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."
Wong
Fook Lim, 65, a retired Penampang resident who now works as a Grab
driver, said DAP was increasingly viewed as detached from Sabah-based
decision-making.
“If something happens in Sabah, they still have to ask their bosses in Kuala Lumpur,” he said. “They are not local.”
Wong
said the sentiment was also influenced by the growing “Sabah for
Sabahans” call along the state’s west coast, but stressed it was not
racial in nature.
DAP flag
“This
is not about Chinese or Malay leaders,” he said. “It’s about whether
leaders work for the people. No doubt some DAP leaders are hardworking,
but the problem is they can’t make decisions on their own as they rely
on their federal counterparts.”
Such sentiments may explain why DAP lost all its Sabah state seats to Warisan.
For
Chan, however, Warisan emerged as the main beneficiary in urban seats
not because of strong confidence, but because it was seen as the only
viable alternative capable of unseating DAP.
E-invoicing and potholes
Another group of voters also voiced displeasure with DAP over governance issues.
“People
are unhappy with the current situation. And when people are unhappy,
they blame the government - and DAP is the government,” said 35-year-old
Rebecca Chong.
The Sandakan resident cited water supply
disruptions, electricity reliability, and business-related policies as
factors that had steadily eroded confidence.
“E-invoicing is also making people very angry. Anything that makes business harder, people will complain,” she said.
Business
owners in Sabah have said the rollout of e-invoicing, a federal
initiative, risks adding costs, compliance burdens, and cash-flow
delays, particularly for small firms and importers who must reconcile
real-time digital invoices with customs paperwork, foreign suppliers,
patchy internet access, and legacy accounting systems.
Michael Yong, 38, from Kota Kinabalu, said disappointment with DAP had extended even to basic municipal issues.
He complained that even simple problems, such as potholes, were left unresolved for years.
“Even
the basics DAP has failed to resolve (when they were part of
government), such as potholes in the city, damaged streetlights, or
roadside barricades that could take years before it is being fixed. Come
on, Kota Kinabalu is a city!
“They have lost it. The current
leaders in DAP are no longer the hardworking DAP politicians we knew
several elections ago when they were still in the opposition,” he added.
Yong said veteran DAP leaders were more effective when the party was in opposition.
“The old ones, even the slightest amenity problems like this, are serious when it comes to calling the government to fix them.
“They
were in the opposition before and more effective, but all that went
down the drain when they became part of the government,” said Yong.
People want to see results
Following
its defeat in the Sabah election, DAP has set for itself a six-month
timeline to enact reforms - including on issues such as United
Examination Certificate (UEC) recognition - in an effort to win back
support from voters.
However, Chong said that just making noise about pushing for reforms will not be enough.
“Whether
that reform push will really make a difference and win back the support
of Sabah’s Chinese voters is hard to say, because people now just want
to see results,” she said.
Many of the voters Malaysiakini
spoke to said they were adopting a wait-and-see approach, and did not
rule out supporting DAP again if the party reasserts its independence,
strengthens its Sabah leadership, and distances itself from federal
political manoeuvring.
“We will have to see how they perform now,” Chan said.
