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."
Muhyiddin's shrill moralism unbecoming By Terence Netto
Saturday, March 11, 2023
Malaysiakini : What’s more, the push against corruption is not a new newfangled
development; on the hustings before he took office, Anwar was breathing
fire and brimstone against the malady.
So, Muhyiddin cannot say
that the Anwar government has targeted Bersatu for special attention,
though it is true that it is only now that the party is in the MACC’s
crosshairs.
But the attempt by Muhyiddin and his cohort to
conflate a general campaign against corruption into a specific targeting
of Bersatu as the locus of a national malaise won’t hold water.
Assertion is not proof
Corruption has long been a virus that has been eating into the
innards of this society. It has to be rooted out, considering that the
country is RM1.2 trillion in debt and annual interest payments alone
total RM45 billion.
No leader of the country can be indifferent to
the implications of these figures and no leader needs to fear the
people’s disapproval if the MACC is seen to be taking action against
leaders and individuals who were complicit in defrauding our finances.
Hence,
the attempt to wield a moral sceptre by leaders who are indicted for
corruption and who cloak themselves in the garb of victims of
persecution is tawdry.
Muhyiddin said he expects to be exonerated in a court of law, which is where he should leave things.
He
cannot claim that the forces in the MACC, judiciary, and police that
stand arrayed before him were appointees of the government and have an
interest in doing him in.
As such, his attempt to conjure an aura of persecution about his travails is a play for public sympathy.
Adding
a public veneer of religion to that aura makes that play suspect. He
may think Bersatu’s association with PAS in the Perikatan Nasional
coalition confers ready access to a domain where profession is
performance, assertion is proof.
In a court of civil law, things
are the other way round: assertion is not proof, and profession has to
be validated by witness testimony.
Muhyiddin’s attempt to dress in moral raiment in advance of his
appearance in court can be attributed to the political company he keeps.
PAS
uses religion to further its political objectives and justifies it by
holding that Islam does not recognise a division between the religious
and political spheres.
Is it so difficult to recognise that a
consequence of this non-recognition is the shrill moralism that
characterises the pronouncements of PAS leaders like Abdul Hadi Awang?
He
holds himself above reason and doesn’t feel obliged to corroborate his
arguments. It’s a short step from this stance to non-attendance at
parliamentary proceedings.
Muhyiddin should be mindful of the company he keeps and its deleterious effects on him.
