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."
Over the years,
Khairy has cultivated - and fairly effectively - the image of the
thoughtful considered racial supremacist, attempting to spin toxic ideas
like Ketuanan Melayu to Kepimipinan Melayu as he did circa 2009.
āKompas perjuangan ini akan menggariskan agenda nasionalis kita, yang
bukan berteraskan konsep kekuasaan Melayu atau Malay dominance yang
sempit, tetapi kepimpinan Melayu atau Malay leadership yang adil dan
rahmah.ā
(The compass of our struggle will underline our
nationalist agenda, which is not based on the narrow definitions of
Malay power or Malay dominance, but Kepimpinan Melayu or a Malay leadership that is just and gracious.)
In my article about Bersatu deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu,
I said this of Khairy - āSome folks like to think that Khairy could be a
barometer of change. But the reality is that people like KJ (whom I
said people should vote for - hey, what can I say, I have no trouble
admitting I was wrong) will probably end up as talking heads for people
like Faizal in an Islamic state, articulately justifying the
malfeasances of political operatives while the mullahs suppress
democratic norms and inclinations of the populace.ā
Khairy does exactly this. In his propaganda piece
attempting to redefine the green wave as a wave of discontent, the key
is when he wrote this - Perikatan Nasionalās (PN) social media narrative
is also heavily exploiting unease among Malay voters towards the DAPās
presence in the government.
Political parties in the coalition
government have failed to counter such narratives (which is ironically
the product of years of Umnoās own vilification of the DAP).
First
of all, the Malay political establishment which included Khairy,
Muhyiddin Yassin, Abdul Hadi Awang, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Ismail Sabri
Yaakob, and the other ketuanan types vilified the DAP for decades.
We
know that in Umnoās case - at a time when Khary was at the centre of
all this rabble-rousing - all this was done according to none other than
former prime ministerās Mahathirās son, Muhkriz, to deflect from the
failings of the racial hegemon.
This is exactly what Khairy is
doing now. What a load of horse manure, when Khairy wrote this - āUnlike
the rise of PAS in the 1980s and 1990s, PNās popularity today has more
dimensions than merely increased religiosity among Malays. Malays in
Malaysia have become more outwardly observant of their religious duties
but this does not mean there is a tide of Islamic extremism sweeping
through Malaysia.ā
The reality is that the rise in religiosity amongst the Malay
community is the direct influence and subjugation of a religious
bureaucracy and state within the government to control and shape the
Malay voting polity.
As I argued many times before and confirmed
by PAS political operatives who are still close to me, PAS was playing
the long game. While Khairy Jamaluddin was enabling a kleptocracy, the
religious state was planting seeds, which are the fruits we now taste.
Keep
in mind that this government inherited problems that were created by a
coalition that Khairy thinks would be a suitable replacement for this
coalition government.
PNās ceramah are telling
I
have no interest in the deep Malay political games going on behind the
scenes, but this is what the religious extremists in this country want.
They want people like Khairy to characterise the rise of religious
extremism as a wave of discontent.
Khairy acknowledges the racial
and religious narratives of PN but why is it, if this is really a wave
of discontent, PN is not pushing an economic agenda? Why are they not
attacking the government on economic issues?
Instead, what they
are doing is attacking programmes like Menu Rahmah which is an economic
policy (whether you agree with it or not) and attempting to cast
everything in a religious context.
Indeed, from PN stars like
Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor to PAS president Hadi,
everything is predicated on the kind of strategies employed by Khairy
when he was riding high in Umno.
The
fact is that Khairy wants people to believe that this is a wave of
discontent because the truth that Malaysia is going to become a
theocracy either by the hands of this Madani government or PN, is a
bitter pill to swallow for rational voters.
You have to ask
yourselves, why Khairy would claim that there is a lack of economic
direction but he does not bring forth any evidence from the PN side to
support this argument.
Indeed, what he rehashes are PNās talking
points about being a cleaner alternative and the fact that the Malays
are fearful of losing political control to the Chinese community.
If
the Malays had a palpable anger towards Umnoās corruption, then why do
the religious narratives of Hadi et all tell the Malays that it is
better to be led by corrupt Muslim leaders than honest non-Muslim
leaders?
Why is it that PNās ceramah are dominated by
narratives that the Chinese are seizing political control and that the
status of Islam and the royalty are being threatened when PAS has no
problem disobeying the former?
And why claim that only Malays are feeling this economic discontent and anger at corruption?
Of
course, there are economic concerns but the non-Malays are voting
against PN because they fear a theocratic state while supporters of PN
are voting for the coalition because they embrace a theocratic state.
These state elections are not about economic issues but rather a reckoning on race and religion, which was a long time coming.
The fact is that PN wants the Malays to be āpak turutā
and turn this country into a theocratic state. The fact is, this Madani
government is enabling the creation of a theocratic state.
The fact is, that working-class Malays are in direct economic competition with Muslim refugees and immigrants.
The
fact is, that the deplorable class inequalities suffered by the
disenfranchised majority after years of racial and religious rule are
coming to a head.
All this is the real narrative that people like KJ want to bury.
Khairy can surf the green wave for so long before he suffers a wipeout.