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."
Malaysiakini : It's time to end the unfair system that benefits rural over urban
voters, and create more mixed seats to reduce toxic racial politics.
For
example, in Selangor, Subang Jaya has about 75,000 voters while Sungai
Air Tawar has only 15,000 voters. This means that one urban vote is five
times less valuable than one rural vote.
The
disparity between rural and urban votes is clearly undemocratic, as it
betrays the basic principle of "one person, one vote".
The same
pattern is repeated elsewhere. Rural seats like Sabak (22,000 voters)
and Hulu Bernam (21,000 voters) have an unjust advantage over urban
areas like Kajang (78,000 voters) and Kinrara, Puchong (88,000 voters).
This means that voters in areas like Sabak can elect four representatives while a place such as Kinrara only has one.
Should
the country's future be largely determined by the less educated, more
conservative and poorer rural voters? While discriminating against more
educated and open-minded urban voters who contribute most of the income
tax revenue of the government?
As the old saying goes - no taxation without (fair) representation.
Since
Harapan and its BN allies have clearly done better in more urban or
mixed seats, it's also in their self-interest to redraw election seats.
So what's stopping them from this crucial reform for fairer representation?
Ah
yes, the old racial arguments. But this is no longer the 1970s. In the
2020s, our cities have become much more racially mixed.
For
example, Kuala Lumpur itself has "Malay parliament seats" like
Setiawangsa and Titiwangsa. Thus, the electoral manipulation also hurts
urban Malay voters.
Large urban areas can also be sliced up like a cake to include surrounding rural areas to create more racially mixed seats.
When
a politician has to appeal to a mixed electorate to win, the rhetoric
cannot be the same old toxic themes of race and religion. Rather, it has
to be about progress for all. Surely, that is the best way for Malaysia
to move forward.
To avoid any "allergic reaction" against DAP - let PKR, Amanah or BN contest most of the new mixed seats.
Marketing the reforms
DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim needs to address economic issues that led to PN gains.
Sure,
there were big announcements, just before the state elections. of the
National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and Madani Economy framework.
But
in his ceramahs, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli admitted there was
criticism that these seemed like convenient pre-election goodies.
So
why weren't they announced earlier? Rafizi explained that the new
government needed to do a lot of groundwork to draw up the policies.
This
seems to repeat the mistake of the first Harapan government of 2018,
when they were too busy working on policies and neglected to “sell” them
to people.
This allowed people like PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin to claim that Anwar's government had done little to help the Malays.
Perikatan Nasional chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin
Like
it or not, good reforms are not enough. They have to be properly
marketed to voters, especially the young TikTok generation. This
includes a good build-up (teasers and previews) before the policies are
actually rolled out.
Other ideas
There are so many other things needed to address the root causes of the “Green Wave”.
While
former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi promoted his moderate brand
of Islam Hadhari, I have not heard of a similar push under Anwar.
Surely, the fact that “assabiyah” (factionalism) and “fitnah”
(slander) are wrong in Islam but it became part of a concerted
campaign, with prominent influencers on social media, especially TikTok.
Next
comes education. For example, historian Ranjit Singh Malhi has lamented
that the crucial contributions and sacrifices of Chinese tin miners and
Indian rubber tappers to the development of this country have been reduced to just a few sentences in the Form 3 history textbook.
With such one-sided knowledge, it's hard for Anwar to preach that this country should be shared by all races.
Finally, PN claims to be "clean" even though its leaders, including Muhyiddin, have been charged with corruption.
But
voters seem to have bought his claims that he was a "victim" of
"selective political prosecution". So what will it take to change the
"immaculate", indeed almost "holy", image of PN?
Hmmmm…what if a fresh police probe with "new technology" finds that a certain Sandakan video is now much "clearer"?
