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."
Anwar has become “the prime minister of Palestine”,
according to some critics, for his support to end the violence in Gaza
and for flying injured persons and their relatives to Kuala Lumpur for
treatment.
Expectedly, he was peeved and expressed disappointment
and sadness over the move to bring injured Palestinians from Gaza to
receive medical treatment in Malaysia - the first country in Asia.
I responded:
“There is no glory in being the first, anyway. What purpose does it
serve when the people in your backyard - fellow Malaysians need help -
more than foreigners?
“Maybe the people around you only tell you what you like to hear. Hence, you are unaware of the actual situation on the ground.
“Why
don’t you start by visiting our public hospitals and talking to
Malaysians who have to wait for months for medical treatment?” I asked
Anwar.
Has anything changed? Hospital queues are getting longer, and the government is considering using generic pharmaceuticals.
It
is an understatement to say that our education system is in shambles,
with several thousand graduates on the streets. What is being done to
address this?
When will Madani start righting wrongs?
When
the religious card is played at every turn and when there’s a semblance
of it interfering with our daily lives, those who speak up become
Islamophobes.
We have been constantly reminded of the 3Rs - race,
religion, and royalty - but how come no one says anything when political
leaders are fighting to show whose shade of green is shining better?
I
am not nitpicking. The long delay in getting justice for the deaf
driver who a police escort assaulted, child marriages which have led to
44,263 teenage pregnancies over the past five years, the continued
haemorrhaging of some government-linked companies, the leaks of
government funds, lopsided contracts, rent-seeking, the demonising of
the judiciary, nepotism and cronyism in government appointments, etc.
These matters may seem trivial to those in government, but they matter to the man in the street - the voter.
Deaf e-hailing driver Ong Ing Keong
It
is a long list. Add these to the auditor-general’s quarterly catalogue
of shame; plenty can be done, but the work has hardly started.
When
will we seriously attempt to rectify all the wrongs? Does the Madani
government have the political will and determination to go the extra
mile? Or will it pander to some for political expediency?
Yes, it cannot come overnight, but it has been two years since we elected what was touted as a “clean government”.
Two years have already gone by
The latest “bombshell” came on Saturday, when Malaysiakini was ordered to remove video clips of the alleged corruption scandal in Sabah.
In July 2015, the Najib government suspendedThe Edge and the Edge Financial Weekly
for three months, ostensibly preventing both publications from
publishing details of thousands of documents related to the 1MDB scandal
unfavourable to the then-BN government.
At that time, many
political leaders stood up, shouted “media freedom”, and supported these
publications. Some of them are now part of the Madani government.
Their
loud noises and vociferous statements reverberated around the country
when they were on the opposite side, but their continued silence is now
deafening.
Don’t they have the gall and nerve to stand up to this? Do they have short memories or plainly “jaga periuk nasi“ (looking after their rice bowl)?
The order, according to Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, came from the police, who claimed
that they could interfere with police investigations into the death
threat against the whistleblower and compromise the safety and privacy
of the individual.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil aka Goebbels
Fellow columnist P Gunasegaram has since addressed this issue in his column yesterday.
It
would be foolhardy to state that progress has not been made in other
areas, but these are minuscule compared to the big holes we continue to
fill and the many selectively ignored issues.
It is said that a
week is a long time in politics. Two years have flown by so quickly; in
another two, all will be engrossed in planning for the next election.
So,
the D-minus stays until now. If nothing drastic changes, it will remain
so until 2027. But is anyone worried? They still believe the government
knows best using an outdated, obsolete solution - telling feel-good
stories and throwing crumbs before the date is fixed.
