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."
Upset that his critics dared to undermine his authority and criticise him, he called them ābebalā (stupid).
āBebalā appears to be the current fashionable word in Putrajaya. It was first used five days ago by Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek to lash out at a Perikatan Nasional activist, Syarul Ema Rena Abu Samah, also known as Ratu Naga.
Fadhlina
said Syarul Ema was suffering from ābebal-ismā (being stupid) and
spreading ākebebalanā (stupidity), for mistakenly accusing Chinese
school pupils of disrespecting the national anthem, when in actual fact,
they were singing the Perak state anthem.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek
Prime
ministers and ministers who freely label their critics as ābebalā show
that they are insecure. They appear vulnerable, lack intuition and are
out of touch with the electorate.
Instead of processing and paying
attention to what had been said and taking note of any constructive
criticism, these ministers fail to listen hard to what their critics are
saying.
The temple issue and the balloon vendor fracas are not
āsmallā issues as described by Anwar. āSmallā issues which are not
managed with the delicacy and urgency they deserve may escalate into
major issues.
Self-serving politicians will almost always complicate matters and allow the problem to spiral out of control.
Temple issues
There have been many other temple issues nationwide.
in
2018, the 120-year-old Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Subang
Jaya arose from a relocation issue between the temple authorities and
the developer. A riot broke out, which resulted in the death of a firefighter, Adib Kassim.
If
temples which are over a hundred years old face such threats, do
mission schools and churches also fear the risk of being relocated or
their lands seized, and their tenants issued with eviction notices?
Adib Kassim
Developers with powerful political friends appear to be able to purchase prime land with ease, often under cover of secrecy.
When
a scandal erupts, these politicians often use the religious factor,
Islam, to seize ownership of the land on which these buildings are
sited.
What āstrengthā?
At the groundbreaking ceremony of Masjid Madani, Anwar said that he wanted to "showcase Islamās strength".
Is
this "strength" connected to the rising fundamentalism in Malaysia? An
increasingly conservative Muslim society does not bode well for a
multi-cultural Malaysia.
The following examples are probably "small" issues for Anwar. He may recall that last Ramadhan, an old Malay man slapped a non-Malay for eating in a shopping mall.
Was the mental and physical assault of the non-Muslim, this Malay's version of "showcasing Islam's strength"?
On
April 8, we learnt that the state government of Perlis, the Perlis
Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council, the State Registrar of
Converts and the mufti Asri Zainul Abidin were denied their chance to exercise their religious might over the rights of the individual, the single mother Loh Swee Hong.
Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin
Loh's
three children, all Hindus, were unlawfully converted by her former
abusive husband. The Perlis authorities demanded Loh bring the children
up as Muslims. Which politician dared show support for Loh?
Losing sight of important matters
Will our MPs initiate a debate in Parliament about banning child marriages? Some Muslims consider it their religious right to marry an underage girl, just like their religious right to have four wives.
The
other MPs, including the prime minister, Minister in the Prime
Ministerās Department (Islamic Affairs) Naim Mokhtar, and PAS president
Abdul Hadi Awang said nothing.
Large-scale corruption, slapping,
hate speech, destroying/relocating temples, child marriages, incest,
underage sex, and sexual abuse of tahfiz pupils and children in Global
Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) are all perpetrated by
Malays.
Despite the increased religious education, their moral values appear to have diminished.
No Malay MP has shown the courage to undo the decades-long religious brainwashing at home, in school and in the mosque.
So, would solving these "small issuesā interest the PM?
