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."
Remember when newly minted Permatang Pauh MP Muhammad Fawwaz Mohamad Jan got offended
by the promotion of alcohol in a Penang shopping mall? What I want to
know is, did this in some way go against the regulation of breaching
non-Muslim friendly conduct of the Penang government?
I do not
know if Penang even has a non-Muslim friendly conduct regulation but it
sure seems like PAS doesnāt care if its conduct is unfriendly towards
non-Muslims.
Now
keep in mind, that non-Muslims are always told not to interfere in the
affairs of the Muslim community when it comes to religion. We are told
that this is because religious laws or policies do not apply to
non-Muslims.
Well, this of course is blatantly false. Yes, we have
unilateral conversion which exposes the lie of this statement but the
case in Terengganu is especially egregious because it demonstrates how
our rights and liberties as non-Muslims are in danger from the
theocratic forces of this country even if it is exercised on private
property and does not include any Muslims.
Remember Fawwaz said
the reason why he launched his broadside against the shopping mall was
because he had received complaints from his constituents. When the
shopping mall caved to pressure and decided to hold these promotions in a
more āconcealed manner ā he said, āto safeguard the sensitivities of
Muslims⦠it is hoped that such a situation does not recur.ā
Now
here we have a private beach party, which came to light on social media.
What does the PAS-controlled state government do? Well, they fined a
non-Muslim enterprise who were literally holding an event in a concealed
manner, just because it went against, among other issues,
Muslim-friendly conduct.
A religious selling point
People
donāt support PAS because of their brilliant economic or social
programmes; they support PAS because they believe they are the keepers
of the faith.
In a political terrain such as this, is it any wonder why some folks could be termed āIslamophobicā?
Mind
you, if there was a strict separation between policies which affect
Muslims and non-Muslims and there was empirical evidence to support such
a position, then non-Malays would not have a fear of Islam.
Instead,
the rules that apply to Muslims āonlyā have always touched non-Muslims
and defined our economic, social and political realities.
If
people do have a phobia about Islam as a state religion in this country,
it is because policies that disenfranchise them are done in the name of
Islam. It is not hidden. Political and religious operatives use it as a
selling point.
And we non-Muslims cannot fight back because to do
so would mean, you guessed it, that we were Islamophobic or worse
invite sanctions from the state.
Even Muslims who speak up against fascist dogma are targeted by the state, to make an example of them.
When leaders are silent
Now
this takes an even more sinister bent in the era of Madani. When the
Federal Court annulled 16 provisions in the Kelantan syariah code, the
state assembly predictably decided that they were going to reintroduce
those provisions anyway and the religious affairs division of the Prime
Ministerās Department decided to review the proposal papers for
reintroducing these offences that the highest court in the land declared
null and void.
My question is why?
āThis
is because they want to see all aspects comprehensively so that any
subsequent actions will truly adhere to the interpretation of the
Constitution and the existing legal framework,ā claimed deputy minister
Zulkifli Hasan
These subsequent actions are already in breach of
the Constitution and existing legal framework, but does anybody truly
believe that adhering to the Constitution and existing secular framework
is the agenda of the reintroduction of these shariah offences?
Furthermore,
this is an economic issue. Here we have a non-Muslim enterprise,
conducting business on private property and the state decides to
intervene.
What is worse, is that Muslim political operatives from the federal bureaucracy are saying nothing about this. Not a word.
And this is the way PAS wants it. They understand that what Madani actually does is make their theocratic job much easier.
Donāt spook the Malays and Muslim-friendly conduct is the road to a New Malaysia.