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."
But do not let this little detail get in the way of not
acknowledging, much less defending, a policy that could actually save
Malaysia. And never mind that Waytha was a part of the Harapan
administration.
Of course, Azalina Othman Said wanted Waytha to
apologise to “Malaysians” because – “As a minister in charge of unity,
he should be sensitive. A personal opinion should not be used for
national issues. Malaysians are not at ease over the issue… moreover,
the recent viral video clip in which he (allegedly) touched on sensitive
racial issues.”
Kit Siang also takes great pride in saying that
he kept challenging Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah to explain the
origins of Icerd and that the DAP had nothing to do with it.
See,
this is the problem right here. The DAP wanting nothing to do with
anti-discrimination policies? Is this really what the DAP wants the base
to believe?
The
central theme of Icerd is eliminating all forms of racism and
discrimination and while the legalese of this convention is
contextualised in support of certain race-based agendas. At the heart of
it, what its proponents hoped Icerd would do is put us on the road
towards reforming a system which is mired in the kind of racism and
bigotry detrimental to social and economic cohesion.
What Icerd
does is remind people that we are equal. At the very least, special
provisions could be attempted for marginalised communities to make them
equal. You may disagree with affirmative action programmes for the
minority, but you have to be invested in the system to believe that, by
virtue of race, you have certain privileges.
The political class
is hypocritical and mendacious when they want to tackle racism in the
property market (for instance), but ignore the racism in the government.
However, the rakyat is hypocritical when they justify certain forms of
racism, but demand that the government confront the racism in the
government.
This is how Icerd could have changed the racial
narrative in this country because it encourages unpleasant conversations
about race which goes beyond the policies of the state.
Ad inifinitum
All
this goes back to the Bangsa Malaysia Kool-Aid. That stupid idea that
seeks to eliminate race from the discourse under certain - political
expedient - conditions.
This has made an honest conversation about
race impossible. If people were seriously interested in reform, they
would support something like Icerd and condemn the racism that is
perpetrated through government policy as well as condemn racism carried
out in the private sector.
What is more important is that a
certain segment of the political class should support this idea instead
of making the idea seem unsuitable for this country at the present
moment.
Why,
because for the political class, the “present moment” is an indefinite
period of time because it is easier to win power in the status quo
instead of running on ideas of change.
What we are dealing with
here when it comes to anti-discrimination policies is the reality that
the political class has no interest in tackling this issue for various
reasons.
The Malay political class want to keep the gravy train
running on time and the non-Malay political class wants to benefit from
the political power of the Malay establishment.
So what do we get?
We get the base riled up about issues like the jailing of former prime
minister Najib Abdul Razak and salivating at the possible jailing of
other Malay uber alles leaders.
Meanwhile, the system
endures and the racist and bigoted policies will continue to define the
political terrain in Malaysia until the non-Malay vote becomes
irrelevant. This remains the state of play.
