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."
If non-Malay PM won't do, is female PM okay? By Mariam Mokhtar
Friday, December 15, 2023
Malaysiakini : We need a Malaysian with principles and integrity, who will fight for
the interests of all of Malaysia, and not just a section of the
population. It’s time to tap the unknown talent among the non-Malays.
Perikatan
Nasional politicians want to amend the Constitution so that only Malays
can be PM. Is this because they know all our former PMs were not truly
Malay?
Previous PMs were pseudo-Malay with Thai, Turkish, Arab,
Chinese, Indonesian, and Indian blood coursing through their veins. Many
pseudo-Malay PMs betrayed us.
Some “Malay” PMs double-crossed the rakyat with their corruption and abuse of power. The convicted felon, Najib Abdul Razak, brought Malaysia to its knees.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak
Malays exploiting Malays
Many
senior politicians will remind us to understand the concerns of the
Malays/bumiputera who fear their rights and position would be
threatened.
So, why did they omit to tell us about the exploitation of some Malays by other Malays? Cases like Tabung Haji, Felda, Mara,
the silence of the previous Malay-majority cabinet about the scandal
involving 1MDB, and embezzlement in the various ministries by senior
civil servants.
Conservative Malay politicians want another Malay
to lead the nation, defend the Malays, and protect Islam. They said
nothing about Mercedes-Islam corrupting the politicians in Kelantan.
They kept quiet about Malay PMs and chairpersons of GLCs allegedly stealing from the rakyat and the huge corporations they lead.
They failed to say that successive PMs neglected the needs of the Orang Asli.
Many ‘Malay PMs’ have in the past used their position as a stepping stone to acquire more riches.
Why
fear the non-Malay PM? He (or she) will want to prove that he is worthy
of the position and may overcompensate to accommodate the Malay
majority.
If politicians like Wan Ahmad Fayhsal cannot accept a non-Malay PM, would he back any female MP who aspires to be PM?
Advantage of woman PM
The Malaysian woman who decides to take up the challenge of becoming PM has nothing to lose, but everything to gain.
Most of them are no strangers to suffering, or to being treated worse than second-class citizens.
The Malay woman knows she is often belittled by her husband, who may try to put her in her place by telling her she is easily replaceable. Even in non-Malay families, sons are treated preferentially to daughters.
The pay gap between men and women has also widened.
The labour participation rate of women is far lower than men, with 55.8
percent of women involved in the labour market, compared to 81.9
percent of men.
This
is considering about half of all women have tertiary education compared
with only a third of men. However, while men receive RM100 in salaries
and wages, women receive only RM67.
Women only fill a quarter of
the positions of legislators, senior officials, and managers. How behind
are we compared with other countries in female boardroom
representation?
The female PM will be in a strong position to
steer the country towards stronger women’s rights and gender equality.
She can use her platform to ban child marriages among other things.
If
she is a mother or has experience helping her parents, she knows the
impact of the cost of living crisis on the family. She understands the
problems of managing the home and she will be best placed to understand
the problems of running the nation.
The female PM knows how many
women suffer domestic violence in silence and how the rates of domestic
violence increase when the economy is bad.
She is aware of the
struggles faced by single-parent families. She knows about expensive
childcare and the prohibitive costs exclude many women from the
workforce. She is aware of the financial burdens and difficulties of
taking care of aged parents.
The Malay Muslim woman has additional
anxieties, especially with a polygamous husband, or if she has been
abandoned by her husband and left with no child maintenance or alimony.
The Malaysian female PM may help to sanitise the sexist language
in Parliament, force misogynists in Parliament to learn to respect
women, and compel PAS female MPs to realise that women have rights too.
Change for the better can only happen with a non-Malay or female PM.
