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."
If DAP leaves Putrajaya, will the real killers of Teoh then face justice? That may be a bit too optimistic.
What
happened to Teoh is a tragedy. The night of his death in 2009, two
colleagues and I went over to Plaza Masalam at Shah Alam for a silent
protest.
A 2011 royal commission of inquiry (RCI) ruled he was
driven to suicide due to aggressive interrogation. In 2014, the Court of
Appeal ruled his death was caused by unlawful acts, including by MACC
officers.
So the AGC finding of āno further actionā stinks of a cover-up that has enraged many.
Many
other prominent cases remain unsolved, including the alleged abductions
of Pamela Ling, Pastor Raymond Koh and Shia activist Amri Che Mat.
And of course, we still havenāt caught the real masterminds who ordered the Mongolian murder.
Dilemma Action Party
If DAP
does walk out, I am willing to bet that many will then curse them for
"betrayingā the votersā mandate and āabandoningā their supporters.
In short, the online crowd will always find fault, whether the party remains in or out of Putrajaya.
DAP is really a Dilemma Action Party caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
The
root problem is that the party lacks the power to change The System of
entrenched vested interests - also known as the Malay Deep State.
To keyboard warriors pouring hellfire on Teohās case and DAP now, may I ask, how many spoke up when 70 people died in police custody between 2021 and 2022?
They died mostly unknown and forgotten. In addition, Tenaganita revealed that 150 people died in 2022 while locked up by the Immigration Department.
People
have every right to be angry at the dashed promises of reform under the
Madani government. But who holds real power in Putrajaya?
After decades of corruption and racial ideology, itās hard to shake the Deep State.
Three-headed monster
Take
what happened when Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing
did a spot check at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in June 2023
after receiving complaints of immigration officers allegedly extorting
Chinese visitors.
Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh then accused him
of abusing his power and āinterferingā with immigration officials.
Akmal was also reported to demand that Tiong be stripped of his
citizenship.
I salute Tiong for his brave actions, but what was the result? The MACC pinned the blame for the extortion on a mysterious external āagentā. No immigration officer was caught.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing
The
MACC added that Tiong should have engaged the agency first so that they
could āhatch a planā to nab the agent, who had since become āhard to
catchā.
In other words, MACC declared MACC ā āMana Ada Corruption Caseā.
After decades of racial privileges and an entrenched sense of entitlement, the Deep State has become ultra-powerful.
Nazir
Abdul Razak, the better and smarter brother of Najib, lamented in
October 2022 that a three-headed monster plagues Malaysia.
These are racial politics, over-centralisation of power and corruption that has become like āstage four cancerā.
Reclaim Karpalās legacy
Democracy watchdog Bersih has rightly slammed MACCās public apology and offer of compensation for Teohās death as a whitewash of criminal responsibility.
Even though the RCI and courts have found wrongdoing, the police claimed that āseveral witnesses were unable to be interviewed while others refused to come forwardā.
DAP
leaders bowing down to Teohās family and urging them to consider taking
MACCās goodwill payment may have been the ābest dealā they could
negotiate with The System.
DAP leaders bowing in a plea to Teoh Beng Hockās family to accept MACCās apology and goodwill contribution
But it looked like a public relations stunt that had badly backfired. DAP must do better.
The strategy of appeasement and compromise is not working. People voted for reforms.
Perhaps going nuclear and taking a āLast stand of the Alamoā over Teohās case is too dramatic.
Instead
of leaving Putrajaya, DAP can consider becoming the Akmal or Wee Ka
Siong of Madani ā fighting a guerrilla battle as an āopposition from the
insideā.
DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has to calculate if
Anwar is willing to bet on sacrificing non-Malay votes. The party still
has enough leverage to call out his cards at the table. Who has āthe
numbersā?
DAP should reclaim its old dignity by launching more
verbal attack drones and yes, ārocketsā at the sick system. Or risk
losing support in the next election.
After all, if Akmal and Tiong
can be so outspoken, maybe itās time for DAP to step up and at least
partially reclaim the mantle of Karpal Singh.
