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."
It would be easier if PAS/PN banned non-Muslims from voting By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, August 03, 2023
Malaysiakini : However, if you object to the aims, agendas, and policies of PAS/PN,
you are essentially going against Islam, which means the religious state
can and should inflict sanctions against transgressors.
This means that, according to PAS/PN, not only are the political operatives in the DAP “kafir harbi”
but also anyone who votes for them. Because if the DAP stands up
against what they consider racial and religious extremism, the party and
anyone who support them are also kafir harbi.
Take the
proposed amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act
(Act 355), for instance. When PAS was going around touting this as a
major step for the agenda of Islamisation in this country, it received
pushback from Harapan and the DAP.
PAS not only vilified the DAP
for this but also questioned the Islamic credentials of any Malay
political operative who opposed this policy. Indeed, so vehement were
the objections from the DAP, PAS had a field day attacking Malay
political operatives who are now their allies.
The decision of this current government to table
Act 355 after it passes cabinet approval and the silence of the DAP is
exactly the kind of theocratic endgame that serves the forces of
extremism in this country, and is also indicative of how non-Malay
political operatives have sublimated Hadi’s “pak turut” rejoinder.
So,
where does that leave us? Well, if it is only acceptable for PAS/PN if
non-Malays voted for them or people who PAS/PN have cleared for voting,
this means it is pointless for non-Malays to even vote, right?
Making non-Muslim political power inconsequential
This
is not such a controversial proposition. Keep in mind that Hadi said on
record that the whole goal of hooking up with Umno was securing a
supermajority in Dewan Rakyat so they could game the electoral map and
make the non-Malay vote irrelevant.
By making the non-Malay vote irrelevant, what they are actually doing
is making non-Malay political power inconsequential. Making non-Muslim
political power inconsequential is the very definition of “pak turut”.
By denying non-Muslims the right to vote or defining who they could vote for, the term kafir harbi
would be dropped because there would not be any opposition to any kind
of religious policy and because dissent is only meaningful when it
affects consequences.
This is why PN chairperson Muhyddin Yassin,
who if you remember was given everything by the DAP, said the below on
the hustings regarding the “Allah” issue.
“Do you (the audience)
know who caused this decision to be made? Yes, he is (Prime Minister)
Anwar (Ibrahim), but behind Anwar are DAP members, who I know, when I
was the (home) minister, also pressured to not appeal (the Jill Ireland
case).”
PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin
In
other words, the DAP and the people who vote for them subscribing to
the principles the DAP claims to have, were pushing back against an
unjust religious diktat.
It would be so much easier, then, if
PAS/PN would just write into their manifesto that the right to vote
should be taken away from non-Muslims. We would not have to go through
all this racial and religious manure where the democratic rights of
non-Muslims are defined as something going against Islam.
We would just not have any democratic rights, which according to PAS/PN is “just” because non-Muslims have to be “pak turut” if they do not want to be defined as kafir harbi.
Just get it over with
So,
if PAS/PN really believed that the non-Muslim demographic really was
such a threat to Islam, or if they really believed that non-Muslims
should be “pak turut” because their dogma defines anyone exercising their democratic rights as kafir harbi,
then why not draw up legislation which would give legal validity to all
those fears and grievances of the Islamic community when it comes to
non-Muslims voting in this country.
Why not make this part of
their election manifesto? If PAS/PN really were really the defenders of
Islam in this country and really believed that non-Muslims could either
be kafir harbi or kafir zimmi, why not legislate on this issue to ensure that the sanctity and supremacy of Islam are defended?
After
all, non-Malay political operatives and Malay liberals are always
warned not to spook the Malays or not trespass into territories that are
supposedly exclusively “Muslim”.
For
years, we were fed the narrative that the government was supposed to be
a bastion of Malay leadership and privilege, and what this Madani
government has proven is that the non-Malay voting demographic is more
than willing to sublimate whatever desires they have for a progressive
Malaysia if it means holding on to whatever meagre rights they still can
exercise including voting.
Having said that, you have to wonder
about the people who vote for PAS/PN. Just as PAS/PN demonise the DAP
and the people who vote for them, what is important to understand is
that with all that Hadi, Muhyiddin, and the various political operatives
said about the non-Malays, people still vote for them.
At best,
democracy and secularism are fragile concepts. The question is, does
anyone really believe that Malaysia is a secular, multi-ethnic nation?
