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."
Zaid’s 'village idiot' defence of Najib - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, August 01, 2022
Malaysiakini : So, in other words, the courts and the people of Malaysia should
forgive Najib, because he did not plan to steal from the coffers but was
stupid enough to believe the thieves who stole from the coffers.
Zaid
admits that as prime minister Najib is responsible for this matter -
but this is supposedly a different issue because he did not intend to
shortchange the Malaysian public.
Yes, but he did benefit from
that short change, not to mention, lie, scheme and corrupt institutions
of governance all in the service, according to the logic of Zaid, of the
people who conned him, since he apparently did not plan anything.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak
Keep in mind that Najib was convicted of committing those acts. Is this what Zaid wants people to believe?
Zaid
calling out those institutions involved in this fiasco does not offer
any probative value to Najib's defence but merely exposes the systemic
dysfunction in public and financial institutions.
It is the
equivalent of attempting to smear everyone with manure and hoping that
nobody notices the stink coming from your client.
Zaid says that
the anger is solely on Najib and this is unfair. Well, no, the focus may
be on Najib, because he was caught and convicted, but the focus is also
on the corrupt system that breeds political operatives like Najib.
Najib is hardly an anomaly but rather the logical conclusion of a system predicated on feudalistic privilege and corruption.
And
it gets even sleazier. Zaid moves from legal counsel to Umno pitcher
for Najib when he says this - “I feel it is appropriate if Umno can
explain. Don’t be afraid of being accused of supporting someone who is
corrupted. You have to be confident in your leader.” Really?
Bossku propaganda
Look, the Umno base for whatever reasons has bought into the Bossku propaganda.
Najib
has demonstrated that he can win elections, to the point that everyone
else in the Malay uber alles establishment is trying to outplay a
convicted felon.
The only people standing in Najib's way are the refuseniks in Umno for their own personal sordid reasons.
So why is Zaid playing the political card by attempting to coral support for Najib within Umno?
The only conclusion any rational person can make is that Zaid hopes for a safe harbour in Umno led by Najib loyalists.
What
Najib did broke Umno, not because they were shocked by what he did but
because they were shocked that they lost a general election.
Now
the establishment is attempting realignment and since the idea of the
DAP being part of any government is anathema to the mainstream political
establishment, they are banking on nostalgia and political stability to
win the next general election, thereby maintaining the racial and
religious hegemony which they assume is their birthright.
Referring
to the people who opposed the meeting between Najib and the Yang
di-Pertuan Agong as a group of ingrates is exactly the kind of identity
politics that everyone is pushing now. So, it is not surprising.
However,
to be fair to those groups of ingrates, the Agong meeting with a
convicted felon who is also a scion of the political establishment is
demonstrative of the kind of politics at play here and perhaps the shape
of the things to come.
Zaid wants the public to make a fair
judgment on Najib. What this really means is that he wants the urban
educated polity to get off Najib’s back.
The reality is that most
of the Umno base has no interest in “…the issues such as the role of
Goldman Sachs, 1MDB, the witnesses and the prosecution”.
What they believe is predicated on how strong the feudal system is and the manner in which information is curated.
Maybe the mainstream political establishment wants this sandiwara
to come to an end, so who knows, Najib’s loss at this final juncture
could be followed by a generous pardon, thereby ensuring that justice
was seen to be done but was not done, to any just conclusion.
This would really bother that group of ingrates.
If
the best defence cash can buy is the village idiot defence, this seems
fitting for a political establishment that wants to ban Oktoberfest.
(Village
idiot is someone who lives in a village and is considered stupid or
crazy by the other people that live there – Macmillan dictionary).
