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."
Does it matter if Anwar gets a second term? By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, April 01, 2024
Malaysiakini : Funnily enough, this is not a āMalayā problem. The popular Malay vote
is not with this government, hence the fall of this government is not
something the majority of Malays are fearful of.
The people most
invested in this government are moderate Malays (not even progressive or
liberal but middle-of-the-road when it comes to their religious
inclinations, Malays) and of course the non-Malay/Muslim polity.
So, if anyone wants Anwar to have a second term, it is this base.
Anwar,
meanwhile, has remained silent when his comradesā cars have been
firebombed by terrorists, a KK Mart was an attempted target of a
terrorist attack, and - as of writing - another KK Mart has been
targeted in a successful if non-fatal terrorist attack, and of course, the numerous other racial and religious provocations that his non-Malay base has been subjected to.
Treating terrorists with kid gloves
The second terrorist attack against KK Mart elicited a tepid response
from Anwar loyalist and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who
said: āI urge those who pushed for this boycott to also take
responsibility to defuse the situation and end actions stoking public
sentiment.ā
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
Excuse
me, why isnāt the Madani government taking responsibility and detaining
Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh under Sosma or whatever
draconian laws that Harapan political operatives now claim are needed to
protect racial and religious harmony?
And why ask people like Akmal to take responsibility when you are essentially saying the same thing Akmal is saying?
When
Akmal called for a boycott, the government should have distanced itself
from Umno Youth and Umnoās provocations and instead called for people
to respect the investigative process.
The prime ministerās
response only after the second attack was no better. These were
terrorist attacks enabled and emboldened by the polemics coming from his
unity government.
By warning people not to take the law into
their own hands, he is implying that thereās a rational and justifiable
basis for their anger.
This is not the right approach to terrorist attacks. Anwar should have practised the moderate Islam he likes to preach about.
Scorch marks at a KK Mart outlet in Kuantan, Pahang, following a firebombing on March 30
Instead, the Madani regime - which included the DAP - simply said
nothing and stood idly by, and in some cases, encouraged aggrieved
feelings within the Malay polity.
You do not get to condemn the
arsonist when you did nothing to prevent his act which led to the fires
that everyone is now attempting to distance themselves from.
Non-Malays have no alternative
Anwar
is very well aware that although non-Malays rant and rave on social
media, the reality is that when it comes to the ballot box, they will
vote for his proxies because they believe that as flawed as he is, there
is no alternative.
This is why Rafizi Ramli so confidently said
āIf you want to talk about the trust deficit of non-Malays, I can
confidently say that more than 90 percent of non-Malay voters have full
confidence in todayās unity government. If there is a trust deficit, it
is a trust deficit in the opposition, not the government.ā
Take
the KK Mart issue, for instance. Now, you can make the argument that
there is inter-party political chicanery afoot and Akmal is merely a
proxy for interests within Umno hostile to this unity government, but
the fact that Anwar - for whatever reason - is not willing to publicly
rebuke a young upstart causing not only religious and racial issue but
also economic issue demonstrates how ineffective he is as a leader or
how much say he has in what Umno does.
This is why PAS president
Abdul Hadi Awang laments the old timers, who desperately attempt to
replicate the success of BN when the political terrain has changed.
Hadi
understands that the fear of the āGreen Waveā in the non-Malays is so
powerful, that they will let Anwar, supported by the DAP, hasten the
Islamisation of this country, thus doing his job for him.
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang
Remember
when Anwar expanded the budget and role of Jakim because he wanted to
introduce a more āmoderateā form of Islam in the Malaysian body politic?
Dissenters
who were appalled by this move were dismissed by the prime minister who
reportedly said: āI want Jakim not only to talk about religion and
Islamic law. Jakim is to expand its duties, talk about economic issues,
look at digital programmes, and look at the education curriculum.
āThe
responsibility is broader, so that the values of Islam can be applied,
and this is opposed by those who do not understand, a small group of
non-Muslims who write that āAnwar is now displaying his strong Islamist
attitude, which he has tried to hide all this time by ordering Jakim to
control all the systemsā.ā
Itās all about power
Look
at how nobody in the mainstream political or religious establishment
can bring themselves to admit that the people causing racial and
religious tension are political operatives within the unity government.
Keep in mind that the issue is not an issue about religious
sensitivities.
If non-Malays reacted the way some Malays reacted
to the Allah socks issue when it came to their sensitivities, there
would immediately be a crackdown and political operatives would be
detained under the various laws that Harapan promised to ditch.
Can
you imagine if a Malay political operativeās cars were firebombed
because the non-Malays perceived that he had insulted their religion?
What do you think the outcome would be?
The KK Mart issue is not about faith. It is about power.
The
fact that the prime minister cannot outright condemn these terrorist
acts and he and his allies play into the narrative that the Allah socks
issue is an egregious stain on Islam in this country is indicative of
the direction this country is heading towards when it comes to the
theocratic state project.
At this point, does it really matter if it is Harapan or PN leading the country if the destination is the same?
