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."
Malaysiakini : Failing to do so would not just affect Harapan and its allies in the
next national polls but also strengthen the Muhyiddin Yassin-led PN.
A
strong PN, he added, would “throw in spanners” until the next general
election to derail the government’s policy efforts so that the
middle-ground voters feel disappointed and discouraged, which would have
a significant impact on the outcome.
Citing
the online survey by five media outlets, Wong said it still sounded a
“big alarm” for Anwar when a majority of peninsula Malays expressed
dissatisfaction and lack of confidence in his government, even though it
has been criticised as flawed due to the absence of randomised
sampling.
“While those numbers cannot be taken at face value due
to biased sampling, it is undoubtedly a big portion of Malays - perhaps
40 percent or above - who are hostile towards the government, partly
shaped by the PN’s toxic campaigning against the government’s policies.
“The attack on ‘Menu Rahmah’, Bersatu MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan’s attack
on the budget which he smeared as ‘communist’ and earlier on the Local
Government and Development Ministry to seek advice from Singapore
experts (on public housing) are clear examples,” he told Malaysiakini.
The ‘old BN playbook’
Wong
pointed out that Anwar’s success in winning over the Malays depended
more on whether he can neutralise PN’s ethno-nationalist bombardment
than what he does as prime minister.
“If he fails in the former, all his achievements in the latter would just be dismissed.
“After
all, if the majority of Malay voters have concluded that the government
is sidelining the Malays, no objective evidence of the opposite can
convince them. This is akin to ‘one cannot be woken up if one is only
pretending to be asleep’,” he added.
However, Wong disagreed with
the new government taking a page out of the “old BN playbook” to counter
the opposition - “starving them (in terms of allocations) and charging
them in court”.
“Certainly, opposition politicians who break the
law must be charged in court and cannot be given impunity for
cross-party peace.
“But as law-breaking opposition leaders are
charged, the opposition must be given the room and resources to compete
professionally. If the government can do both, then it can convincingly
dismiss PN’s accusation of a political witchhunt,” he added
(from
left) Perikatan Nasional leaders Dominic Lau, Hamzah Zainudin,
Muhyiddin Yassin, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, and Takiyuddin Hassan
Wong also noted how certain segments of Harapan supporters,
“disproportionally amongst minorities and liberals”, are defending the
government’s marginalisation of the opposition because it would prevent
the Muslim conservatives from coming into power.
“They forget that this would only play into the opposition’s hand.
“Discrimination
against the Malay-led opposition is spun as discrimination against the
Malays, allowing PN to play the victim and win the sympathy of
middle-ground Malays,” he added.
For Anwar to have five full years
to prove his ability to transform Malaysia, Wong said the prime
minister must sit down with the opposition to formulate a peace accord.
“He
needs to diminish the bitterness amongst Malaysians - this time,
amongst the opposition supporters - caused by state partiality and
injustice.
“If not, he can do more for the Malays and still fail to be enough,” he added.
