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."
Anwar’s rhetorical slip is showing By Terence Netto
Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Malaysiakini : Anwar had to quickly clarify that Petronas was mining for oil and gas well within Malaysia’s EEZ.
And that right is non-negotiable, although matters can be discussed.
Buoyed
at obtaining RM170 billion in investment pledges on his China visit,
Anwar allowed the good vibes stemming from that success to render him
propitiatory.
This oversight opened Anwar to opposition attacks that he was selling Malaysia short.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Dewan Rakyat
Anwar’s advisers had to double down on the argument that no
such short-selling occurred and that Malaysia will defend its rights to
resources within its EEZ.
In more than five
decades of prolific public speaking, Anwar has said much, a good deal of
it not having been delivered from the thought that has congealed.
Two spells in prison should have afforded him time for composition to be in tandem with ratiocination.
Lengthy but empty responses
In recent days, two interlocutors have attempted to point out this disjointed aspect in Anwar’s speechifying.
Tasek Gelugor MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan, in attempting to defend the absence of Perikatan Nasional’s
top three leaders during Prime Minister’s Question Time in Parliament,
remarked on this disjointed quality as an excuse for his top
leadership’s no-show at PMQT
He claimed Anwar failed to give satisfactory answers to questions posed, with lengthy but empty responses.
This
tendency to “speak[s] in a confusing way” was alluded to by Khairy
Jamaluddin, former health minister and defeated Umno candidate for
Sungai Buloh.
Now a TV pundit, Khairy said he noticed that sometimes Anwar
has a habit of trailing off on a sentence, leaving it incomplete or
hanging, before moving on to a new sentence, thus leaving his listeners
confused.
Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin
This
aspect of Anwar’s rhetorical style must have grown from decades of
delivering speeches extempore - on the hustings and on semi-official
occasions when there is little time to prepare.
Ideas and images collide and bend each other’s fenders and there is nobody to tell you better.
Thought
voiced without premeditation leads to such instances as when Anwar,
when witnessing a function on his recent visit to Cambodia where
government aid was disbursed to Muslims, spoke of the presumption of
some Malays from Malaysia about their overall situation.
As
Khairy has observed, in saying things in this vein Anwar could be
understood in the context in which he spoke, but he risked inviting
criticism from a strategic standpoint.
And the criticism was indeed what he incurred for saying such a thing in Cambodia.
There is an upside to all this of course.
Another
pundit, Shahril Hamdan, former Umno information chief and defeated
parliamentary candidate for Alor Gajah, said it is refreshing when a
statesperson is willing to speak without a script.
He said people wanted a leader who can speak directly and not hide behind a script.
An
unscripted Anwar can indeed be a breadth of fresh air but he has to
have savvy damage control aides who can tamp down the bushfires this
inevitably ignite.
