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."
Thayaparan’s rejoinder to Ahmad Faizal By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, June 01, 2023
Malaysiakini : Well, I am angry because, by virtue of my ethnicity and status as a
minority, I do not have the same privileges (rights) as the majority in
this country. This extends to educational, housing and economic
opportunities.
I am angry because I am banned from using certain
words because the majority claim usage all for themselves. I am angry
that minorities are told who can and cannot enter their sacred places of
worship.
I am angry about unilateral conversion and how the state
security apparatus, which is supposed to protect everyone regardless of
ethnicity and religion, is doing nothing to stop religious kidnapping
in this country but instead colludes with the perpetrators with the aid
of the religious bureaucracy.
I am angry that the Islamisation
process has seeped into every facet of this country and this has ruined
our education system and everything else it touches.
I am angry that a theocratic party leads the opposition and its religious leader believes that non-Muslims must be pak turut (followers).
I
am angry that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and Muhyiddin Yassin, the
president of Bersatu, have openly defied the royal institution but there
has been no sanction from the state.
Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang
I
am angry that leaders of Bersatu and PAS have resorted to downright
racist and bigoted language and policies but there has been no sanction
from the state.
I am angry that state-sanctioned racial and
religious programmes indoctrinate the majority into at best being
fearful of the minority and at worst, hating us.
I am angry that
every utilitarian policy in this country (and no matter what people say,
a utilitarian calculation is the best of the worst kind of calculation
to make) has to be tempered because we are told not to spook the Malays.
I
am angry because political operatives have to sublimate their
democratic impulses (especially non-Malay political operatives) in
favour of racial and religious supremacy because political operatives
like Faizal would just attack them and claim they are attacking the
“Malays” and Islam in this country.
Faizal does not get to claim,
that I am somehow against the plurality of society when everything the
mainstream political establishment does (and Faizal belongs to the most
virulent of anti-democratic forces in this country) is predicated on
homogenising the majority community and sidelining the minority
communities.
Faizal dares say that working with the DAP is
difficult because they appear to champion a specific community and he
says this while belonging to a race-based party which is determined to
erode the rights of citizens of a plural society in the name of race and
religion.
Racial and religious superiority
Faizal’s
coalition is the definition of plurality hate in the Malaysian political
and social landscape. The main goal of this fascist coalition is to
destroy plurality, especially in the Malay community.
I most
certainly revile the choice of voters who would choose to reject the
plurality of society and believe that non-Muslims/Malays in this country
should be pak turut. My survival depends on people who vote against this fascist coalition.
I
do not believe that anyone who votes for Pakatan Harapan has
intellectual superiority over those who vote for Perikatan Nasional for
instance. Their vote is based on fear. Fear that the racial and
religious superiority of the majority would be worse under PN, and I do
not blame them.
Look
at what Faizal’s comrade, the menteri besar of Kedah, has been doing.
Not only has he been questioning the status of Penang but he has made it
clear that his racial and religious obligations trump the democratic
norms of this country. And he tells the non-Malays/Muslims to
understand.
Faizal wrote: “I am sure the Harapan support base is
aghast that a man with 47 corruption charges in court is now the deputy
prime minister. Would it be fair to mirror your comments and say that
this is the kind of leader Harapan supporters think the country needs?
Of course not.”
Harapan supporters make their compromises for what
they believe is the greater evil if PN comes into power, which is the
same as PN supporters who have no problem with the corruption charges
against Muhyiddin, who is the president of Bersatu.
Indeed when it
comes to corruption, it was Hadi who also claimed (Dr Zakir Naik has
said the same thing) that it would be better for Muslims to be led by
corrupt tyrannical Muslim leaders rather than honest non-Muslims. So do
not play this card with me.
Do not ask me to Google whatever
defence you think is out there in support of your argument. You were the
menteri besar and as you say, “experienced it”. Name names and detail
how the DAP attempted to oust you from your position.
Of course,
Harapan would abandon Dr Mahathir Mohamad after the Sheraton Move. By
Mahathir's admission, he was making moves to consolidate his power and
was betrayed by the very minions he tasked to secure him more power.
If
Bersatu was really interested in Mahathir's political welfare, you
would have come to his defence. Instead seeing how the political winds
were blowing, every one of his minions abandoned him.
Faizal
claimed that the “We vs Them” discussion is deleterious for Malaysia,
but the whole narrative of PN is based on “We vs Them”. Malays vs the
non-Malays. What PN hopes to achieve by playing the race and religion
card, is that this unity government does its work for them.
If
Faizal was really interested in pursuing any other narrative, he would
offer it up. Instead, he continues demonising the DAP and trolling this
unity government.
And no Faizal, there is no need for us to chat
over a cup of coffee, on the fundamental issue affecting this country.
If you really had the interests of the rakyat at heart, you would cease
the racial and religious trolling, sit down with Anwar Ibrahim and use
your grassroots activists to support policies this unity comes up with
(with your input) to better the lives of all Malaysians.
But you
won’t do that because ultimately PN believes that an unstable government
makes political sense and the suffering of the citizens, especially the
majority, could be used as racial and religious propaganda.
