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."
LGBTQ-bashing and Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar win - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Malaysiakini : Indeed, no one in the political apparatus seems to pay much attention
to the Rukun Negara. Everyone seems to be paying attention to what PAS
president Abdul Hadi Awang advocates.
This includes political
operatives – Muslim and non-Muslim – in Madani-ville which is slowly
laying the foundation for a theocratic state that Perikatan Nasional may
inherit. These are the hypocrites that are supposed to hold the line
against a theocratic state?
Take the Michelle Yeoh Oscar win for
instance, for her role in ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’. This is a
queer-friendly film.
Anwar Ibrahim, the current Prime Minister of
Malaysia, and a supposed reformer, has publicly stated that LGBTQ,
secularism and communism will never be recognised in this country - but
yet he congratulated Michelle Yeoh on her Oscar win for an LGBTQ-friendly film.
Keep in mind that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Mohd Na'im Mokhtar has instructed
the Federal Territories Islamic Department (Jawi) to help in the
investigation of the women’s march because of LGBTQ elements, which he
deemed were “efforts to promote or normalise deviant lifestyles which go
against Islamic values and human nature.”
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Mohd Na'im Mokhtar
And
while the police are harassing activists in Malaysia, the political
elites in this country are hugging and kissing Yeoh’s mother for her
daughter’s best actress win in a queer-friendly film.
Attacking marginalised group
This
would not be so bad if they actually stood up and said something about
the rights of certain Malaysians which are under attack by religious
extremists. However, they remain silent, content with basking in the
borrowed glory of Yeoh, an outspoken UN goodwill ambassador, and
predictably not wanting to spook Hadi.
In other words, all these
Malaysia Madani political operatives are crowing about an Oscar win for a
UN goodwill ambassador who helmed a film featuring gay characters but,
in the words of religious extremists of this country, the LGBTQ are part
of a marginalised group of people who are likened to animals or portrayed as going against the teachings of Islam.
At this moment, NGO Sisters in Islam (SIS) is attempting to appeal
a 2014 Selangor fatwa that labelled them as “deviant”. In the richest
and supposedly most progressive state of the country, the Islamic
religious authorities with the sanction of the political class labelled a
women’s group as deviant.
These are the actors, sub rosa or otherwise, who oppose the recent march by women
standing up for their rights as enshrined by the Constitution of
Malaysia but which unfortunately does not escape the purview of the
Syariah Court system.
Women’s March in Kuala Lumpur on March 12
Of
course, using the LGBTQ as their point of attack is business as usual
for them because they understand most political operatives would not
stick their necks out for this community.
This is the reason why some in this country want Syariah law to
supersede every other legal or constitutional avenue this country has.
This is the reason why some have defined the narrative so that any
non-Muslim advocacy on behalf of Muslims is deemed as going against
Islam.
What this does is it neatly cuts off the majority from the
minority and, in this way, genuine civil rights or ideological movements
that upset the establishment are curtailed.
After that, what we
are left with are castrated activists who either form incestuous cliques
for self-profit or disparate groups of people mindful that if they
publicly demonstrate together, they would invite the wrath of not only
the state security apparatus but also the religious leviathan.
Gay Malaysians
When
the Wikileaks cables scandal erupted many years ago, tongues were
wagging at possible gay politicians within the Malay establishment.
LGBTQ
people are everywhere and while this may scare some, the reality is
that they are not going anywhere. What about the grassroots-level
political operators from any party who are gay? What about the
propagandists from DAP, Umno, PAS, PKR, Bersatu and Amanah who are gay?
All these gay people are Malaysian and the government has the audacity to lecture Malaysians about not following Western values?
The demonisation of marginal groups
In
fact, whenever the state wants to demonise an opponent, they usually
claim the opponent is attempting to propagate Western values which at
the core are about freedom of speech or expression, sexuality being part
of the latter.
The demonisation of marginal groups is a prelude
to the subjugation of various voting polities. What we are dealing with
here is a sustained effort by the establishment to subvert democratic
traditions and in this coalition government’s case, having their cake
and eating it too.
This means paying lip service to democratic
traditions and principles but carrying out overt policies which are
anathema to democratic principles. How much do we have to sacrifice to
PAS/PN before this government becomes indistinguishable from the one
that wants to turn this country into a theocratic state?
PAS and
PN engage in a culture war like the GOP in the United States because
they are bereft of ideas. Both lead states which are mired in poverty
and mismanagement, but religious values are used as a means of control
and supposed “liberty” from the tyranny of secular values.
We -
and by we I mean me - cannot say that PAS and PN are an existential
threat to this country while this coalition government merrily carries
out policies which hurt the most vulnerable of Malaysians in the name of
religion.
What is worse is the hypocrisy. We have all these
political operatives praising Yeoh’s Oscar win while carrying out
policies or remaining silent on one of the more important issues the
film raises.
From the land of endless possibilities to Malaysia Madani.
