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."
Hadi conflates class warfare and hate speech By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, August 24, 2026
Malaysiakini : PASā appeal runs deeper than mere religiosity. Sure, some folks
gravitate to PAS because of the siren call of religion and decades of
state religious indoctrination, but there is something more to it than
that.
In his writings, Hadi conflates race and class, and English-language audiences only get the āraceā bit.
This
is why he goes on about the Chinese political and plutocratic class as a
means to highlight the economic inequalities between ādowntroddenā
Muslims and the more economically successful non-Muslims polity.
Reshaping political landscape
Of
course, Hadi fails to mention that the system is predicated on keeping
the majority dependent on the state and years of policy malfeasance have
created a rent-seeking class with deep political influence.
People
make the mistake of thinking that Hadi is just pulling this nonsense
out of his posterior. He is not. Hadi, like most theocrats in waiting,
understands they need to reshape the political landscape so it will be
malleable to their religious indoctrination.
And as fascists the
world over have come to understand, the best way to do this is to steal
ideas from class dialectics and inject religious dogma into foundational
socialist principles.
Hadiās rhetoric is drenched in the kind of
class rhetoric that would make a committed socialist quiver. He
cherry-picks elements of religious dogma to highlight the inequalities
of capitalist systems when it comes to class but ghettoises these ideas
in religious supremacy and the power of clerics.
Claiming the DAP
has a ācolonial agendaā resonates because the political elites at that
time surrendered the sovereignty of the country, thereby creating a
majority underclass. When young Malays say the political system has let
them down, they mean the political elites have let them down.
What Hadi is trying to do
So
if you are a disenfranchised Muslim in capitalistic Western-influenced
Malaysia, you would take away two points from Hadi. The first is, by
virtue of your class, you are being shafted by the system even though
your religion and Constitution dictate otherwise.
And
the second point, in an Islamic state, the keepers of the faith will
protect you from the inequalities of the system because Islam as a
system of governance supposedly treats everyone equally.
When
Hadi goes after other Muslim political operatives calling them
traitors, what he is actually doing is claiming that they are class
traitors enamoured by the trappings of wealth while the average Muslim
is struggling.
Mind you, everyone from the prime minister to
Rafizi Ramli has lamented that political operatives have become
enamoured by the trappings of electoral success. Hadi is merely taking
that to the logical extreme, conflated with religion.
Sure, he may
define opponents as liberals or Western-inspired capitalist
propagandists, but what the average struggling Muslim is hearing is that
these political operatives are collaborating with the plutocrat class
to keep them in subservience.
The fact that the cost of living has
gone up and they cannot afford affordable housing, while the urban
enclaves seem to be thriving, merely reinforces this Weltanschauung (worldview).
Of fake Muslimsand successful nons
The
most important part of Hadiās Tabung Haji spiel is this: āThere are too
many government and semi-government business institutions suffering
losses due to leaks under someone touted as the best finance minister,
including among secular politicians who separate themselves from
religion by abusing their political positions.
āThe group most
targeted for action is those with Malay and Islamic brands, from the
largest to the smallest, to lower the image of Islam, as if there are
none (wrongdoers) from among non-Muslims and non-Malays.
āIn fact,
economic activities are greater among non-Muslims and non-Malays,
especially mega-sized ones that are contributors to corruption.ā
Hadi
made three points here. The first is that government institutions are
corrupt because of fake Muslims and their secular supporters. The second
is that Muslim businesses are often the target of the plutocrat class
and their political minions.
And finally, the next between corruption, politics and commerce is defined by the economically successful non-Muslim polity.
Potent Urban Renewal Act
This
is also why the Urban Renewal Act was such a potent weapon for Hadi.
Not only could he play the race card, but more importantly, he could
play the class card.
Look at how his no 2, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, defined
the URA - āThe minister responded that banks are available to provide
loans... so the minister wants capitalists to monopolise the process.
This is a subtle method to push out those who cannot afford it,
particularly Malays and Indians.ā
So with this issue, Hadi and co
created a narrative that a rich non-Muslim minister is driving out poor
muslims and Indians, while the capitalist banking structures profit.
Take
the anti-Rohingya sentiment. Malay social media influencers, many of
whom are supportive of PAS, continue to stoke the issue because these
migrants are in direct competition with working-class Malays.
Rohingya refugees
Who
brought them here? Why are they allowed to set up businesses? For PAS,
the answer is simple. It is the fault of the political elites and their
collaborators who bring in these foreigners, who then economically
displace the locals.
At one time, Umno was strong enough to flip
the bird at PAS and maintain some sort of corporate religionism of its
own, but these days, since the Malay polity is fractured and Umno
without a strongman leader, Hadi remains the only game in town when it
comes to the religious narrative of the state.
This is why Hadi
can claim Perikatan Nasional is willing to forgo seats for Malay unity,
when the reality is that there is no real difference when it comes to
Islamic first principles that various Malay unity-type deals bring to
the state or federal table.
PAS is willing to play the long game
when it comes to political power if it means its political opponents or
potential allies are weakened by various state elections.
All over
the world, far-right forces use religion or culture wars to rile up the
disenfranchised, blaming existing systems of governance but having no
real desire to change those systems with genuine economic and social
reforms.
What folks like Hadi want to do is use the
disenfranchised to supplant the current ruling elites with religious
cadres loyal only to the party.
The fact that PAS-controlled or
influenced states are not socialist paradises of good governance is not
the point. As Donald Trump, who won twice, demonstrated, these kinds of
populist strategies work, and once you win, you can turn your country
into a manure hole of corruption and incompetence.
