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."
PN is the logical conclusion to corruption of BN - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, August 29, 2022
Malaysiakini : Leading up to the “emergency”, the PN government attempted to soothe
the frayed nerves of the public by claiming that this was not really an
emergency but rather something else that was like, but not really, an
emergency.
Malaysiakini columnist Syahredzan Johan astutely pointed out that even the royal institution was concerned about the possible abuse of political power in the first attempt at an emergency:
“The word membatasi
was the only one to be highlighted in red in the statement. The other
words were printed in black. This statement is significant as it
suggests that the rulers were of the view that there could be elements
of abuse of power in an emergency and that the Agong's role is to ensure
that executive powers are not abused.”
Subversion, then usurpation
PAS
meanwhile attempts to subvert the democratic guardrails in this country
using the political chaos as a smokescreen to advance fascist policies.
I
have no idea why some folks are so dismissive of PAS which is not only
criminally naïve but also indicative of the kind of partisanship that
will result in the death of democracy by a thousand cuts.
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang
PAS
president Abdul Hadi Awang understands that he will be vilified by
non-Malays, but he also knows that when it comes to actual policymaking,
his rhetoric and that of his base will have a profound impact, even
though politically in terms of representation, PAS may be negligible,
especially in the federal government.
Like most extremists in a democratic structure, their goal, in the beginning, is subversion and then usurpation.
In 2019, Kelantan deputy menteri besar said the state has managed to be graft-free since PAS took over its administration in 1990.
Of
course, the numerous reports about corruption, especially illegal
logging, land grabs and other municipal malfeasance, are ignored by the
menteri besar because (in the reality created by PAS) corruption is only
something others do and not the religious party (PAS) whose members
believe that they are ordained by God to impose Islamic superiority in
this country.
Add to this a religious bureaucracy which reinforces
PAS' narratives, we are left with a large chunk of the voting public
immune to rational argument.
The other chunk is blinded by partisan fervour and rational people have to choose between the two.
Keep in mind that the PAS ulama wing even went so far as to defy the Selangor sultan in the Bon Odori fiasco.
PAS ulama wing chief Ahmad Yahaya did three things when he dismissed the sultan’s claims about the festival.
First,
he publicly disagreed with the head of the religion of a state thereby
implying that the sultan is not fluent in religious dogma - and thereby
challenging the words of the Selangor state ruler.
Second, he
encourages, one could even argue, ferment rebellion by asking the
religious apparatus in all states to further investigate the Bon Odori
festival, thereby bypassing the words of the sultan and establishing a
narrative that the final arbiter of what is Islamic in this country is
not the sultan but rather the religious bureaucracy.
Third, and
this is the most troubling, is that Ahmad goes a step further and
encourages Muslims not to attend the festival on religious grounds,
thereby going against the words of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah who, in
this context, was essentially taking the middle ground.
Hence
middle ground politics is more vulnerable to political extremist
insurgencies, and since there are no real bulwarks, middle ground
political operatives are left to fend for themselves.
Reforms of public institutions
The
fact that Bersatu is successfully waging a war of attrition on Umno
vote banks, and the reality that there are Umno political operatives who
support Bersatu in the hopes of leveraging said support to carry out
their own political agendas, demonstrates that far from being a wounded
beast, the mainstream political establishment is making plays which
would redefine the political and social landscape of this country.
No
political operatives from either PN or BN are willing to carry out
reforms of our public institutions to give back power to the people.
The
opposition is foolish to use the jailing of Najib and the actions of
the Federal Court as some sort of talisman to keep the darkness at bay,
narcotising its base into believing that the system will ultimately
prevail.
Do not for one moment think that the system is holding.
The
reality is that Malay uber alles political operatives have slain more
Malay sacred cows in their quest for political hegemony and the fact
that we do not have an opposition which is a strong secular alternative
makes the situation even more precarious.
The opposition should
make use of the fact that the Malay uber alles cartels have slayed all
these sacred cows, instead of attempting a retreat to the status quo.
To save Malaysia, Harapan should be willing to burn corrupt, extremist bridges.
Make
no mistake, the coming general elections brought upon by feuding
elements in the Malay political establishment will determine if this
country remains a somewhat secular democracy or whether it will slip
into a theocratic failed state.
