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."
Bumiputera agenda - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy: The grim reality behind it
Monday, February 27, 2023
Malaysiakini : Someone like me - and I am sure I am not alone - understands what it
feels like to be “Malaysian”. I served king and country at a time when
the polarisation was less severe. When there was this feeling, this
post-Merdeka feeling, that we were all in this together.
I served
alongside Malays and non-Malays who understood we were part of
nation-building and we worked alongside a civil service apparatus which
not only complemented our mindset but was staffed by a diverse group of
bureaucrats who believed that the country came first.
There were problems, of course, but they were radically different from what it is today.
Today,
what it means to be a citizen of this country is defined by what it
means to be Malay and non-Malay. We can talk about the colonial legacy
and post-1969 realignment of mainstream Malay politics but all this is
water under the bridge.
What we are left with, as Mariam coherently argued in her piece, is a
system predicated on sustaining a voting polity along certain groups –
the middle class, government servants and finally rural polities each
attempting to profit from the system based on their racial pedigree.
I
am not saying that the non-Malays, especially non-Malay power
structures, are not part of the problem. They are, but the non-Malays
are not part of the solution. So, you ask, how are the non-Malays part
of the bumiputera agenda problem?
Well, the answer to that is simple. The “running dog” narrative has morphed into the “don’t spook the Malays” narrative.
To
be fair, we are dealing with a complicated history of compromise,
subservience and yes major successes for the non-Malay community, but
all of which did nothing to address the problem of the bumiputera
agenda, and instead made the problem worse.
In those days, the
opposition, especially the DAP, was vilified by mainstream voters for
advocating for reform ideas that would lay the foundation for a
Malaysian identity.
To be part of the solution is more than just
religious cosplay and political kool-aid. The solution demands nothing
less than the dismantling of the divisive elements within the political
system, including repealing certain statutes and dismantling power
structures which enable the bumiputera agenda.
For non-Malay power
structures to do this would be political suicide. Not in the sense that
non-Malays would not vote for them, but rather, no Malay political
power structure would even touch them to form any sort of governing
alliance.
Besides, the base likes to complain about the bumiputera
system but they really do not want their political operatives to
address them for fear of greater political evil.
I am not unsympathetic to this. Right now, a virulent form of
religious extremism defines the mainstream opposition. An opposition
that is not only willing to dismantle Malay establishment sacred cows
but also has made it clear that with electoral legerdemain, they intend
to remain in power forever.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy
We
have an opposition which has learnt the lessons of the fall of Umno
extremely well and is unabashedly supremacist and fascist in their
agenda because they believe they have the electoral support of the
majority community.
So in this climate, to be part of the solution
is extremely difficult. That is not to say that there is nobody
speaking the truth to the powers that be.
Penang Deputy Chief
Minister II P Ramasamy dared to bell the cat and what happened? The
opposition is fighting for funds from the federal government – which
they claim is illegitimate - goes ape manure.
Not only that,
Ramasamy is left out in the cold because what he said drew the ire of
Malay power structures within his own coalition. Welcome to Malaysia
Madani and please remember the fault is not solely Saudara Anwar’s.
The
Malay uber alles elites in this country want the Malays to remain
stagnant while they plunder the country in the name of race and
religion.
Remember when Pakatan Harapan came to power with Dr
Mahathir Mohamad at the helm? The establishment, especially the
judiciary, breathed a sigh of relief because they knew “their thing” would resume.
The
reality is that it is up to the Malay political apparatus to solve this
“bumiputera problem”. In my piece previously, I mentioned that Prime
Minister Anwar Ibrahim needs a bumiputera agenda.
Anwar needs to step up
I
wrote - if Anwar defines his bumiputera agenda as a class-based agenda
(dissonant as it sounds) and reforms the system, aid actually goes to
the majority, especially the disenfranchised as opposed to the elites,
and this would be the start of cultivating a base, and more importantly,
less compromising in the name of unity.
There is a reason why I
always reference PSM whenever I talk about these issues. After all, the
bumiputera agenda is a “class” issue.
Perikatan Nasional is very
well aware of this, which is why they want to concentrate on the racial
and religious aspects of the bumiputera agenda. Nobody in the Malay
establishment wants a class dialectic.
This is why foundational
religious dogma states that it is better to be poor under despotic
Muslim rulers and be rewarded in the afterlife than to be led by honest
non-Muslim leaders. Everyone from PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang to
preacher Dr Zakir Naik pushes this narrative.
While the opinion of
this writer is that electoral reforms are paramount, the Malay agenda
should be about reforming institutions that supposedly uplift the Malays
but in reality, a part of the ecosystem of government patronage that
sustains a kleptocrat class, petty bureaucrats and of course, fiefdoms
in the state security apparatus which are a reservoir of dark money.
Non-Malay
power structures should scrupulously run their spheres of influence
minimising corruption and attempting to cultivate that spirit of
“Malaysianness” that is easy to say but difficult to put into action.
This
means not avoiding the hard issues that come up and presenting a
unified front with their Malay allies when addressing hot-button issues.
Ultimately
it is in the hands of the Malay political elite to reform the system or
hamper such attempts. I know where PN falls in this equation. It
remains to be seen if Malaysia Madani advocates carrying the first part.
As
the great James Baldwin wrote (and this applies to all of us) - “People
pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed
themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they
lead.”
