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."
The opposite is ever
more hatred. Why stop at toy guns? Will students next carry replicas of
shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles or anti-tank rockets as even
more potent symbols of Palestinian resistance?
However, Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi took a rather more confrontational approach to the suggestions.
He said the ministry should not
"succumb to pressure" where "certain quarters are taking advantage of
one bad apple" (the toy gun incident) to urge the Education Ministry to
drop the programme.
Now wait a minute, DAP and the 12 PKR reps
were asking to "review" and "reconsider" the Palestine Solidarity Week,
not to outright abolish it. Was Puad exaggerating so that he could score
some political points?
Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi
I do not support Hamas killing Israeli civilians. I am also against the bombing and starving of many, many civilians in Gaza.
The
United Nations said on Oct 27 that war crimes were being committed on
both sides. But it's a natural human response to side with the weak
against the strong, with David against Goliath.
Non-Malays next as enemies?
What is unspoken is how pro-Palestine events can morph into more ugly feelings to "fight Muslim enemies".
For example, during a rally in Kuantan, Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail accidentally said, "Palestin Pengecut, Palestin Hancur' (Coward Palestine, Destroy Palestine).
What he meant of course was "destroy Israel".
Now
the problem is, can hatred for Israel and Jews among students turn into
hatred for non-Malays? In Malaysia, sadly the answer is yes.
Perikatan Nasional chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin
Just before the 2022 general election (GE15), Muhyiddin Yassin claimed that Pakatan Harapan was an "agent of Jews and Christians" who were out to "colonise" Malaysia.
From there, flows the often-repeated line that DAP is an "ancaman"
(threat) to Islam. This is, of course, extended to Harapan (and even
Umno) which are all somehow magically "controlled" by the "big evil"
DAP.
(Of course, long forgotten to political convenience is the
fact that PAS was happy to ally itself with DAP in the Pakatan Rakyat
coalition to share power from 2008 to 2015.)
Before GE15, we had the spectacle where a Kedah PAS leader declared that those who vote for Harapan will "go to hell"; while another PAS event in Terengganu heard how it's okay to slaughter “kafir harbi" (infidels against whom war is justified).
Yeah,
both of them apologised for their hateful remarks - but only after they
were caught on viral social media platforms. One wonders how many other
spiteful speeches went unrecorded.
Perhaps, this is why PAS is
not shy of using military symbols to show it's "fighting for Islam", for
example, during a procession bearing replicas of weapons and armour at Terengganu in February.
In its election campaigns, PAS has also displayed large models of tanks and even fighter jets.
"Us versus them"
Non-Malays have long felt official discrimination. For decades, the government promoted racial fear and “ketuanan Melayu” using the National Civics Bureau (with taxpayers’ money!).
This
"us versus them" mentality was cultivated among students and civil
servants. So, can one then blame non-Malays for feeling that Palestine
is more of a "Muslim issue" belonging to "them", and not really
concerning "us"?
A very balanced approach
was given by Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, who heads the Parent Action Group
for Education (Page). She said the Palestine Solidarity Week should not
have a religious slant as the conflict was more of a historical one
over land.
Parent Action Group for Education chairperson Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim
Indeed, it is often forgotten (even in the West) that some 10 percent of Palestinians are actually Christians, although many have since left the Holy Land.
Famous Palestinian Christian leaders included George Habash, Wadie Haddad, Hanna Mikhail and Anis Sayegh (son of a Christian pastor).
But will the solidarity week take such a mature and educated view?
It
seems that the "two-state solution", where both Israel and Palestine
can coexist peacefully, is the way out of the never-ending conflict.
But is the Malaysian approach more about "hancur Israel", as the Pahang MB meant to say? Will hatred for Jews then become hatred for churches?
After all, the "Christian threat" to Malays has been exploited too often by some politicians.
No wonder Sarawak (a Christian-majority state), is concerned with the programme.
Christians are called to bring about healing and reconciliation, but to complicate matters, there is also a debatable reading of the Bible that Israel must exist before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ can occur.
So the issue can get complicated.
Scoring political points?
Both
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and PAS have led huge recent rallies for
Palestine. Is there some sort of "competition" to show who is more vocal
about this issue?
Penang Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) has called on the government to end the exploitation of schools and children during the programme for the politics of adults.
Its
vice-chairperson Ravinder Singh also questioned why, despite decades of
moral and religious education, school indiscipline is "rampant"?
While the current suffering in Gaza is appalling, it is nowhere near the 370,000 people killed in the Yemen war since 2014.
Did
we have nationwide Yemen Solidarity Week in Malaysian schools? If not,
was it because of the awkward fact that Saudi Arabia was bombing
civilians in Yemen? Not exactly convenient for scoring political points
perhaps.
Yes, the grievances about Zionists grabbing land from
Palestinians run deep. Many feel it's wrong for the strong to bully the
weak.
But what about the grabbing of Orang Asli lands, the
chopping down of their original jungle homes, just to make way for
plantations owned by others?
Why is this seldom trumpeted by our politicians? Is it because the bullies in this case are not Jewish?
So how about an Orang Asli Solidarity Week in schools? Perhaps, charity should begin at home.
