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."
Zahid has to end 'justice for Najib' pretence By R Nadeswaran
Monday, July 31, 2023
Malaysiakini : This, he said, is because the supporters are disappointed with the
treatment of the unity government towards justice for Najib, which he
claimed was not upheld.
(Najib was fined RM210 million and is
serving a 12-year jail sentence over the misappropriation of RM42
million of SRC International funds.)
What justice is he talking about? Why are there still pockets of people calling for justice as if Najib was wrongly convicted?
The answer lies with Zahid, Mohd Puad Zarkashi and some Umno leaders who have been vocal over the past few months - selling the idea of āseeking justiceā.
At the Umno general assembly last month, Zahid expressed the partyās unwavering commitment to push for his release.
āI
want to emphasise that the mandate from all divisions and the supreme
council remains committed to defending Najib and ensuring that he
receives fair justice,ā he was quoted as saying.
Why are Zahid,
Umno leaders et al promoting this narrative that Najib is innocent when
the High Court convicted him and appeals to the Court of Appeal (which
described him as a ānational embarrassmentā) and the Federal Court were
dismissed?
They seem to ignore that the nature of his crime is
unprecedented and that the conviction and sentence are reflective of the
seriousness - large sums of peopleās money being misused.
Stop misleading public
Wasn't Zahid the same man who was full of praise for the High Court last September when he was acquitted of 40 bribery charges in the foreign visa system trial?
āFrom
the very first day until the decision, I remained confident that the
judge thoroughly scrutinised the law and its execution. Today, we have
witnessed that the law has been upheld for the sake of justice and I am
grateful,ā he said after his acquittal.
In a previous column,
I wrote: āFast forward to the Umno General Assembly over the past three
daysā¦ Zahid was previously all praises for the court system when he was
cleared but these days, he painted a different picture - demanding
Najib be given āfair justiceā - whatever that means.
āIs he telling Umno members (and Najibās family) that the former
prime minister did not get a fair trial? Or can this be viewed as
āintimidationā of judges who are hearing his case and the prosecutionās
appeal against his acquittal?
āZahid should stop misleading the
public especially Umno members by giving false hopes and instead tell
them the bitter truth ā the legal processes are over and no one can
interfere with the punishment that has been meted out.
āBy his own
admission, the judiciary is beyond reproach and the criminal justice
system must take its course. Zahid must be honest and brutally frank and
say: āI cannot do anything to get Najib out of jailā.ā
That may be a tall order for a politician like Zahid who was at one time Najib's erstwhile deputy and publicly declared that he met the Arab prince who donated the money.
But that bluff has been called. And this line is no longer in use but may be resurrected when and if necessary.
It
is said that the truth always hurts and it is only proper that Zahid as
party president be blunt ā it is the end of the road because there are
no more legal aspects or procedures within the system.
He must
also tell them a royal pardon can only be exercised if Najib expresses
remorse and apologises for his crimes. By refusing to accept
responsibility, there is little chance of a pardon.
This charade
of ājustice for Najibā must end unless of course it is aimed at
undermining the unity government - using the backdoor for Zahid to
replace Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister ala the Sheraton Move.