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's insurgency against the Madani state By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Friday, February 23, 2024
Malaysiakini : Of late, Hadi has been overtly calling for the dismantling of
whatever is left of our secular and democratic state. His recent call
for the faithful to rise and defend Islam against āparties who try to
divert them from the ārealā religionā is a call for insurrection against
the government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Hadi is smart
enough to understand that with the Madani government going after old
corrupt sacred cows of the political establishment, the system is afraid
to retaliate against the theocratic establishment.
There are a couple of reasons for this. The prime minister has been desperate to burnish his religious bona fides, even ruffling the feathers of his non-Malay base.
The
Palestinian issue has caused more disharmony among ethnic groups
despite talking heads from within and outside the government attempting
to make this a national issue.
Govt has no Islamic narrative
But most
importantly, this coalition government does not have an Islamic
narrative of its own, thereby enabling the theocratic forces in this
country which further alienates non-Muslims and progressive Muslims.
The recent Federal Court ruling
is perhaps one of the strongest rejections by the establishment of the
theocratic agenda, pushed by political operatives like Hadi. Theocrats
do not like pushback and when this happens they stir the pot even more.
This
is the problem with using religion as a means of political control.
Mainstream Malay/Muslim parties have always used this to control the
majority polity.
When you use religion as a political tool, you
then have to demonstrate how much commitment you have towards the
religion. Then the narrative becomes Manichaean. You either support the
religion wholeheartedly or you do not.
PAS gets to claim that
their Islam is more powerful because they have demonstrated their will
to turn the states they rule into a theocracy or as near to it as
possible.
What this apex court ruling has demonstrated is that
there are still constraints from the federal government. When people say
the atmosphere is charged, what they are really saying is that the
people against this Federal Court ruling are spooked.
For
progressive Muslims who accept that this is not a theocratic state, they
are not riled up. They are relieved. There is no need for them to make
provocative statements, rile up the base, or make threats against their
political opponents.
What happened was a part of the democratic system and the adjudication by the courts.
When
Hadi calls for people to rise, he is not only talking to PAS
supporters. He is talking to the religious establishment. He is talking
to the thousands of Muslims who work within the federal bureaucracy in
states all over the country, to rise against what PAS believes is a
dismantling of the Islamic project of this country.
So who benefits?
With all these special committees being set up to study this decision, who do you think this benefits?
It
certainly would not benefit the progressive forces in this country. It
certainly would not benefit the secular and democratic forces of this
country. It would certainly not benefit the economic and social spheres
of the non-Muslims in this country.
PM Anwar Ibrahim
Do
not be fooled when political operatives attack each other when it comes
to the issue of religion. This is just a distraction. What really
matters are the religious policies and the religious bureaucracy.
Is
there a difference between the way each political coalition, which
claims to champion religion, creates policy and enables the religious
bureaucracy?
The people who fund these bureaucracies should be the
ones shaping policies. However, after decades of letting these entities
run riot, these entities think they are above the law. They certainly
believe they are above secular law and actively campaign for syariah
laws to trump the Federal Constitution.
PKR lawyer and Pasir
Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim said this - āIt is the duty of the judges
to interpret laws enacted by Parliament. Therefore, we must amend the
laws or the Federal Constitution. This is the duty of the current
government and all the MPs in Parliament.ā
Who do you think this
benefits? What message do you think this sends to people within the
government who support the agenda of a theocratic state?
Setting the tone
When it comes to religious policy in this country, Anwar should be a leader. He should set the tone for his administration.
So
when Saudara Anwar, who literally holds the purse strings, claims he
has zero tolerance for these religious provocateurs, it means bupkis.
What has the state security apparatus and the religious establishment
done to show that the government has zero tolerance for religious
extremists?
Keep in mind that the prime minister of this country
has acknowledged there is a concerted effort by religious operatives to
destroy his government. He has even acknowledged that some of these
people are āpaidā.
What these religious extremists do not want is a
leader who will put up a fight. Because if leaders put up a fight,
ordinary people would be inspired to stand their ground.
If
ordinary people stand their ground, the religious fascist gig is up. It
is not about concentrating on the economy. It is about acknowledging
that the efforts to reinvigorate the economy are being deliberately
hampered using religion and race and this will ultimately lead to an
economic downturn.
With each passing day, Hadi and his bunch of
religious extremists are getting stronger. They are getting stronger
because they believe the state security apparatus and religious
bureaucracy are on their side.
If you ask the average Muslim
political operative, state security officer, civil servant, and average
Joe, if they agree with Hadiās statement that opens this piece, they
would say, yes.
This is why it is extremely difficult to stem the rise of extremism in this country.
