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."
Does Fahmi Fadzil believe what he says? By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, July 06, 2023
Malaysiakini : āThat is something portrayed by the media. I understand that there
could be a perception of such, but the reality is, there are no camps.
What we have now is a PKR that is strong and united.ā ā which is
Trumpian in its perversity.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
Or
how about when Fahmi confirmed that Anwar had ordered the probe on
Baling MP Hassan Saad for allegedly calling him an Israeli agent and
then Saifuddin Nasution Ismail claimed otherwise and Lawyers for Liberty
(LFL) asked for a clarification?
āIt
was Fahmi who made the public statement on Nov 28 that Anwar ordered
police to investigate those who slander him or call him an Israeli
agent. Fahmiās statement was never rebutted or denied by the Prime
Ministerās Office or Anwar himself,ā said LFL.
Look, I happen to
think that the Lembah Pantai MP has a lot of potential. When lawyer
Fadiah Nadwa Fikri was harassed, Fahmi was one of the few political
operatives who showed support and made an argument as to why the
intimidation should stop. And this was against his own government and
security apparatus.
However, things have apparently changed.
Between picking fights with Telegram and having miscommunication
problems about sending the state security apparatus to the doorsteps of
errant social media users, Fahmi has become the poster boy for what
Harapan promised not to do when Anwar came into power.
Before and after election
Fahmi recently announced that there were no moves yet to draft laws holding social media companies accountable for fake news.
āWe are currently not taking that direction, but we have a consistent and proactive engagement,ā he said.
The key word here is, yet? This is the problem with Harapan political operatives.
Before
an election, they are all about free speech and how the media needs to
be free, but after the election when Harapan is so desperate not to
spook the Malays or are on the receiving end of the doomsday messaging
of their opponents and they see how damaging it is to the economy, they
run sacred and attempt to muzzle the press and curtail free speech.
Fahmiās latest announcement of the collaboration between his ministry, the state security apparatus and Meta to curb online crimes, is laughable.
Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil
For
instance, when Fahmi said, āI believe that the cooperation established
allows scams, online gambling, and 3R issues on the Meta platform to be
reduced.ā Really? How exactly is Meta going to help with that?
Firstly,
online gambling is not something that Meta or any other social media
company thinks is detrimental to their bottom line.
Furthermore,
3R issues deal with free speech and does Fahmi really believe that Meta,
of all companies, is going to cooperate with his ministry when it comes
to an ill-defined concept like 3R when Meta has done nothing to crack
down on āhate speechā in numerous countries around the world?
What
Fahmi is doing is alienating people who are on the Harapan coalition
governmentās side by not only playing the heavy but spouting nonsense
about 3Rs, disregarding his reformist credentials, and most importantly,
aligning with the religious extremists when it comes to cultural issues
(āPulauā fiasco) and the 3Rs.
When Fahmi claimed that it was a
miscommunication about watching your words and being monitored by the
authorities, National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president M
Ramachelvam said: āAs the communications and digital minister, he should
have used his position to answer the comments left by viewers rather
than to say the authorities will come after them.
āThreats by
government ministers against freedom of expression leave a negative
perception of the government (which has a duty) to uphold this
fundamental constitutional right guaranteed to citizens,ā he told an online news portal.
As
the communications and digital minister, Fahmi has real problems. He
belongs to a coalition that is at war with a political enemy who has
complete supremacy over the social media landscape.
PNās
propaganda machine led by PAS has demonstrated that not only are they
better at using social media to get their message across, but they have
also demonstrated that the legacy media landscape is irrelevant to their
political agenda except when it is convenient to use it as a cudgel to
whack the prime ministerās supposedly dictatorial style.
I have no
idea if Fahmi really believes what he says but what I do know is that
one of the more important ministries which could be an asset to this
government is becoming a liability under Fahmiās watch.
