Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen 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 soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt 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."
Lone wolves and enemies of the state By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, May 20, 2024
Malaysiakini : Furthermore, the arrest of various individuals and the inspector-general of policeās public comments suggest that this was not merely a lone wolf operation but a planned attack to acquire weapons for other unknown purposes.
The IGP then issued another clarification backing up the narrative of the home minister that this was a lone wolf operation.
This
dissonance between the political apparatus and the state security
apparatus further creates a chaotic atmosphere that religious extremists
thrive on.
Power of one
The second issue
is that lone wolf attacks are perhaps more devastating than planned
coordinated attacks by known groups simply because the state security
apparatus has no intelligence on them.
The post-9/11 security
landscape has been defined by lone wolf terrorist attacks and in the
Malaysian context, recent attempted terrorist attacks on the KK Mart
stores are the definition of lone wolf attacks.
Keep in mind, the dead terrorist in this police station attack had no criminal record.
The
connective tissue between his act was that he was allegedly radicalised
by his father who was a known Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) member and who no
doubt was on the list that Saifuddin thinks keeps the JI situation under control.
An
important factor which we should consider when discussing this subject
is the question of deradicalisation (I despise the term
ārehabilitationā) that Saifuddin referred to when discussing JI.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
The
home minister said: āThe police approach is to continue interacting
with them to ensure the rehabilitation process continues and not be a
threat to the community.
āAlhamdulillah, this JI (movement) is
still under control and I believe the police have the experience to
manage (a similar incident at the Ulu Tiram police station) based on the
database and patterns of the incidents.ā
You
have to wonder how much interaction and rehabilitation went on between
the state security apparatus and this family who were living in seclusion and carrying out activities in secret which resulted in the deaths of two state security personnel.
Keep
in mind that Nasir Abbas, a former member of JI who now cooperates with
the Indonesian authorities in its deradicalisation programmes, said of
Riduan Isamuddin aka Encep Nurjaman aka Hambali as āso eloquent and so
clever. You couldnāt help but be left with a good impression of himā.
Remember that Hambali was carrying out his activities of planning, recruiting and evangelising in a small village in Selangor.
JI member Hambali
How
many other men that give a good impression operate under the radar of
the state and carry out sub rosa activities or maybe even activities out
in the open which conform to the narrative of the state but are methods
of radicalisation that turn average citizens against the state?
Mind
you the process of deradicalisation is an effective tool in the arsenal
of the state but this has to be done in a manner which integrates
radicalised families or individuals into mainstream society without
compromising the security of the homeland.
The Indonesian
experience, which is a combination of ruthless military and legal action
with the softer approach of deradicalisation, seems to have worked.
In
a 2023 interview with Alif Satria, a researcher at the department of
politics and social change at the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies in Indonesia, Al Jazeera reported that
āderadicalisation programmes led by the police in the early 2000s were
also critical in ensuring that those arrested did not re-engage with
hardline groups once they were releasedā.
āAs a result, Indonesia has managed to keep its recidivism rate at around 11 percent,ā Alif said.
Furtile ecosystem for lone wolves
The
situation in Malaysia is different. Mainstream political rhetoric and
policy are determined by race and religion, which more often than not
share many similarities with the extreme ideas of these cells or
individuals.
What we are dealing with is groups or individuals who
think that the state is not going far enough when it comes to the
theocratic state project.
We are dealing with groups or
individuals who think that there should only be one R in the 3R (race,
religion and royalty) which is what makes them so dangerous to the
mainstream Malay political establishment.
But the problem is that
because of the way politics is defined in this country, what we are left
with is ample recruiting grounds in the forms of polarised
universities, unchecked madrasahs and independent preachers who are
coddled by the state and of course a political apparatus which
radicalises mainstream politics with race and religion.
This is a
fertile ecosystem for lone wolves to be nurtured. These religious
extremists view Malaysian society as one big happy family, meaning that,
unlike the mainstream political establishment, they view Hindus,
Muslims, Buddhists and Christians as equal on their hunting grounds.
These two slain police officers are proof of this.
Police
officers Ahmad Azza Fahmi Azhar (left) and Muhamad Syafiq Ahmad Said
who were killed in a attack on the Ulu Tiram police station on Friday
A
certain section of the Malaysian polity is always demonised as enemies
of Islam. What attacks like these demonstrate is that the enemy is
within.
Until the state realises this, there is no safety or security from lone wolves.
