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."
Najib makes a mockery of our prison system By R Nadeswaran
Tuesday, October 04, 2022
Malaysiakini : But yesterday, Najib upped the ante through his legal team - giving
Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin an ultimatum that he has until noon today
to respond to their appeal for Najib to be allowed to attend the current
sitting of Parliament. Otherwise, Shafee charged that Najibās legal
team would file a legal action to allow the lawmaker to do so.
His
grouse is that the Prison director-general (whose name was not
mentioned) did not allow Najib to attend the Dewan Rakyat on grounds of
security.
Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, lawyer for former premier Najib Abdul Razak
For
good measure, Shafee said if a judicial review is filed, then it would
be the first such legal action in Malaysia as it could allow any
lawmaker who has been convicted and sentenced but still has other
related pending due processes (such as a review bid before the apex
court or an application before the Pardons Board) to continue to serve
his or her constituency as a lawmaker.
By all standards, it is an outrageous stipulation which borders on contempt and disrespect of the judicial system.
The rules are simple. Any prisoner under detention needs an order to
be produced in court or any other place. When he is produced, he must be
handcuffed and security personnel must escort him as he is not a free
man - he is not under a remand order but serving a sentence in a
gazetted prison.
Remember Operation Lallang in 1987? Among those
detained under the now-repealed Internal Security Act (ISA) were several
MPs including the late Karpal Singh, the late V David, the late P
Patto, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng.
They were never allowed to
visit their constituency to deal with problems of the voters. Instead,
party cadres manned the service centres independently without having to
confer with personal or political aides.
The former Kota Shah Alam
state assemblyperson and lawyer M Manoharan, who was an ISA detainee,
made several attempts to seek permission to attend state assembly
sittings. They were rejected and he was quoted by Malaysiakini as saying: āI was only a political detainee and not even a corrupt individual. I took the oath in the Kamunting Detention Camp.ā
He remains a convict
On
Sept 5, after Najib was sent to prison, Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar
Azizan Harun declared that the former remains an MP in view of the
pardon petition filed under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution.
"Therefore,
his disqualification as a member of parliament will only take effect as
soon as the pardon petition is settled (if the petition is rejected).
This means that the status of Najib as MP has not changed, for now, and
will only be finalised when the pardon petition is resolved," he said in a statement.
Since
this is not under the jurisdiction of Parliament, does it have the
right to issue any order for Najib to be brought to Parliament? Can the
court compel the House speaker to issue an order?
It must be noted that merely applying or filing for a pardon does not
absolve one from his wrongdoings and conviction. Bluntly put, he
remains a convict.
If we go by precedent, on March 3, 2016, the
Prisons Department rejected an application by Anwar Ibrahimās family for
the jailed opposition leader to attend Parliament.
Besides filing an appeal to the department for Anwar to attend Parliament, The Star
reported that the former deputy prime ministerās family also submitted
an application to the palace for a royal pardon to prevent him from
being automatically disqualified as member of MP for the Permatang Pauh
seat in Penang.
So, what is and why a fuss when the highest court
in the land, the Federal Court, has affirmed the decisions of the courts
below and confirmed the sentence?
Sentencing is the final stage
in the criminal justice process. The principles of sentencing are aimed
toward deterrence, rehabilitation, prevention and retribution.
The
purpose of the punishment is to deter offenders from reoffending,
discourage others from following their example, to prevent offenders
from committing additional crimes by locking them up, and to reform
them.
If criminals are allowed to be moved in and out of prison to
attend to their personal or official duties, does it not make a mockery
of the system and the punishment that was meted out?
