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."
How Najib continues to define Madani By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Malaysiakini : So incensed was then-Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin by this
description, that he wanted Low investigated and, of course, the wing
supported Najib.
Low Taek Jho
The former Pekan MP has since apologised, claiming he was a patsy but this is what Low said in an interview in 2015:
"Did
the people supposed to be responsible for decision-making (at 1MDB)
suddenly decide to absolve all their responsibilities and then create
this PR campaign with me as the focus of it?
"No one seems to ask
the question who is the ultimate decision-maker on 1MDB? No one asks
that. No one ever asks about the shareholders' role."
However, all
this is irrelevant of course. Najib defines Madani's policies on
corruption. When he got his reduced sentence, this fed into religious
narratives of PAS and the far religious right.
When you have PAS
president Abdul Hadi Awang and preacher Zakir Naik arguing that it is
better to live under corrupt Muslim rule than an honest non-Muslim rule,
this is the definition of the Madani strategies when it comes to Najib.
This is the message it sends.
Now that Najib may get his house arrest, this merely points to how the ketuanan (supremacy) system handles its reprobates.
Flimsy narrative
Think
about Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidiās discharge not
amounting to an acquittal (DNAA). In justifying it, Prime Minister Anwar
Ibrahim advanced the narrative that this was partly a political persecution by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The
fact that Zahid, Najib and every other alleged kleptocrat say the same
thing points to the narrative that is being shaped by the mainstream
political establishment in this country to justify alliances or to shape
narratives around corruption allegations.
Forget about the message Zahidās DNAA and Najibās partial pardon
and possible house arrest say about the hypocritical nature of Madani.
What is more damaging is the message being sent to the civil service and
security apparatuses which are mired in the kind of factionalism that
dominates mainstream Malay politics.
Remember before Najib went to
jail, he was going around shoring up support and spreading all sorts of
lies and misinformation about the 1MDB scandal and his āpolitical
persecutionā.
Remember when PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli had the cajones to directly attack Najib and throw rhetorical hand grenades into the well-laid plans of the Umno establishment?
PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli
"We
do not have much time before the next general election. There is a lot
of heavy work to be done within the next four to five months.
"The
first thing we have to do is to counter Umno's narratives, we cannot
let them do whatever they want. We cannot allow Najib to syok sendiri (be full of himself).ā
Now,
of course, Umno is in the coalition government and through his proxies
in the party, Najib continues to define Madani and of course, the DAP.
The
pusillanimous attitude of someone like Jelutong MP RSN Rayer is,
unfortunately, louder than the rhetoric of someone like Anthony Loke,
the DAPās big cheese who could only muster a let cooler heads prevail, when Najib received a partial pardon:
āThere
are mixed reactions (to the matter). Some are upset Najib was not
released, while others are upset his sentence was reduced. I urge
everyone to remain calm and keep cool heads.ā
Jelutong MP RSN Rayer
Keep
in mind that Rayer ārespectsā a coalition partner like Umno, whose
youth chief has viciously attacked a DAP minister, created a controversy
involving socks which resulted in acts of arson and continues to stir
racial and religious sentiment among the rakyat.
He does this with
complete immunity and shockingly, no rebuke from the prime minister who
was a long-time reformasi comrade of the DAP.
Welsh perhaps, the best hand when it comes to observing the political circus in this country wrote of Madani:
āThose
who wanted a different government from that of Umno now have the same
party and practices in power, with Anwar providing the means for the
partyās leaders and their family members to be rehabilitated, including
through taxpayer-funded patronage.ā
āThe muted DAPā
Replace
Anwar with Najib and this was exactly how the train was running before
it was derailed by a confluence of events that brought down Najib and in
many ways, Pakatan Harapan. And where is the DAP in all of this?
Well, they are busy keeping a low profile. The following extract from an interview with Seputeh MP Teresa Kok highlights the way DAP has been successfully neutered by Umno and of course, Madani:
āOne
dilemma faced by DAP is having to respond to the challenge from Umno,
particularly from Umno Youth leader Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, who issues
racist statements every week that target DAP.
āIf DAP does not respond, we would be seen as a āmutedā party by the Chinese and Indian communities.
āHowever, when we get into loggerheads with Umno and Umno Youth like before, the Malays see us as being rude and racist.ā
Where
does this leave rational Malaysians? Nowhere good. You see there is no
trade-off. If Madani could point to policies in education, healthcare
and social services which were egalitarian and utilitarian, then
rational people would have no choice but to ignore these political moves
by the Madani elites as the price of doing business in a country like
Malaysia.
Mind you, I was never one of those people who were gleefully awaiting Najib to be paraded around in an orange jumpsuit.
You
donāt get to play the moral high ground card when your coalition was
previously aligned with the architect of old Malaysia, Mahathir.
Perhaps,
how Najib best defines Madani is the way he and his coalition
government enablers game the system while a deaf driver and construction
worker have to hope for justice in Madani.
