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."
Malaysiakini : It seems ironic that the more some people puff themselves up
with nice clothes and flashy offices, the more standards have fallen.
For
example, police officers, or mata-mata as they were then called, were
more hardworking at patrolling streets to curb crime in the 1950s - when
they wore shorts!
School education was better in the
1970s when male students also wore shorts. But when the authorities
decided to “dress up” kids in long pants, standards began dropping.
I
was told by two senior teachers that the passing mark for Physics in
SPM nowadays is around 15. But our education ministers keep boasting
that passing rates look ever better.
So it seems
that performance is inversely proportional to appearances or external
“glamour”. Or in simple language - the longer the pants, the shorter the
quality.
Antarctic aircon
I
went to secondary school in Seremban in the early 1980s. Boys in Forms 1
to 3 wore shorts while those in Forms 4 to 6 had to wear long pants.
I
used to walk and later cycle to school. I remember how comfortable
shorts were and how hot it was to switch to long pants, especially under
the midday sun. And, of course, shorts didn’t get all muddy when it
rained.
The problem with our civil servants is that they pretend that
everybody works in Antarctic air-conditioning like them - which wastes
electricity and is not eco-friendly. But it’s a “classy” environment
where they can put on their posh jackets and make believe they are in an
“advanced” Western country with a cold climate.
Yet,
they forget that people like hawkers, labourers and farmers have to
work in our hot and humid tropical climate. But when they need to go to
hospitals or the police station, our Little Napoleons insist they must
first go home to change into long pants. To show “respect” for
government offices.
This
is pure class discrimination. Looking down on “scruffy” people in
shorts. Insisting they must kowtow to the little lords of the civil
service by dressing up “properly”. Are these Madani values?
It
reminds me of discos in the 1980s which used to insist that male
patrons must wear leather shoes (no sneakers), shirts (no T-shirts) and
pants (no jeans).
Nightclubs today have long abandoned such stiff-necked rules. Instead, it’s some “jaga pintu”
guys who now behave like disco bouncers of yesteryears, stopping those
with “low-class” shorts from entering what are supposed to be public
“facilities”.
What? Do government offices now aspire
to be five-star hotels? But even Shangri-la or The Hilton won't stop
guests from entering with shorts!
Mr Madani values?
We
expected better from a Selangor district council, which is under a
Pakatan Harapan state government. And from Penang police stations and
hospitals which are now under a Putrajaya led by saudara Anwar Ibrahim.
Ironically, it was an Umno minister, Azalina Othman Said,
who told Parliament back in 2015 that: “Members of the public can wear
clothes appropriate to Eastern culture and values when dealing with
government offices.”
“However, the government will still serve those members of the public who are not appropriately dressed,” she said.
Exactly
what is “Eastern culture and values”? Chinese women wear short dresses
for Lunar New Year events. Bollywood costumes are getting more sexy.
Many
Malaysian men of all races nowadays also wear shorts to go to the
mamak/kopitiam and shopping malls. And don't forget the influence of
K-pop.
Hello,
all that is the “Eastern culture” practised in Malaysia. The standard
should be based on what's acceptable at the True Temple of our culture -
the shopping mall.
Some will ridiculously claim that
without dress codes, people will go to the district council in a
bikini. Hello, nobody does that in a Malaysian mall laa.
Perhaps
the problem begins when some feel that “Eastern culture” equals “Muslim
culture”? Or worse, the neo-feudal culture of self-important yet
insecure officials?
But that is not what the law says. DAP’s Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham, a lawyer, pointed out
in May 2022 that there is no law giving government officers the power
to insist on dress codes for the public before serving them.
Malaysia
Madani is supposedly about creating a country that believes in humanity
and good values such as fair, just, and effective governance.
Was
Anwar so concerned about whether the impoverished rubber tappers, whom
he championed as a student activist in 1974, wore long pants to the
district council?
The key words here are “fair and
just” government, not the domination of one community’s values over
others. Or an undemocratic sense of “class”. And certainly, not petty
Little Napoleons imposing dress codes which, according to both Azalina
and Ngeh, are wrong.
This is what many voters wanted
when they voted for Anwar’s Harapan. Not for little lords to make up
finicky rules, demanding people, including humble hawkers and farmers,
to dress up to “respect” their inflated sense of five-star grandeur.
So, enough of this nonsense. It’s time for our civil servants to be just that - servants of the people who pay their salaries.
