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."
PSM continues to demonstrate the right stuff By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Malaysiakini : What is happening to a group of Tambun farmers is the kind of
corporate and political malfeasance which defines politics in this
country.
The sight of PSM chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar
Devaraj, its committee member R Karthiges, Perak PSM Youth member P
Kesavan, and a farmer identified as Ho Pon Tien, being carted away by police and then released is a reminder of how the progressive forces in this country - the force which was supposed to bring “harapan” (hope) to a certain section of the public - have completely failed the people who voted for them.
PSM leaders arrested for trying to stop eviction of farmers in Tambun on Oct 24
A
PSM operative once told me that it does not matter if Pakatan Harapan
supporters vilify them online because what is important are the issues
PSM raises.
For some time now, PSM has been actively engaging or
at least attempting to engage with state and federal authorities on the
situation in Tambun.
What happened in Tambun, the scuffles, the
bloodied face and the arrests are in reality, the culmination of
bureaucratic and political indifference and not some sort of performance
theatre.
PSM activist Chong Yee Shan with a bloody face after being allegedly shoved by a PTG officer during farmers’ eviction on Oct 24
What we are witnessing is a reality that mainstream progressive politics fails to acknowledge.
A
PSM activist told me that people often laugh at the small protests that
PSM and other activist groups organise but fail to understand that
these big political parties that could mobilise mass gatherings are
completely indifferent to the plight of marginalised people.
When
the Lynas issue was supposedly the existential threat to this country,
we had Harapan political operatives organising mass protests and using
those gatherings to embarrass the government of the day.
Now that they are the government, these same weaselly political operatives have changed their tune.
PSM fighting a lonely battle
This, of course, is the problem with PSM when it comes to mainstream progressive politics. They do not change their tune.
Even
when PSM had one solitary seat in Parliament, the good doctor was
attempting to push the same narrative as when he and PSM were in the
trenches fighting for the disenfranchised.
Farmers and PSM members protest near Parliament in September
I have this running joke with Jeyakumar that he is too nuanced for politics. People have short attention spans.
They
want you to scream “kleptocracy” and then they pat you on the back.
When Jeyakumar talks about corruption, he talks about the corruptive
aspects of politics that democracy nurtures.
He talks about how
expectations from his constituents make it harder for him to fulfil his
obligations, which goes far beyond merely satisfying their pecuniary
needs.
It is disheartening to read about huge crowds collecting
money and food for people who are suffering injustice in another part of
the world and looking at the photos of hardworking people who are
toiling the land for our benefit being marginalised by the supposedly
reform-minded forces in this country.
These families have a
history of doing the hard, often thankless jobs of working on farms and,
let us be honest, far from the democratic and societal norms that
privilege a certain class of urban people.
These
same class of urban people demonstrate that they really do not give a
damn about families like these but then wonder why corruption and
corporate greed are part of the system and look to political saviours to
lead them to the promised land.
And for what? More development which more often than not turns into projects mired in corporate and political corruption.
Of
course, Perikatan National is completely useless. As the opposition
coalition, they could not be bothered about an issue like his.
If
anything, the kind of corporate and political shenanigans when it comes
to land issues in the states they govern, demonstrate which side they
are on.
As Jeyakumar said
in September -"This is no longer just a personal issue for farmers,
it’s a food shortage problem that the entire country must face.
“Prices have already gone up. Do we want to continue destroying vegetables?
“We
have already engaged the Perak state government, but they are unwilling
to listen because private companies have paid for that land.”
And
let’s face facts with corruption and lack of political intervention.
Developers have caused numerous problems to the environment and
infrastructure.
I have no idea if the Madani government just does
not get it or that they do not care. What happens when the kind of
ecospheres that these farmers cultivate disappears from the Malaysian
landscape?
What happens when the kind of small-scale but vitally
important economic security they provide to surrounding communities
disappears from our landscape? It is not as if we have a utilitarian big
agro-business which effectively meets our needs.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
Even
more shocking is that this is the parliamentary seat of the sitting
prime minister and he had the goodwill of the people who supported him
because they believed that he would, at the very least, understand the
positions they were in.
Instead, what they get for their loyalty
is harassment by the state and eviction from the land which they utilise
for not only economic interests but also societal interests.
These
are the kind of workers that the Madani government should value because
of their contribution to society but of course, there are bigger issues
which narcotise and cause divisions.
Of course, very soon all
this will be forgotten. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that
Malaysians will always have PSM fighting this lonely fight.
More
of a pity that a large section of Malaysians does not understand that
the right stuff PSM is offering, will actually save Malaysia.
