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."
Zamri mocks Jakim By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, March 10, 2025
Malaysiakini : COMMENT | We should start with what Zamri Vinoth said: āIf you find it upsetting, then stop doing it so that others wonāt follow.
āIf you choose to continue, then donāt be offended (when others mock it). So, pick one.ā
He is saying that the religious practices of Hindus are debased (macam orang kena rasuk) while intoxicated (mabuk todi), but if you do not want people to mock your debased practices, stop doing them.
In
other words, Zamri, who has links with the state religious bureaucracy,
is telling Hindus that they have to stop their religious practices if
they do not want people to mock them.
If you listen to what Zamri
says or even Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, another state-linked religious
convert, you will notice the echoes of what Zakir Naik pushes in his
āinspirationalā sermons.
This idea that there is something wrong
with your faith is why conversion is necessary to ameliorate doubts
about your faith and circumstances.
You have to understand who
Zamri is - a preacher who was arrested and then released in 2019 for a
sermon which insulted Hindus in Malaysia.
Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin claimed that Zamri was only testifying when it came to his personal experience with the Hindu faith.
What Zamri was doing as a professional proselytiser was creating a narrative for Muslims to use to convert Hindus in the course of his professional duties.
Understanding Zamri
You have to understand the role of a preacher like Zamri.
A
follower of Zakir and member of Angkatan Skuad Mubaligh Malaysia, Zamri
is known as an āindependentā preacher as if there are a plurality of
Islamic narratives in this country. There isnāt.
Zamri Vinoth with fellow preacher Zakir Naik (right)
The
Islamic Development Department (Jakim) hooked up with Zamri in 2017 to
give courses on the Tamil language to increase productivity when it
comes to proselytising in a multilingual milieu.
What
this course was supposed to do was make it easier for Muslim preachers
(state-sanctioned) attempting to convert Indians, using Tamil as an
entry point into their lives.
The idea of Muslim converts as the perfect vehicles to proselytise is nothing new.
Ridhuan,
for instance, always pleaded āspecial knowledgeā when it came to the
Chinese community, hence, his āattacksā against the community had the
appearance of legitimacy to a certain section of the Muslim community.
This idea of using converts to preach is propagated by proselytising faiths all over the world.
I understand the Hindu outrage when it comes to what Zamri said.
While
most Hindus expect their faith to be mocked, especially in the current
political climate, the reason why the video of these deejays mocking
Thaipusam struck close to home was that this spiritual experience is
both personal and public to the community.
It is a personal act of devotion on public display. This, of course, means it is open to interpretation and discussion.
Power to sanction
The
problem with the religious discourse in this country is not that people
are going about insulting each otherās religion, but rather the state
has the power to sanction people for trespassing on religious and racial
issues.
This power is often applied unequally, with the
state-sanctioned religion and its adherents getting off scot-free, when
the same does not apply to the other religions.
The question is, will the state take action against Zamri, or will the religious apparatus of the state take action against him?
The state apparatus took days to take action against Zamriās post.
This
preacher, in response to a rather dumb debate challenge by MIC, claimed
that this was probably the first time in history that a Hindu MP was up
for debate, which just goes to show you how ignorant this preacher is.
If this had been a transgression against the religion of the state, all hell would have broken loose.
Clearly, if you follow Jakimās reasoning, Zamri did something that went against the tenets of Islam.
However,
various Muslim political leaders have cautioned against raising
religious sentiments instead of calling for the sanction of this
preacher.
Maybe he did this because he thinks that since he has
been arrested by the state and let off, sued by people and let off and
has faced no sanctions from the state religious bureaucracy, he believes
that what he said was in accordance with the teachings of Islam and the
ideas promulgated by Jakim.
Or is Zamri mocking Jakim? Maybe
Jakim understands that whoever is backing him is more powerful and has
more influence than Jakim?
Maybe Zamri understands that Jakim will
not take action against someone whom the state has relied on in their
proselytising efforts?
Sowing discontent
What
we are dealing with here are state-sponsored religious provocateurs. We
are dealing with people whose aim is to sow discontent in the Indian
Malaysian community.
The fact that Zamri continues to be a state
actor when it comes to religious discourse should tell us something
about the way Jakim views other religions.
The fact that Zamri can
openly mock the supposed tenets of Jakim and the religion of the state
is demonstrative of how much influence he and his ilk have over Madani.
You have to wonder, is the state enabling Zamri to engage in Zakir-type proselytising?
