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."
Malaysiakini : Residents cannot continue living with this uncertainty, especially after they are told that hundreds of millions of ringgit
have been allocated for flood defences, flood mitigation measures and
clearing of drains and river sluices. How was the money spent?
Then we read about a student
who returned to university, but within a few days was found dead,
allegedly after being electrocuted. Her family is traumatised, and the
university is neither transparent, nor forthcoming, about how she died.
Many questions remain unanswered.
Accounting student S Vinosiny died in her hostel room at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in Sintok, Kedah
The
20-year-old is not the first to die on the premises of an educational
facility. Children have died in tahfiz schools. Other students have been
bullied, and subsequently died. Their tormentors were fellow students,
and in some cases, their teachers.
In the latest student fatality,
was it the university's negligence that contributed to her death? In
Malaysia, the maintenance of our educational facilities is low on the
list of our priorities.
An activist up north, who organises gotong-royong
programmes and helps to feed the poor by contacting businesses and
retailers to donate surplus food, was warned by the local ADUN (state
assemblyperson) that his help was not needed. Why? Because the activist
wished to remain apolitical and he refused to 'team up' with the ADUN's
political party.
Ministers holidaying with their families
Friends
who live overseas, for instance, in London, have reportedly spotted
various cabinet ministers and their families in town.
It is
summer, and ministers are probably attending their children's
convocations at British universities. This is the time of year when
there is probably an incredible amount of ministerial requests for the
"study leave".
The 'study leave' justifies the cost of airfares,
local transportation, accommodation, and other ministerial expenses,
which are subsidised by the Malaysian taxpayer.
It is alleged that the ministers will request the Malaysian High Commission to arrange a talk with students and throw in makan at various restaurants in the city. One is confident that the money did not come from the minister's own pocket.
For
a few gruelling hours of "meeting and greeting" the students, the
Malaysian taxpayer has probably forked out several thousand ringgits for
our ministers to enjoy a free, all expenses paid holiday.
Summer
and at the end of the year, like at Christmas, when the high street
shops have sales, are a good time to spot Malaysian ministers in London,
and perhaps, in other capital cities around the world.
Worries about cost of living
Back
home, people are worried about the cost of living, the increasing price
of basic goods, the shortage of certain food items and the rising costs of petrol and other necessities.
The security guards at government departments fuss over the dress code,
and yet in some parts of the country, some parents cannot afford to pay
for school uniforms. With many families struggling to make ends meet,
an insensitive Ismail Sabri shows off his vulgar wealth by wearing an RM5,500 designer shirt.
The
ulama prepare Muslims for life after death, but they do the minimum to
ensure that their flocks respect the rights of non-Muslims, and to
educate them about corruption.
We are told to tighten our belts,
but leaders who are addicted to power will do anything to cling to their
positions. You couldn't make it up. The Perikatan Nasional
administration just throws money away, like confetti, to politicians who
are clueless and without integrity, solely to gain their support.
So,
what did Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri do? One way was to create
jobs, by having a few ministers take charge of one ministry. We also
have senators, special advisers and special envoys.
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has been appointed as a special envoy to the Middle East
We
pay for their wages now, but don't forget that when they retire, the
taxpayer is still called upon to ensure that former ministers and
politicians enjoy a good life in retirement.
Throughout the
pandemic, when we were in lockdown, and when most people were forced to
work from home, one would have thought that these extra ministerial
positions would be made redundant, but the opposite is true.
Instead
of creating jobs for the hundreds of thousands of Malaysians who have
been sacked, jobs were created for the PM's staunch loyalists.
Instead
of making conditions ideal for foreign investors, we frighten them away
with our intransigence borne out of our religious and racial
insecurity.
Instead of focusing on the issues which worry the rakyat, like the rising cost of living, Ismail harps on making Malay a world-class language. When will he get his priorities right?
So,
why is Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz allowing Ismail to do
all this? The Treasury is not a bottomless well of money. How many more
months of reserves are left in the kitty?
