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."
Why Malaysians now speak in whispers By Mariam Mokhtar
Saturday, February 14, 2026
Malaysiakini : Today, as prime minister, Anwar has now urged critics to “read explanations”
and warned them against “insulting” public officials rather than
answering the substantive questions at hand. What a reversal. What a
profound contradiction.
Those in powerful positions have a low tolerance for scrutiny, and anyone asking reasonable questions about wealth, power, religious authority, or governance realises that their actions come with consequences.
When
lawmakers raise concerns about how senior civil servants accumulate
large shareholdings, the response is not transparency, but legal threats
and silence. Defamation becomes their protective shield, not a remedy.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki
Journalists, academics, activists, NGOs,
and ordinary citizens on social media are reminded, subtly or
otherwise, that asking too many questions can carry consequences.
Consider
the now-familiar question: How does a senior civil servant, tasked with
enforcing anti-corruption laws, acquire millions of shares in listed
companies?
When this question was raised, involving the MACC chief
commissioner’s shareholding in Velocity Capital Partner Berhad and
about possible links to transactions involving Anwar’s former aide
Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, the public response was not
transparency, but silence, legal threats, and denials.
Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli’s
questions were not accusations. They were the sort of questions many
Malaysians value: questions about conflicts of interest, civil service
rules, accountability, and perception.
However, the response has been most revealing. Letters of demand were reportedly issued, Bloomberg was challenged, and defamation was invoked automatically, done without thought.
An official of the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board said Azam had committed no wrongdoing in the recent shareholdings scandal and that the MACC "can't be judged based on ‘unbalanced’ reports".
When investigative reporting by Bloomberg, one of the most legally cautious news organisations in the world, is dismissed as "unbalanced, malicious, and defamatory”, the signal to local journalists is unmistakable.
More importantly, the message to Malaysians and in the international arena is chilling, because if even Bloomberg is unsafe, then we, too, are in a precarious position.
Cost of asking questions
This
is how scrutiny is neutralised in 21st-century Malaysia: not by
disproving allegations, but by making the cost of asking questions
uncomfortably high.
The current culture of intimidation has an extensive reach:
There
are repeated cases where ordinary social media users have been
investigated or charged under sedition or communications laws for posts
that question authority.
Graphic artists have faced arrest over satirical drawings.
Academics such as Murray Hunter have faced defamation proceedings overseas, in Thailand, for their critical analysis.
Reporters
probing scandals, such as the heritage football investigation, have
allegedly been assaulted after asking uncomfortable questions.
Rafizi’s son was attacked, and he publicly suggested that the incident may have been linked to his investigations into powerful individuals.
Malaysians
know that unresolved disappearances like that of Pastor Raymond Koh are
fearful reminders about not being too inquisitive.
We do not need to be reminded that this is not Najib Abdul Razak’s Malaysia, or Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Malaysia.
This is Malaysia under Anwar’s premiership, where questions once encouraged are now being policed. This matters a lot.
Defamation
suits, sedition charges, and regulatory harassment need not succeed in
court to succeed politically. Their real purpose is deterrence, and the
ensuing result is immediate caution.
When editors hesitate,
journalists refrain from asking difficult or sensitive questions, when
writers make their words less potent, and academics soften their
language, or social media users delete their posts, accountability
slinks away.
Even casual writers like me write cautiously, not
because the issues lack substance, but because the consequences are
unevenly applied. Powerful elites, including some politicians and
government bodies, are perceived to be using state machinery to harass
citizens who dare to speak out.
Those of us who demand
accountability in public officers, who value integrity in leaders, are
up against institutions or powerful elites with possibly unlimited
funds.
Weaponisation of 3R
Malaysia’s discomfort with scrutiny extends to foreigners. Australian reporter Mary Anne Jolley
may have been deported during Najib’s tenure, but the implications of
restricting critical journalism in Malaysia have continued rather than
been resolved.
Race, religion, and royalty are frequently
weaponised to end debate, including over centuries-old temples or about
the unilateral conversion of children.
Those who speak up are warned not to inflame sensitivities. Sisters in Islam (now SIS Forum) has faced investigations and fatwas not for inciting violence, but for questioning interpretations.
Activists advocating education for refugee children have been treated as agitators rather than citizens acting in the public interest.
What
makes this premiership particularly disheartening is not that
repression exists, but that the same figures who demanded asset
declarations, transparency, and accountability from opposition benches
now caution patience, warn against speculation, and defend institutions
they once criticised.
Perhaps the most damaging consequence is
generational. Young Malaysians learn quickly from what they observe: you
speak carefully, or pay the price. Neither outcome builds a confident
nation.
A country afraid of questions will never be strong. A
government that equates scrutiny with sabotage reveals its own
fragility. More importantly, a society where elites hide behind laws
meant to protect harmony has already surrendered the moral argument.
Malaysia does not suffer from too much criticism. It suffers from too little courage to face it.
