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."
What is Azalina’s beef against Tommy Thomas? By P Gunasegaram
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Malaysiakini : Section 145 (3) provides for the AG’s independence. It states: “The
attorney-general shall have power, exercisable at his discretion, to
institute, conduct, or discontinue any proceedings for an offence, other
than proceedings before a Syariah court, a native court, or a
court-martial.”
The AG can be called upon to give advice, which is
a separate function as provided for in Section 145(2), which states:
“It shall be the duty of the attorney-general to advise the Yang
di-Pertuan Agong or the cabinet or any minister upon such legal matters
and to perform such other duties of a legal character, as may from time
to time be referred or assigned to him by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or
the cabinet, and to discharge the functions conferred on him by or under
this Constitution or any other written law.”
In
January, less than two months after the formation of the unity
government, Azalina had said that there will be a Royal Commission of
Inquiry (RCI) to investigate Thomas’ book.
Here is what I said in a previous comment:
“If this RCI is to make a broad recommendation on law reform, and lord
knows that is really needed, why call it an RCI to investigate Thomas’
book? Why not a commission on law and institutional reform and simply
mention that allegations and comments made in Thomas’ book will be taken
into account? Why put the cart before the horse?”
In the latest
case, providing the context throws a lot of light on the Sulu Sultan
case. As Azalina herself points out in her reply to Vell Paari’s rather
pointed question, it involved a mere RM48,230 covering arrears with a 10
percent interest, and an offer to pay this sum immediately to the Sulu
claimants.
This is in exchange for them stopping any arbitration
action involving a massive RM14.92 billion. Malaysia will continue to
pay RM5,300 per year thereafter, which in the overall scheme of things
is a mere pittance.
It
will also serve as a defence to the arbitration case in future where an
offer was made to rectify the mistake. Surely, the amounts involved are
small enough for Thomas to make the decision without reference to the
cabinet.
Thomas explained this very clearly in a detailed article
titled ‘Explaining the Sulu Claim’. Here’s an extract: “To the best of
my knowledge, the government of Malaysia did not publicly explain in
2013 why it ceased annual payments of compensation to the Sulu
claimants. This occurred during the administration of Najib Abdul Razak.
“Indeed,
until today, a decade later, members of that administration have
remained silent, which has led to unnecessary speculation and confusion.
“The
often-given unofficial explanation is that Malaysia stopped the
payments because of the armed incursion in 2013 into Lahad Datu in
Sabah. However, there appears to be no evidence linking the Sulu
claimants who were receiving the annual compensation from Malaysia with
the armed invaders of Lahad Datu.”
It’s all politics
Now, it becomes clear. The whole issue of this arbitration came about
because Malaysia stopped payments in 2013 - Najib’s administration was
responsible. The blame fell squarely on the shoulders of Najib, former
Umno president and Azalina’s boss.
Thomas did right by getting
rid of Najib’s wrongs. Instead of thanks, he is now blamed when it was
Najib’s mistake that led to the whole sorry process. Azalina’s
performance in terms of this case and the questionable RCI on Thomas is
highly suspect.
Is this the kind of institutional and law reform
she is looking for, trying to make political capital out of smearing
Thomas’ name to benefit Umno and its leaders past and present? Is the
most important thing for her to do immediately after becoming law
minister getting cabinet approval for an RCI on Thomas’ book?
Is
she playing the Umno card and trying to paint Thomas as a villain in the
public eye at least, even if they can’t prove anything against him?
That will please her former political boss Najib, who gave her a cabinet
position and who now languishes in jail as a result of a prosecution
initiated by Thomas.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak
It
would also please her current boss, who gave her a cabinet position and
who is accidental deputy prime minister in the government - Umno
president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi - who is also facing 47 corruption charges.
All the other Umno members who were charged in court as a result of
action initiated while Thomas was AG would be happy as well.
Zahid
has maintained in court that he and some 20 other Umno politicians,
including former prime minister Najib, Umno secretary-general Ahmad
Maslan, and former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku
Mansor were selectively prosecuted by the Pakatan Harapan government. Is this being done to lend credence to that argument?
It
is also a matter of great regret that none of the Harapan leaders,
including Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, have said anything in support of
Thomas, who was AG during Harapan’s previous tenure, and who did a
brave job of prosecuting those who were involved in the 1MDB scandal and
starting the process of recovering billions of money stolen and suing
those responsible.
Instead, they watch mutely as an Umno law
minister takes repeated actions against him, and do nothing in his
defence. If this is the reward a brave, honest, dedicated, and competent
AG gets for doing his job, then the government will find it impossible
to find one in future.
If Azalina is indeed short of ideas on what she should do, here are some.
1. Independence of the AG
Look
immediately into ensuring the independence of the AG by changing the
law to give security of tenure and shield the AG from political
interference in his job. But, judging by how she has gone after Thomas,
it does not look like she is the one to do it. If the AG goes back to
cabinet approval for all he does, he will get nothing done.
2. Institutional reform
Dig
out that report done by a committee headed by the late judge KC Vohrah
and presented to the Harapan government in 2018 when Dr Mahathir Mohamad
was PM. Make that secret document public and look to implement its
recommendations. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel - a properly
constituted committee has already done it for you.
3. Meaningful law reform
Azalina
should look at urgent reforms such as political-funding legislation,
repealing the Official Secrets Act, changing the University and
University Colleges Act, the Sedition Act, and the Communications and
Multimedia Act, all of which have been used in the past by successive
Umno governments to stifle, oppress, and control.
Don’t forget
the Societies Act, which permits the home minister to rule on political
parties not having elections. As Azalina will recall, the home minister
used his discretion to keep the top leadership of Umno intact for six
years! What a travesty of democracy. Mind you, this is just a partial
list.
4. An RCI on the Sulu claim
If
Azalina has a predilection for RCIs, I can suggest two. The first one is
to investigate the RM14.92 billion claim by the so-called heirs of the
Sulu sultan. This will once and for all ascertain who is to blame for
the sad state of affairs. She won’t be likely to do it because it will
absolve Thomas of all blame and therefore can’t be used as a political
punching bag anymore.
5. An RCI on 1MDB settlements
She
can set up an RCI to investigate the 1MDB settlements with Goldman
Sachs and the United Arab Emirates, both of which fell far short of the
amounts that Thomas was claiming. I am sure that Thomas will be more
than willing to testify to this commission.
While
there is so much to do in legal reform, it is a matter of great regret
that Azalina is focusing on going after the first AG in many years to
have actually done something about curbing grand larceny and theft, and
bringing prominent people to book.
