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."
The reason for PAS' viral Himpit video - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Malaysiakini : Various think tanks and intelligence services all over the world,
including the Middle East, have warned that such videos are extremely
effective in radicalising young people, especially young males.
This
is why when we hear of young Malaysians going off to fight alongside
their religious brethren in foreign lands, they are encouraged to make
videos of their escapades, even though the reality they discover is much
worse.
What we are talking about here is radicalisation. Talking
about the glory of conquest and hegemony to young people who feel
abandoned by the system is a way to entice disenfranchised youths to
whatever banner promises them glory in servitude.
This
is why organisations like the Islamic State and various other terrorist
groups use such methods. Not to mention right-wing or racist militias
all over the world.
PAS knew what it was doing
The real history of
PAS is that of a left-leaning political organisation that counted many
influential post-Merdeka thinkers. It was the religiosity of the Ulama
Council that supplanted these personalities and bathed the party in the
kind of Arabism and post-Iranian Revolution extremism that found a
foothold in the way how the old maverick ran this country.
PAS
knows what it did was antagonistic and provocative. They know that this
causes unease amongst the non-Muslims in this country. PAS president
Abdul Hadi Awang was apparently there and here is a man who thinks that
the non-Muslims have to be āpak turutā and this fits neatly into the symbolism of armed young Malay men marching on Malaysian soil.
As
of writing, Hadi has not made any public statements. Why? Because he
knows that this is a good thing. PAS gets to thumb its nose to the state
security apparatus. PAS gets to thumb its nose to the non-Malay/Muslim
power structures. PAS gets to thumb its nose at conventional politics.
This is what young disenfranchised people want to see.
What did
Hadiās son say? Well, he thanked the police for the kind treatment
accorded to them. Well yes, if the non-Muslims had such a parade, I
doubt very much that they would receive kind treatment from the state
security apparatus.
Remember when the Bersih march was termed Chinese provocation by the Malay uber alles crowd? Or when Khairy led the infamous red shirt rally?
More shrewd than you think
PAS
thrives on this kind of publicity. They understand their audience. They
understand how young people have been indoctrinated by the vast
religious bureaucracy. But most importantly, they understand how to use
social media.
Remember when PASā Permatang Pauh MP Muhammad Fawwaz Mohamad Jan decided that Muslims needed to be protected from the sale of alcohol? He promoted his agenda using TikTok.
Watch
the video carefully. You will see the kind of symbolism and music that
demonstrates that his religion is on the move. Furthermore, do you think
that these videos were only meant for local audiences?
This is a
worldwide phenomenon. Young people are interested in this sort of thing
and take great interest in what happens to their religious brethren in
different parts of the world.
Keep in mind - for better or worse - Hadi, the de facto
opposition leader of this country, has a worldwide public profile
amongst people who believe that he is the face of Islam in Southeast
Asia.
Of course, the response by the top brass of PAS has been comical. PAS made a false equivalency between Chinese opera and this parade, and the reason why they did this is that they knew that their audience will buy these false equivalencies.
They
will see it as another way that their culture is being āattackedā. They
may even think that people who are opposed to this are Islamophobic.
Then
of course there is the ācosplayā analogy, which is downright hilarious.
I mean does PAS really want people to compare their historic
roleplayers to anime characters? What would the other religious
extremists in other parts of the world think?
No mere joke
People
may joke about this but this is serious business. The people who think
what PAS is doing is kosher are not going to find anything funny in the
Chinese opera and cosplay rationale. They will see it as just another
attempt by non-Muslims to stop an Islamic ascendancy.
Some
religious operatives and political hacks have made noise that this is no
big deal but what is really important is how Perikatan Nasional deals
with economic issues. They murmur about the costs of living and how the
country is going down the crapper now that Anwar Ibrahim is the prime
minister. PAS, of course, is not really interested in any of that.
Keep
in mind that while this may have gone on before, it has added
significance now because PAS is the major player in the opposition. In
fact, the best thing to happen to PAS is that they could not form a
government.
Why?
Because they have even more time to build their brand. And who knows,
it may be easier to browbeat the pusillanimous in the government to get
their Islamic agenda through.
Terengganu Pakatan Harapan
chairperson Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad asked āWhat is (PASā)
intention in displaying preparedness for war in the public?ā
What did you think PAS was attempting to tell young disenfranchised youths with this parade?