
North Korean intelligence services which do business here and possible
collusion with China operatives plying their trade in this country.
And
this is just one example of how dangerous Umno’s sanctioning of corrupt
behaviour is to the country but, more importantly, how the culture of
enabling corruption has created a generation of leaders who put profit
over the country.
Systemic Umno corruption is just that: a
complicated web of personalities, familial kinship and political
alliances all wrapped around the upper echelons of a bureaucracy divided
into various petty fiefdoms.
Not to mention it created a
bureaucracy, including the state security apparatus, which is beholden
to Umno political operatives. The “our boy” scandal and the revelations
of former inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador merely exposed
the festering wound of the Umno body politik.
Former inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador
I
mean, people thought it was business as usual in 2018 when the
Australian police froze the account of a high-level state security
officer on suspicion of money laundering or the proceeds of a crime.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director (at the time) Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd denied wrongdoing but claimed that it would be too expensive for court action to retrieve the money.
Umno
political operatives benefiting from a system of corruption is nothing
new, of course. In 2013, former Kota Raja Umno chief Amzah Umar denied
any wrongdoing when it came to the land grab scandal in Shah Alam,
offering this justification for what were essentially corrupt practices:
“We give a seven percent discount for bumiputera buyers and 12 percent for Umno members if I am not mistaken.”
And (the cherry on this moist corrupt cake): “What scandal?
It is all in the plan. You can check with Majlis Bandar Shah Alam, the
state government or the district officer, everything is in order.”
What we are talking about here is a mentality that seeps right down from top to bottom.
To understand this mentality, all we have to do is listen to a Bersatu operative
talk about Umno and funding for election purposes: “It’s true (this
Umno mentality) as the majority of party members are formerly from Umno,
so they don’t only physically join Bersatu but bring their attitudes
with them.”
When I think of corruption, I think of a kid like Teoh
Beng Hock, who was murdered while political operatives from Umno went
on with their plunder and had the audacity to scream that they are the
defenders of race and religion.
I think about the numerous deaths
in custody and keep seeing the parents of these murdered young people
holding up their pictures and asking for investigations.
So you see, when we talk about Umno’s corruption, we are really talking about a history of corruption.
This is a historical movie that would never be made.
