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."
When 'ketuanan' politicians need help, they run to DAP By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, May 22, 2023
Malaysiakini : Former Malaysiakini columnist Syahredzan Johan, who is now Bangi MP, astutely pointed out in 2020 that even the royal institution was concerned about the possible abuse of political power in the first attempt at an emergency:
āThe word membatasi
was the only one to be highlighted in red in the statement. The other
words were printed in black. This statement is significant as it
suggests that the rulers were of the view that there could be elements
of abuse of power in an emergency and that the Agongās role is to ensure
that executive powers are not abused.ā
The fact that PAS
president Abdul Hadi Awang, Muhyiddin, and the rest of PN are more than
willing to defy the royal institution demonstrates how far they and
their base are willing to go to redefine the political, social, and
religious landscape of this country.
PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin (left) and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang
You
can bet on one thing, though. When these race-based charlatans want to
be saved from the treachery of their comrades, they run to DAP. As a
political party, DAP has a strong stable base that has always acted as a
foundation for these Malay uber alles types to cling on to power.
The worst of the lot is PAS of course. Having been injected into the
mainstream of Malaysian politics on the wings of DAP, they now continue
racial and religious narratives that they know are a lie but which are
perfectly acceptable to the kind of religion they preach.
Bersatu,
PAS, and now Umno, are parties that continue to dominate the Malay
polity because of gerrymandering and unequal weightage of votes.
The raison d'ĆŖtre
of PAS wanting to hook up with Umno in the last general election was to
delineate the political landscape through legislation, which would
finally destroy DAP as a functional political party.
This was not some sub rosa agenda, Hadi actually said this on the campaign stump. The fact is, the circle is now complete with Umno hooking up with DAP.
Indeed at one time or another, Malay uber alles
political operatives have hooked up with DAP. Muhyiddin has sung
praises of the DAP. Mahathir has done so too. Even Hadi has made nice
with DAP.
So confident that states controlled by the political
bloc were free from corruption in 2013, Hadi as reported in the press
said Pakatan Rakyat (Harapanās predecessor) states and political leaders
were free from corruption. And he said this during the opening of a
Chinese New Year festival in Kedah.
Harapan and Umno believe that
it needs a fig leaf of non-Malay participation in government and pays
lip service to the idea that Malaysia is a diverse country with equal
participation for all.
Now,
I get that some people may be upset when they read this but as long as
the political paradigm is what it is, this will always be the role of
non-Malays in the government.
PN, on the other hand, with a virulent PAS in play, is the apex of the ketuanan
(supremacy) ideology, bankrupt of ideas, disguising its entitlement
programmes as populist moves for āthe peopleā, which really means for
the Malays.
DAPās Faustian bargain
Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong has publicly admitted that Harapan did everything Muhyiddin, who is now a sworn enemy, wanted or needed when he was part of Harapan.
DAP
played by the rules ā unfair though it may have been ā and let down its
base when it came to various hot-button issues, and yet this was not
enough for the gang from Sheraton and even Malay power structures in
Harapan.
And now, Lim Guan Eng is calling out Muhyiddin in the Jill Ireland case saying - āI challenge him to name the person. If he fails to mention who the minister is, he is a liar and a coward.ā
DAP,
by making its Faustian bargain and working with Bersatu, demonstrated
that working with morally suspect and corruption-tainted politicians was
not an impediment to āsaving Malaysiaā.
Faustian is the only way
to describe such power-sharing arrangements but it is the only cursed
deal the non-Malay power brokers can make.
And when you work with
these types of people, what can you expect? Mind you, in the political
game, all this is fair game. Political operatives in many functional
democracies switch sides all the time and attack their former comrades.
But this is not a functional democracy.
This is an ethnocracy where all these proud defenders of bangsa (race) and agama
(religion) run to DAP and the non-Malays when they need our help and
then take a dump on us when they feel confident enough that they have
suckered their community into voting for them again.
Now,
of course, we have all this talk from all sides if partisans would vote
for the enemy. Can they vote for the former enemy? Will they vote for a
party that for decades they demonised?
Honestly, I do not see
this as much of a hurdle because as far as partisans are concerned,
Harapan and Umno, it is much as how Orwell defined doublethink -
āDoublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in
oneās mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.ā
All you need to know is this. When these Malay uber alles
types are fearful for their political survival, they will run to DAP.
Whether this is a good or bad thing, that is for you to decide.
