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."
My top five newsmakers of 2022 - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Malaysiakini : The next year is going to be dominated by worldwide post-pandemic
economic vagaries and a war in Europe which threatens not only Western
hegemonic interests but closer to home a flailing China which will
provide ample opportunity for the anti-democratic forces in this country
to make their plays.
A storm is coming and this old sailorās
advice to Harapan is not to try to circumvent the storm but to sail
through it. Here are the top five in no particular order.
Abdul Hadi Awang
The
politically incorrect face of Islam in this country, Hadi has made it
very clear with electoral legerdemain, the political landscape in this
country could be changed forever which would advantage this Islamic
party. That was the goal of hooking up with Umno and Bersatu.
I always warned that the youth vote would favour PAS and to a lesser extent the newly formed Malay uber alles splinter groups.
PAS
propagandists had told me they welcomed the youth vote believing the
decades of religious indoctrination by the religious bureaucracy would
bear fruit. And so it came to be.
If you look at the history of
Islam in Malaysia, all it has been about is political operatives in
cahoots with religious zealots to subvert religion, to further agendas
which are anathema to democratic principles.
Anwar Ibrahim
Finally, after decades of being out in the cold and treachery from
within, Anwar is the prime minister of Malaysia. He helms the good ship
Malaysia in perilous times.
Anwar runs a government that is bereft of Malay support in terms of voting share.
Say
what you like about Anwarās so-called lust for power, but there have
always been political operatives who have stood in his way using
legitimate ā but most often illegitimate ā means to hamper his
democratic right to assume the highest office in the land.
If
Anwar and Harapan remain disciplined and provide a policy in which the
Malay benefit after decades of Malay uber alles rule, he could be the
Malay leader Dr Mahathir Mohamad always envisioned himself as.
This is not about not spooking the Malays. This is about spooking the Malay elites.
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
How long will Zahid forestall an Islamic takeover of this country and what will it take to keep him happy?
Keep
in mind that using Zakir Naikās religious interpretations, Muslims can
be led by corrupt Muslim leaders, and even though PN and PAS are going
on about how corrupt Harapan is for taking in such leaders, who knows
what deals can be made?
Zahid
made the biggest gamble of his career when he rolled the dice on a
general election and it blew up spectacularly in his face. But he also
forestalled the theocratic takeover of this country when he dashed the
hopes of Hadi.
The current DPM may think it is God's will that
this unity government exists but even as you read this there are moves
being made to destabilise not only Zahid but the Harapan government.
The
big question next year will be how much pressure can the cabal led by
Zahid stand before it folds from the machinations of Umno elites who
want to make deals with theocrats.
Siti Kasim
Siti
didnāt lose in this election. The people who lost are those of us who
believe that Malaysia is a secular democracy and extremist ideologies
have to be battled by Muslims and their allies.
Siti remains one of the most strident if not the most strident voices against the theocratic takeover in this country.
Understand
this, the reason why the mainstream political establishment ā which
includes Harapan ā fears people like Siti, is because they are afraid
more Muslims would think like her and demand more from their government
and less from their religion.
In an interview
I did with Siti, she said: āYou have no hope of engaging with them.
These are people who are indoctrinated with radical Islamism. The
teachings, the mentality of which is no different from that of
Talibanism and ISIS terrorists.
āOnly Taliban and ISIS terrorists
will sanction others for being different from them. The only difference
between them and the Taliban and ISIS is that they have no power or
weapons to carry out their threats. When they have those, the country
will be torn asunder.ā
Charles Santiago
I
have no idea why the DAP would choose to drop Charles but at this
moment, if you are a Harapan supporter, you would feel better if Charles
was in play as an MP instead of whoever they chose to replace him. If
you do not feel this way, this says a lot about the average DAP
supporter.
Charles
is a reminder that there will probably be more collateral damage on the
road to building this neo-BN Malaysia or at least keeping this Malaysia
going for Anwarās full term.
It remains to be seen if the DAP can
continue losing people like Charles while the āstarsā of the party
carry on peddling their bromides that distract from the war on the
ground, which people like Charles were familiar with.
At a time
when the ruling government is, shall we say, compromised in more than
one, what is needed are people like Charles and Ronnie Liu, to speak
truth to power even though it may cause distress to the ruling elite.
As I wrote here
- Maybe it is a good thing that Charles and some of the others are out
of the picture because what we have learnt if we are paying attention is
that partymen eventually become Yesmen.
