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."
No place for race, religion and politics in sports By R Nadeswaran
Saturday, February 11, 2023
Malaysiakini : On taking office three months ago, Deputy Sports Minister Adam Adli
talked about the national sports arena being free of corruption,
inefficiency and leakages - in order to raise Malaysian sports to a
higher level.
Many sports officials took umbrage, some pretended
that these problems were non-existent while a few maintained stoic
silence ā either too afraid to speak out or not wanting to offend the
officialdom - some of its members are prominent political leaders. A few
could have been also on the gravy train benefitting from the crumbs
thrown by the big boys.
Over the years, I have investigated
government spending on sports and the system is opaque. No one is
willing to be transparent and when questioned on why millions had been
spent on wasteful activities, the answer was: āIt was the ministerās
decision.ā
But even such decisions can be overruled. Weeks after
the Malaysian contingent returned from the 2012 Olympics without a gold,
I asked the then-minister to account for the RM20 million spent on the
āRoad to Londonā project. He agreed.
But the head honcho of the National Sports Council vetoed the
minister and decreed that the public does not have access to the
expenditure and deemed it non-obligatory.
"We cannot give to the public every detail of the accounts. It is not necessary," he told this writer.
At
that time, I wrote: āThis is the microcosm of the affairs of the
ministry where scant regard is shown for being accountable for the
public funds which are made in the name of sports.
āNo one knows
if more of this gigantic amount was spent on travel and allowances for
officials than actual training of athletes. The culture of doing
everything in secret without the prying eyes of āoutsidersā thrived.ā
On
investigating the missing RM4 million from the Paralympic Council of
Malaysia in 2015, I discovered that the then-president had āinvestedā
the money without the knowledge of other council members.
There
are so many other instances of misfeasance by officials but now that we
have a new Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh - whose mantra has been
and is still transparency and accountability. Hopefully, we will see a
change.
If she can publish details of the expenditure of funds
allocated to her constituency, it will not be difficult to direct
officials who had previously refused to make public the expenditure of
taxpayer funds of the ministry to change their ways.
But now,
there are two more important issues to tackle ā race and religion.
However, they are not new and they have been allowed to grow because of
one word ā sensitive ā which was used to mask the problem. No one wanted
to discuss the issues publicly.
At one time, our unity was embodied by our national teams cutting
across race and religious lines. But slowly, race and religious
supremacy took over.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh
Even
sports administrators who were the backbone of talent spotting and
development had to make way for what is seen as an extension of the
affirmative policies introduced way back in 1972.
Parents tell their children to focus on studying and
forget extra-curricular activities for a simple reason ā while their
bumiputera counterparts have better access to scholarships and
bursaries, they have to earn them by doing better academically.
āBegins in schoolsā
This
is the root of the problem. In school, they may attend physical
education classes together but back home, they are with their books.
Hence, the talk about unity becomes redundant.
It is because of
such a system that two sports-related issues have made the headlines.
The first is the racially-laced tweet by a national hockey player and
the attempts made by a teacher to coax a student to convert to Islam if
he wanted to further his football career.
The small consolation is
that action had been taken in both cases. The player has been suspended
and the education ministry is carrying out investigations.
Yesterday,
football coach B Sathianathan did not exactly drop a bombshell but said
what had been talked about in whispers in the corridors of power.
The sidelining of non-Malays from participating in sports, he said, is becoming prevalent and requires stern action.
āSince
10 to 15 years ago, I have been getting complaints from parents,
usually ethnic Indians or Chinese, saying their children are being
sidelined from joining football teams,ā he was quoted as saying.
I
foresee no change. Previous reports of such racists and religious
bigots went on unchecked. The player will be back in the squad (she has
already talked about making a comeback) and the teacher, in all
probability, be transferred to another school as if all has been
forgiven and forgotten.
Football coach B Sathianathan
However,
this does not solve the problem. Transferring the teacher is merely
transferring the problem. In some instances, it emboldens them.
Needless
to say, the fundamentals have to be addressed. The education system
over the years has created a class system that not only divides the
races but also differentiates between the haves and the have-nots.
Unless
fundamental changes are made to the education system where it all
starts and is nurtured, we can only watch as the young look elsewhere to
be rewarded for their talents ā academically and in sports like the
many Malaysian administrators who are serving in international sports
bodies.
