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."
Will govt intervene in ex-plantation workers plight? - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, December 19, 2022
Malaysiakini : “However, the (land) owner is adamant about evicting the families.
“He
has been sending his agents daily to the plantation to threaten the
families and convey the message that it was a matter of time before
tractors and heavy machinery will be sent to demolish their dwellings
and temples.”
Corporate greed
I have no
idea why this is still an issue. I have no idea why big developers, who
spend millions on their corporate social responsibility programmes,
still try to play out and demonise disenfranchised families.
These
families have a history of doing the hard, often thankless jobs of
working in estates and, let us be honest, far from the democratic and
societal norms that privilege a certain class of urban people.
These
same class of urban people demonstrate that they really do not give a
damn about families like these but then wonder why corruption and
corporate greed are part of the system in this country and look to
political saviours to lead them to the promised land.
And the
Ladang Bangi political happy ending just makes it more frustrating for
families and activists who spend years attempting to get people what
they’re due but who are hampered more often than not by the very forces
that promise change in this country.
Do not be fooled. The nexus between political power and corporate interests is non-partisan.
What I do not get is all these political operatives who have
embarrassing connections - well, embarrassing when made public - with
developers but who do not attempt to use their influence to ensure
families like these enjoy the basic rights that their party supporters
often take for granted.
The mainstream Malaysian activist
landscape is littered with political activists who work towards becoming
appendages to political operatives who have a public persona of caring
for the disenfranchised.
When their career goals are met, they
suddenly forget the people and issues they used to champion and instead
get into the business of seeing their patrons reelected.
Malaysia,
like most other countries, has a history of allowing developers to run
riot for various capitalist reasons. Now, this is not a screed against
capitalism, but rather, the lack of - or should I say - disregard of
political will when it comes to curtailing the excess of
capitalism which has led to a whole host of problems.
To
understand the political power that developers rely on, you just have to
pay attention to political economist Professor Edmund Terence Gomez,
who factually described the situation when it came to the displacement of farmers in Perak:
“Dissecting
the cases of the 11 areas in question, Gomez urged the group to show
the courts how the menteri besar usurped the power of the state through
subdivision of power which allowed him to be the sole decision-maker on
what happened to the land.
Political economist Prof Edmund Terence Gomez
“He
explained that the group needed to return to the actual source of the
problem. ‘Once he (the menteri besar) gives (sells) the land, the
developer owns it,’ he said.”
And let’s face facts with corruption
and lack of political intervention. Developers have caused numerous
problems to the environment and infrastructure of this country.
Disenfranchised families
One
would think that, with all this, developers would be attempting to gain
public favour by providing families displaced by the development with
access to homes and basic amenities.
When it came to the Perak
farmer issue, for instance, one of the farmers said something that
people should pay attention to, “Our government doesn’t understand food
security, and everyone wants to become rich quickly.”
One would
think that the political elites of this country who drench their base
with the kool-aid, would ensure that in the states they run, developers
would at least pay heed to disenfranchised families, which would lessen
the burden on state coffers, not to mention environmental concerns,
which always comes back to bite us on our behinds.
The
displacement of marginalised families, especially when it comes to
disenfranchised Indians, causes a range of societal issues, which
ironically could be tempered with capitalist intervention, not to
mention state action.
Instead, these problems are left to fester.
Some sons and daughters of these families, who descended from a lineage
of parents who engaged in hard honest work, succumb to the lure of
crime, corruption and social malfeasances, as much for escape as for
profit.
No doubt issues like these will continue to be minor
stories in the news cycle, and the bread and circus of political
corruption and identity politics will dominate the headlines.
Then,
landslides occur and environmental groups and certain political
operatives, who for decades have been warning that rampant, often
corrupt development is a recipe for environmental disaster and loss of
life, are in the spotlight again, soon to be forgotten.
Meanwhile,
there will always be forgotten families fighting for the right to have a
roof over their heads and political operators colluding with developers
while gaslighting people, either with race, religion or a new Malaysian
dawn.
