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."
There is nothing complex about the way the state is persecuting Fahmi. The latest case
boils down to the fact that the state does not like him reminding the
rakyat that a cat can look at a king or a prince in this case.
Every
day, Madani reminds us that we have to be mindful of the questions we
ask about the state. The police tell us not to speculate on ongoing
cases. Politicians tell us not to question policies based on
ethnocentric formulas.
The
media is muzzled by self-censorship. Social media is policed in a way
where those supporting the state are coddled, and dissenting voices are
singled out for state punitive action.
Fahmi has his detractors, but as far as my research goes, never once has he asked for his critics to be silenced.
He
is not an anarchist in the traditional ideological sense. Indeed, from
all his social media posts, he seems more interested in reminding people
in power that the system is there for the betterment of the rakyat and
hence policies should reflect this.
Remember that Fahmi was once
called in by the state security apparatus because he edited an image of
the Pahang coat of arms and turned it into the “House of Balak” to protest deforestation in response to the floods in Pahang and Selangor.
Baulking atdissent
Why
does Madani fear someone like him? The state can overlook and probably
even withstand long cogent arguments about its corruption and failings,
but it cannot stand folk sniggering at drawings of their antics.
Why?
Because they have not earned the stature and respect they demand.
Denizens of Madani claim that it is not their failure to reform, but
their messaging, which is why people are down on them.
Fahmi’s
visual disturbances, however, remind the rakyat that their messaging
was always empty and that the system they are in charge of is failing
the rakyat.
The activist did a great interview with Vice when he was persecuted by the state for creating a playlist that was insulting to the queen in the “Dengki ke” (Are you jealous?) fiasco.
The sedition case was dropped,
but that was about optics, as it looked like the royal establishment
was going after Fahmi when the queen's comment caused dismay for the
rakyat who were going through hard times without the privilege of
experiencing the Covid-19 lockdown in luxury.
This is the power that Fahmi wields, and the state desperately wants to curtail.
People
remember his work against Umno/BN simply because they were the bigger,
more convenient target, but others are not spared.
“When it comes
to Malaysian politics, I’ve always held on to the belief that you
cannot trust politicians in general on all sides.
“(My art) doesn’t just feature ruling party politicians from the government. Even opposition figures get lampooned,” he told Vice.
And now Madani is the government.
Crackdown coming
Prime
Minister Anwar Ibrahim recently said that in the coming year, his
administration will crack down on sensitive and controversial issues.
“Look
at the issues of race, language, and the economy - we must face them
with firmer action. We cannot simply play with racial or religious
sentiments to the point that it ultimately hinders the nation's
progress," he said.
Do you think Fahmi’s work will escape this
crackdown, or will it be under even more scrutiny? The reality is that
Fahmi is a Malay saying and doing things which expose the moral, legal
and intellectual bankruptcy of the Malay establishment and its non-Malay
enablers.
What we are witnessing is someone openly slaying sacred
cows through jokes and satire, and the state predictably proving
everything Fahmi says about it by continuously harassing him.
Fahmi Reza released from police detention over a post related to the Johor regent on Dec 19
We live in a country where factotums of the state decide that Christmas decorations are somehow an affront to the religion of the state.
We live in a country where certain people are banned from using certain words.
We
live in a country where affirmative action for the majority cannot be
challenged, even though the prime minister campaigned on a needs-based
platform.
Fahmi reminds the rakyat not to be punchlines of the twisted policy jokes of the elites and those in power.
