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."
This is what being hurt really feels like By Mariam Mokhtar
Friday, April 12, 2024
Malaysiakini : We toppled the corrupt kleptocrat who led the corrupt Umno-Baru party
in the 14th general election, but in a moment of madness, we retained
many corrupt politicians in the 15th general election. Alarmingly, the more seasoned corrupt politicians escaped justice.
Former
senior Umno-Baru MPs once claimed that the convicted felon, Najib Abdul
Razak did not steal taxpayers’ money in 1MDB. The then cabinet swore
that an Arab prince had donated money to Najib.
If they were
easily misled, or too dense, why retain some of them in the Madani
administration? Why are cronies helming some government-linked
companies?
It hurts to know that corrupt politicians received new titles, with wages paid with our money.
Lazy politics
Malaysians
are not stupid. Successive defence ministers treated taxpayers’ money
as their own. The black hole in the Defence Ministry has swallowed up
billions of ringgits alongside planes, helicopters, ships and armaments.
Military leaders are promoted and on retirement, become consultants to
squeeze more money from the treasury.
No former defence minister has been punished for the losses. These hurt our defences, our national pride and our coffers.
PM
Anwar Ibrahim and his wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail at Dewan Rakyat
speaker Johari Abdul’s (left) open house, where they ate cassava.
The
Madani administration claims to protect the environment, but under the
guise of “development”, they cut down swathes of prime forest, build mega dams, flood land, villages and ancient burial sites, and destroy precious flora and fauna.
It
hurts the Orang Asli and indigenous east Malaysians to be denied their
ancestral rights and their basic rights to water, electricity, housing
and education; but converting to Islam opens many doors.
Telling us to eat cassava, instead of finding solutions to resolve the rice crisis, is lazy politics. It hurts to know we have clueless politicians.
We were naïve or perhaps, desperate in 2018,
to imagine that Mahathir would correct the many wrongs he started
during his tenure, like institutionalised racism, cronyism and draconian
laws. We were wrong.
Mahathir is good at political
self-preservation. He knows that it is time-consuming and difficult to
convince one man by logic and reason alone, but far simpler and quicker
to convince a thousand men to believe in him, by appealing to their
prejudices.
In January, he projected himself as the quintessential
Malay when denouncing the loyalty of Indian Malaysians. He said, “No,
I’m not an Indian. I don’t speak the Indian language… I’m now 100
percent a Malay, I speak Malay and practise Malay customs and
traditions.”
‘Remember the Green Wave’
The
United Kingdom is led by Rishi Sunak, a Hindu of Indian origin. The
first minister of Wales is a black man. He is also the first black
leader of any European country. Scotland is led by a Muslim of Pakistani
origin, as is the mayor of London, a Muslim of Pakistani extraction.
In
sharp contrast, Indian Malaysians are short-changed and given short
shrift. Non-Malays are defined by quotas, from sports to scholarships
and despite their citizenship are treated as second-class citizens.
These hurt.
The
same people forget that Anwar and his coalition government are
undertaking the country’s Islamisation process on Abdul Hadi Awang and
Muhyiddin Yassin’s behalf.
