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."
I will stick with the 'green wave' narrative By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, June 29, 2023
Malaysiakini : Instead, what they chose was Bersatu which was formed (with the
collusion of Harapan) to get their vote, and PAS, which made it very
clear that they wanted to redraw the electoral map to make the votes of
non-Malays irrelevant.
No matter what people who vote for PN say
about wanting a clean alternative, the reality is they do not care about
constitutional rights or corruption and were willing to give an
extremist coalition a chance because, for decades, they were subjected
to propaganda and economic policies designed to keep them hooked on
Malay federal and state aid.
This
is the reality. In other words, we have in the peninsular a voting
polity who do not care about the rights of non-Malays, which are in
reality rights for everyone, but would rather vote for a coalition which
has demonstrated they are willing to suspend those rights. They want
non-Malays to be pak turut.
The second point is when Ong
claims the āgreen waveā narrative āplays into a larger Islamophobic
narrative. This attitude is prevalent among some segments of the
non-Malay community and abroad. This kind of sentiment is particularly
unhelpful especially when it comes to understanding the different
demands of the increasingly diverse Malay community in Malaysia.ā
The
idea that non-Muslims who speak up against the very real wave of
religious extremism in this country plays into the larger Islamophobic
narrative is disingenuous and only hastens the formation of a theocratic
state. Religious extremists have weaponised the term Islamophobia to
silence any dissent against their political and religious malfeasance.
If
you object to their fascism you are labelled Islamophobic. Non-Muslims
were told that Islamic law does not apply to them but the reality is,
with every small cut from the scalpel of religious extremists, our
private and public spaces are withering away. That dress code in Kelantan for instance is the shape of things to come.
Religious
extremists argue that non-Muslims objecting to a dress code are
Islamophobic. So my question to Ong - Is the DAP agreeing to help this
poor woman fight this case pro bono, Islamophobic?
Fascist religious dogma
In 2014, when Ong said this
of PKRās Selangor menteri besar during the Malay language bible flash
point - āThe MBās request is an abdication of the responsibility of the
state government to find a fair and just resolution to this matter that
pertains to the constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion
including the right to manage oneās own religious affairs as enshrined
in Article 11(3) of the Federal Constitution.ā ā was Ong Islamophobic?
I would suggest that Ong read Abdul Hadi Awangās piece about the Taliban to understand why Islamophobia is complete bunkum.
If
Ong reads that piece, he will understand that according to Hadi,
criticism of the Talibanās fascist religious dogma is nothing more than
critics not understanding Islam in its totality.
Another point
Hadi makes is that immorality (in this instance the drug trade) is
something that ākumpulan yang bukan Islamā (non-Muslim groups) inflict
on a Muslim polity.
It really doesnāt matter if PAS enjoyed the
strategic advantage of using the PN coalition banner. What is important
is that people who voted for PN understood what that banner meant.
What
that banner signalled was a departure from power-sharing (which was a
myth anyway) to crude majoritarianism which many ignorant supporters of
PN think is ādemocracyā.
Who knows, maybe the people who voted for
PN believed that non-Muslims were the cause of corruption in this
country, a narrative Hadi and co like to perpetuate.
The
point Ong makes about the influence of tahfiz schools is absurd. Sure, I
have made the claim that tahfiz school education benefited PAS
(graduates make good foot soldiers) but the reality is that the
education system favours religious extremism and that the religious
bureaucracy has infiltrated every aspect of the majorityās political
lives.
I do not know about anyone else in the chattering class but
in my writings, I warned Harapan that PAS propagandists were adept at
using social media in ways that Harapan political operatives and their
proxies were not.
I warned that PASā propaganda was extremely
sophisticated and that they were using Harapan supportersā words as a
launching point for Muslim grievances.
Ong
writes that āIf religious sentiment explained PNās gains, then the most
effective response for the unity government would be to counter this
with religious rhetoric and related policies.ā
And therein lies
the rub. The opposition has never offered an alternative to the
religious extremism of mainstream Malay politics.
In many
articles, I pleaded, cajoled, and attempted to shame Harapan into
offering an alternative but nobody seemed to care, even Harapan
supporters. Why talk of āmoderateā Malay votes?
As I have argued before, Harapan does not care about them. In Ongās time in Harapan, they certainly did not care.
Moderate
Malays are left to their own devices. If they speak up against
religious extremism, there is a good chance they would be sanctioned if
Harapan was in power or disavowed if Harapan was in opposition.
So when Ong talks about moderate policies and the moderate Malay voter, I have no idea what he is talking about.
Maybe if DAP had remained strictly secular, instead of attempting to use religion ā donning the headscarf,
wandering around mosques, remaining silent when moderate Malays were
speaking out against the injustice they experienced ā things would be
different.
They would have been a foundation to build an alternative. But that time has passed.
Do
not be bamboozled into thinking there is no green wave. Itās here. My
advice to non-Muslims, try to keep your head above water.