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."
Term limits derail power trips of old men By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, June 09, 2025
Malaysiakini : This is what term limits achieve, and this is why politicians and their factotums hate the idea of a shelf life.
Anyone
at any age who is of sound mind and physical capability should be
allowed to run for political office, but there should be strict limits
on how long they can stay.
This is about a system which privileges
old men and women, not because of their wisdom or experience, but
because of the various ecosystems they nurture, a culture of corruption,
incompetence, and theocratic authority.
This is why the system is
based on the repression of young people, either through state
interventions in how they experience education, or how they worship god.
It
is worse for the majority who are brainwashed by state and federal
institutions, and through various propaganda organs, into believing that
their ethnicity and religion are under siege.
Youthsjust waiting their turn
And
it is much more insidious than old people with decrepit ideas remaining
in power. These ideas infect the younger generation of politicians who
are patiently biding their time for a spot on the gravy train.
They
spend their working hours hoping these old people who have been in
“service” for so long will allow a younger person to get a taste.
In
2017, Syahredzan Johan, one of the more interesting young political
operatives in play, responding to a spate of surveys describing the
apathy of young people when it comes to voting, wrote:
“These
young politicians must be able to understand the aspirations and
concerns of the youth of Malaysia, beyond the sloganeering and rhetoric.
“They
must not merely echo the words of their more senior leaders. They must
be able to know what the young people of Malaysia want and need.”
Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan
This
is why, under various propagandistic tools like Asian values or
whatever morality that religions peddle, the idea that young people are
ignorant and have to be subservient to values that supposedly served an
earlier generation, while ignoring context, is drummed into the minds of
young people.
This is why you see young politicians in positions
of power kowtowing to older politicians because: (1) They want to get to
that position of power and influence, and (2) They understand that
these old politicians could potentially be around for decades.
Now, if there were term limits, the system would be in a constant state of flux.
When
people know that their time is always running out, they understand that
what they do will be open to scrutiny and accountability by the next
person who comes in.
Indeed, their conduct while in office or as
an MP could be weaponised for various reasons, and this is a good thing
because if their conduct was above reproach, they would have nothing to
fear.
Dangerous comfort of stability
People
like to talk about stability and consistency, but what they do not seem
to understand, or maybe they do all too well, is that systems of
corruption and nepotism thrive on stability and consistency.
Here’s
the thing, if MPs do not have a term limit, and they are bad for the
country, they will still get voted in by people who do not care, or care
only because the politicians tell them what they want to hear, even
though it is bad for the country.
So, term limits are not a panacea but rather a democratic hurdle that makes it harder for old ideas to endure.
Did
I say political operatives do not want to change the paradigm? What I
mean is, they do not want to change the paradigm unless it suits their
purposes.
Sometimes the agenda of political operatives aligns with
the rakyat, but most times, especially in Malaysia, we have been
programmed to accept their agenda as something pragmatic because sacred
cows are in reality beasts meant to frighten the rakyat from speaking
truth to power.
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang is in his late 70s and has been leader of the Islamist party since 2002
This
is why term limits for elected office are never considered by the
people who want to remain in power forever. This is not about age in the
sense that old people should be constrained in their political careers,
but rather how old people want to stay in power merely to sustain a
kakistocracy.
Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, who earned the ire of the state for various reasons, said it best:
“Any attempt to break the fortress built around this existing system in
order to democratise the space for people to assert their political
existence is often met with harsh criticism and rebuke.
“As a
result, the power to shape the future and direction of the country
remains in the hands of the privileged few, thus further alienating the
voices of the many, in particular the marginalised.
“Genuine democracy, which seeks to place people at its heart, therefore remains out of reach.”
Take Madani City. Only a politician who has been in the system for decades and who knows how things work could come up with something like this.