Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen 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 soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt 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."
Want another betrayal, Harapan? Embrace Dr M and Muhyiddin! By G Vinod
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Malaysiakini : My dear intellectual giants, in an ideal political scenario
where we have highly-principled leaders riding on celestial flying
horses and unicorns to bring forth glad tidings to mere mortals like us,
that would definitely be a delightful scenario.
But
dear ladies and gentlemen, let us be honest with one another. Malaysian
politicians are notorious for lacking a moral compass and infamous for
backstabbing one another ā with even allies not spared.
And
you are urging Harapan to work with the two topmost backstabbers of
them all ā former prime ministers Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin
Yassin.
Remember the Sheraton Move? I guess Malaysians do forget things easily.
After Harapan won the 2018 general election and formed the
government, Mahathir wasted no time in undermining the very coalition
that he had led to victory.
Betrayal and frustrated voters
Remember how he personally ensured reforms promised under their manifesto got stalled?
Of
course, we can also blame the top Harapan leaders for not taking the
nonagenarian to task for his erratic behaviour but the point isā¦ who in
the right mind would want to have him around them again?
Mahathir,
in my view, got a rare opportunity that not many get, which is a second
chance. He was mandated with another opportunity to right all the
wrongs made by past leaders ā including himself.
But
instead of doing the right thing for the country, he went back to his
old ways and took a golden shower from voters who believed in him.
And
remember, Mahathir was the mastermind behind the Sheraton Move and the
idea behind it was simple ā to renege on his promise to hand over the
reins to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.
Now letās take a
look at Muhyiddin. While we understand Mahathirās motivation in
double-crossing Anwar as he was bent on denying the latter the prime
ministership since the 1990s, what was Muhyiddinās motivation?
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak
It is simple. Muhyiddin was motivated by greed and lust for power.
After
getting booted out from the government by then-prime minister Najib
Abdul Razak in 2015, several Harapan leaders took great pains to
ārehabilitateā the man and got him to join their fold.
Even
when Muhyiddin was undergoing treatment for cancer, the Harapan leaders
were there to lend him support. In fact, leaders like Johor DAP chief
Liew Chin Tong took great effort to convince other leaders from his fold
to accept the incumbent Pagoh MP despite many having reservations.
Pick allies carefully
And
how did he return Harapanās generosity? He stabbed them in the back via
the Sheraton Move and went to work with the very party that humiliated
him in the first place ā Umno.
Muhyiddinās treachery
did not work that well for him as Umno kicked him out from Seri Perdana
last year and now, he is set for retirement after GE15. Umno will make
sure of this!
Enough of history. What Iām trying to get at is both of them cannot be trusted one bit.
Academician Jomo Kwame Sundaram
For
argumentās sake, let us assume Harapan does work with Mahathir-led GTA
and Muhyiddin-led PN again. Are there any guarantees that the two would
not do a number on Harapan again?
Fool me once, shame
on you ā fool me twice, shame on me. Well, I think Harapan has already
fallen into the āshame on meā category. If they trust Mahathir and
Muhyiddin once again and get shafted, perhaps all Harapan leaders should
just retire and walk into the sunset collectively.
Academicians
like Jomo and Agus must understand one more thing. If Harapan does
embrace the duo again and suffers another betrayal, it is the party
leaders who would face the votersā wrath.
No voter
will demand Jomo and Agusā heads on a silver platter, figuratively
speaking of course, as they can easily hide under the āwe are just
analysts and academiciansā argument.
As for Harapan,
my only suggestion for them is to work with PSM (which has proven to be a
valuable ally since 2008) and thread carefully with Muda.
Even if Harapan does not win GE15, it is okay. At least, you people did your best, given the tough circumstances.
And
if the people want Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to become our next
prime minister, let it be. Just donāt complain later when the country
becomes a basket case in the near future.
For elected leaders are merely a reflection of the people who voted for them.
