Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen 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 soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt 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 : Sanusi is stoutly partisan at all times
True,
it is very difficult to find ātwo-eyedā politicos these days, the ones
that can survey the horizon of circumstance without excessive focus on
their standpoint in the midst.
Glad should we be that
these are not rabidly partisan times when partisanship would
understandably be the order of the day. However, Sanusi finds no problem
in being stoutly partisan at all times.
He is the type of political leader who sees the presence of
opposition to his partyās or coalitionās rule in Kedah as a provocation,
rather like the sight of a red bandana in the arena is to a bull.
The Muda River divides Penang (right) and Kedah (left)
Whether it is about Kedahās rights for what flows in the Muda River
to the exclusion of neighbouring Penangās claims, Sanusi has no qualms
about dispensing with the broad survey for the parochialism of his focus
on his stateās rights, to the exclusion of all else.
Witness
his spat with the federal government over the issue of building an
airport in Kulim and how he tried to wrap up the issue as a fait
accompli when it turned out that even elementary preliminaries like
submission of plans, costings and finances were up in the air rather
than down pat.
At times, Sanusi is like a magician
whoās come to play conjuring tricks at a childrenās party, save that an
electorate, even one like Kedahās that in large part is composed of
rather simple rural folk, cannot be easily gulled.
He
is certainly the most high-profile state CEO in the country, not from
public accomplishments but more from a penchant for controversy and
skirmishes with detractors who donāt like his outspokenness and
ideological rigidity of his party, PAS.
The fact that
his fellow menteris besar in Kelantan and Terengganu are bland, even
insipid politicos, makes Sanusi look like a square peg in a round hole.
One
suspects an apparent relish in the man for the colourful contrast he
strikes compared to his two counterparts: In a party of dour and
impassive clerics, Sanusi is a smiling, albeit, belligerent presence.
He
allowed himself a touch of triumphalism when he said, on the morrow of
Perikatan Nasionalās near sweep of parliamentary seats at GE15, that had
there been a state poll in addition to the parliamentary one, the
outcome wouldhave been a 36-0 sweep for PN of the state wards.
For one outwardly disposed towards optimism, Sanusi seems
fretful about Anwarās move to hold the first of his Raya Open Houses in
Alor Setar tomorrow (Saturday, April 29).
Could it be
that Sanusiās bravado is a veneer masking apprehension over the PMās
vaunted ability for drawing support from ordinary people susceptible to
the charms of a populist leader?
It will not be long before we will know.
Word
has it that all six states ā Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu,
Selangor and Negeri Sembilan ā will dissolve their state assemblies in
mid-June for polls a month later.
