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."
Making Hadi opposition leader ought to stem the bilge By Terence Netto
Tuesday, December 06, 2022
Malaysiakini : On the basis of PASā dominant size in Parliament, Hadi ought to
become the opposition leader although Bersatu president Muhyiddin
Yassin, who is also Pagoh MP, is the PN chairperson.
But Bersatu holds only 24 seats, a whole lot lower than PASā collection.
PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin
PASā parliamentary takings of more than double Bersatuās ought to make Hadi a shoo-in for the post of opposition leader.
Unless, of course, Muhyiddin pulls rank and relies on his place in the PN pecking order to stake his claims to the position.
Seemingly, Muhyiddin is helpless before the phenomenon of an unhinged PAS president.
And
it wonāt help PNās cause to have the leader of its largest component
shooting from the hip when it comes to targeting opponents.
Making
Hadi the opposition leader would be a not-so-subtle manoeuvre to get
him to curb his penchant for reaching for the cudgel, instead of the
scalpel when taking on the opposition.
However, there is a deeper reason to commend Hadi for the role of opposition leader.
While he and PAS were a part of the opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim,
under the aegis of then-Pakatan Rakyat, Hadi has chafed under the
leadership of Anwar.
Hadi jealous of Anwar?
That
recalcitrance led in April 2013 to Hadi leading a coterie of PAS
leaders to meet and urge Anwar to yield to PASā preference of Tengku
Razaleigh Hamzah as their choice of prime minister - in the event they
won the 13th general election (GE13).
This was in spite of the fact that Razaleigh was an Umno MP and went on to stand on an Umno ticket in GE13.
When
Anwar resisted the PAS importuning on behalf of Razaleigh, Hadi led the
same delegation to meet up with the Kelantanese prince, to urge him to
accept the nomination for prime minister should the opposition emerge
victorious from GE13.
On his part, Razaleigh told the PAS delegation to wait for the outcome of GE13.
In
the event, at GE13, Pakatan Rakyat garnered 52 percent of the popular
vote but wound up with only 40 percent of the parliamentary tally - a
consequence of the gerrymandered parliamentary landscape.
Hadiās
end-runs around the possibility of an Anwar premiership have been
variously attributed to jealousy and other unparliamentary traits.
Even
when Dr Mahathir Mohamad appeared to be dragging his feet on handing
over the premiership to Anwar as per an unwritten agreement amongst its
powerbrokers, Hadi, while in the opposition, was all for Mahathir being
given the time and space to choose his exit.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
Chagrin may be the reason for Hadiās refusal to grant Anwar his prime ministerial due.
What
better reason now, then, for Hadi to show that it was not resentment
that had prompted his eddies around the possibility of an Anwar
premiership than to occupy the seat across the parliamentary aisle from
the prime minister, and show the latter to be wanting.
