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."
Malaysiakini : Does it not matter to this party, which led the independence movement, that what Najib did amounted to the biggest kleptocracy
the world had ever known, causing money to be stolen from massive bond
issues, a first for this country and an assault on the nation?
Is
it okay that billions were not only laundered but also stolen from
borrowed funds with express authority given by Najib, who signed off on
all the money transfers under the memorandum and articles of association
of 1MDB, a supposedly strategic development company which chalked up
over RM42 billion in liabilities?
How
can you justify billions of ringgit in borrowings but very little
available for use because most of it had been siphoned away through sham
schemes for lavish and wild parties, pricey paintings, overpriced
assets, a billion-ringgit yacht, expensive jewellery worth hundreds of
millions for Najibās wife Rosmah Mansor, donations for Umno divisional
heads totalling several hundred million ringgit, and a host of other
things?
Umno sinking low
Has Umno
sunk so low that they are prepared to appeal for a pardon for Najib
despite the billions in losses he incurred for the country, causing not
only the smearing of the countryās name but huge opportunity costs which
may amount to as much as RM100 billion in all?
Or is it because many of its divisional leaders also received money from Najib?
Is
Umno not worried about the kind of message sent out if the biggest
crook and felon this country has ever known is given a full pardon for
his crime? Should they not be clamouring for a heavier sentence, which
will send shivers down the spine of those who are thinking of committing
similar offences?
Donāt the people in Umno, those people who say
they are nationalists and loyal to country, race, and religion,
recognise the heinous crime that Najib has committed, or are they mere
politicians trying to protect their own kind from crimes against the
state?
Lokeās acquiescence
So powerful is
the move to get a pardon for Najib that those who want to celebrate a
rightful and appropriate sentence for a crime of monstrous proportions
have been threatened by Umno goons to the extent that the DAP
secretary-general says there is no need for an extra stab against Najib.
Anthony
Lokeās comments that his partyās fellow leader Yeo Bee Yinās
celebration of the decision of the court against Najib would damage
cooperation within the Madani government is timid at the least and a
gross acquiescence against morality and good sense.
If Umno can
vociferously condemn a decision of the court, why canāt another person
say she will celebrate the decision? Why be afraid of a party which has
abandoned all sense of morality in the biggest criminal case of abuse of
power and money laundering in the country?
DAP sec-gen Anthony Loke
DAP,
succumbing to pressure, has lost an opportunity to assert its stand
against corruption among politicians and to score some points with its
voter base.
Abuse of power
It
is immaterial to Najibās conviction how much money is recovered; the
point is that he abused his power to enable the theft, and money
actually went into his account from the theft and not from any Arab
donation.
Even if all the money is recovered, 1MDB did not have
the money for long periods and still had to repay the borrowings with
interest, owing as much as RM42 billion.
At a 10 percent per year opportunity cost, the amount lost would be a further RM42 billion after just seven years.
And
then there is the cost of overpayments for assets and contracts, bond
underpricing, and other costs, which would have added several billions
more to take the figure to as much as RM100 billion, easily the biggest
loss in any single venture for Malaysia.
1MDB still hangs heavily
around Malaysiaās neck, and the release of the man primarily
responsible, with the other, Low Taek Jho, who is at large and by most
accounts is close to Najib and his wife, will be a gross travesty of
justice.
Umno
must not be permitted to carry this out. And if Prime Minister Anwar
Ibrahim ties himself to this, the repercussions at the polls for the
Madani government will be heavy.
Because of 1MDB, Umno no longer commands mass support - a corrupt party in steep decline.
