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."
Everything most Malays are
taught about the Palestinian conflict, they get from National Civics
Bureau (BTN) courses and state-sponsored sermons in mosques.
This is why PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang gets to say something like this - “When Umno and PAS unite, they are accused of wishing to go to war with other races.
“(Our accusers are) like the Jews who did not want Muslims to be united during the Prophet’s time.
“This is a disease we must fight. Let’s join forces and send the enemy to hell.”
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang
He was alluding to DAP leaders, in case you missed it.
Keep
in mind that Hadi has claimed that he was willing to work with Jews but
not Zionists, which exposes the statement he made about the Umno/PAS
marriage, for the horse manure that it is.
Here in Malaysia, being a Jew and being a Zionist is not mutually exclusive.
Consider
the hate speech of Muslim convert Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, a preacher, who
took anti-Semitism to a new level by comparing his Chinese brothers and
sisters to the most obscene stereotype of Jews, pleading special
knowledge about their community since he was a kafir (infidel) like them before embracing Islam.
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad claimed that the Jews are “crooks” - “(So) what is the reason we don’t allow Israelites to come here? We say they are crooks (penyangak), and we just got rid of one crook.”
Blackrock business
Former Umno minister Khairy Jamaluddin who has nothing to lose, pontificated about how the cabinet would not endorse this Blackrock deal.
Ex-Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin
But back in the day when he was Umno Youth chief, Khairy was protesting
then-US state secretary Condoleezza Rice and chanting “Israel is a wild
beast. Israel is the devil!” while burning effigies of then-US
president George W Bush.
This idea that spreading hate for the
“Jews” makes good capital is what every Islamic political party in this
country does. Except, of course, when the real world intrudes and
Islamists are made to understand that you cannot expect to be part of
the international community and think you are exempt from certain rules.
The
prime minister said, “We have no means in the current situation to
cancel (ties) because it will impact the country’s economy.”
However,
former PKR stalwart Tian Chua said ”rejecting Blackrock is a moral
imperative. The government must show policy consistency in its stand for
Palestine”.
Mind you, Chua, like the Boycott, Divestment,
Sanctions (BDS) movement, prattles on about ethical choices when it
comes to boycotts hence nobody needs to make the ethical choice of
throwing away their Apple gadget or not fly on Boeing aircraft.
Does it seem to you, like it does to me, that “targeted boycotts” merely mean “convenient” boycotts?
Now
these very same forces that the prime minister encouraged with his
unabashed support for Hamas and claims that he was the target of
powerful interest for his support of the Palestinian issues, have come
home to roost.
The current Umno Youth chief, who seems to be the Teflon kid when it comes to state security apparatus, said: “We fully support
the actions of the government that has expressed strong, undivided
support for the Palestinian people, but we ask for solidarity not only
at the international level, it must be demonstrated in our own country.”
Dr
Muhamad Akmal Saleh has already demonstrated that he really does not
give a fig about the economic consequences of his call for boycotts
hence his stand on this issue is well predictable. This is what happens
when you propagandise a conflict using race and religion.
Optics matter
The
quagmire is that the Malay political establishment is in a bind. Nobody
can come out and support deals with Israeli-linked companies even
though it is an economic plus for this country because this would mean
betraying the Palestinian cause and Muslim solidarity.
Political secretary to the finance minister Muhammad Kamil Abdul Munim said of Khairy - “We are among the most vocal in defending and advocating for the rights of the Palestinians.
“As such, labelling the prime minister as an accomplice of Israel’s genocidal crimes is extreme and disrespectful.”
This, however, misses the point.
This
is a competition about who defends the Palestinian cause better for a
local audience. And in case the prime minister hasn't noticed, he is
playing a rigged game that the state (and him) created decades ago. This
isn’t about the Palestinian people.
