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."
Malay Communists - Happy birthday to forgotten Malay Marxist centurion By Martin Vengadesan
Sunday, October 01, 2023
Malaysiakini : This includes Abdullah’s wife, Suriani Abdullah (formerly Eng Ming Ching), one of the CPM’s most prominent leaders.
Abdullah CD and his wife Suriani Abdullah circa 1990s
This
week, Abdullah turns 100. His assistant Yaakob Ibrahim tells me that
the designated date of birth is Oct 2, 1923, but that a number of wildly
differing dates have been claimed for the native of Lambor, Perak.
Even
in 2009, while Abdullah was in good physical shape and very jovial, his
memory was erratic and he frequently retold the same story in answer to
different questions.
Abdullah was one of the leaders of the Parti
Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM) in the 1940s and he found himself
working with the CPM.
The PKMM, a largely leftist Malay
nationalist movement, and its affiliated youth and women’s wings (API
and Awas - Angkatan Wanita Sedar - respectively) were breeding grounds
of leaders who eventually became prominent figures in Umno (Ghafar Baba,
Sardon Jubir and Aishah Ghani), PAS (Burhanuddin Helmi and Asri Muda),
Parti Rakyat Malaysia (Ahmad Boestamam), the Labour Party of Malaya
(Ishak Haji Muhammad) and, of course, the CPM (in the form of Abdullah,
Shamsiah Fakeh, Rashid Maidin, etc).
As Abdullah put it, “nationalism came first for me, and only then did Marxism follow.”
He
told me that he couldn’t abide it when the Japanese surrendered to end
World War II but the British returned to quickly reimpose colonial rule.
Abdullah CD (left) with Chin Peng in 2009.
At that time in the late 1940s, the colony of Malaya was crucial to the UK rebuilding itself as it was rich in rubber and tin.
While many believed that communism and religion were incompatible,
Abdullah said his belief was that true Marxism and Islam were indeed
both meant to uphold the welfare of the common people.
He said
that socialism, and not capitalism, was in keeping with the religious
philosophy of sharing wealth and caring for the less fortunate.
Interestingly, it was under Abdullah that the 10th Regiment made the difficult decision to flee Pahang for southern Thailand.
Forgotten by history
Former
Parti Rakyat Malaysia president Syed Husin Ali was a non-Marxist
socialist who began student activism during the 1950s. He told me that
the choice that faced Abdullah and his peers was different.
“Most
of Abdullah’s generation started as Malay nationalists during the
colonial era. In a way, they were driven to communism because they had
no legal alternative after the British returned.
“The choice was
either joining Umno or going to prison. And when they went to the
jungle, it was natural to join the communists.”
“Of course,
Abdullah, like Rashid Maidin, was a communist even before he went into
the jungle but in his view, he took up the armed struggle to fight for a
free and just Malaya,” reflected Syed Husin.
The CPM headquarters in KL before the party was banned.
A
few months ago, I met Temerloh-based lawyer Ahmad Nizam Hamid in KL.
Associated with PKR and the reformasi movement, he nonetheless displayed
an interest in the CPM era.
I was about to give him a
mini-speech on the 10th regiment when he laughed and told me: “I know
this history because my grandfather was one of those who left the
kampung and fled into the jungle to join the CPM. He gave his life for
the struggle.”
Yaakob was one of the youngest members of the party at the time that it chose to lay down arms.
“I originally came from a village in the Pasir Puteh, a district in Kelantan. The people there were very poor, and still are.
“At
first, I was just curious about these people fighting in the jungle for
a better life. The Malaysian government’s anti-communist propaganda was
very strong but I wasn’t that happy with what I learnt in school. Then
when I joined them, I found that I could accept their ideas and their
way of life.
“I was trained to survive in the jungle, use arms and
certain martial arts tactics. Sometimes we fought for self-defence,
sometimes we had to create trouble to maintain a presence in the area,”
he told me back in 2009.
Abdullah CD in 1947
Today, he says that Abdullah is surrounded by those who honour him but he is not in great health.
“He
is 100 now, and we will have a small gathering of friends. Nothing
formal but those who want to come to celebrate his 100th birthday are
welcome.
“Sadly, his health is deteriorating although he can still
walk with assistance,” said Yaakob, adding that Abdullah is one of
three survivors from the party’s heyday of armed struggle.
