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."
Same script, different actors, endless distractions By R Nadeswaran
Sunday, March 01, 2026
Malaysiakini : As the results of the election trickled in on the early morning of
May 10, 2018, the protagonists of such a theory melted into the
woodwork, never to be heard of thereafter.
Paul Stadlen and Apco,
the spin masters engaged by the BN government, packed their bags and
disappeared, leaving many government officers with egg on their faces.
In
2021, Stadlen voluntarily agreed to release RM7.1 million to a 1MDB
trust account. The case against him for money laundering was
subsequently dropped.
Some of the victims, former PJ Utara MP Tony
Pua, being the most prominent, was investigated by the police and
barred from leaving the country for “alleged conspiracy in activities
detrimental to parliamentary democracy.”
Same old, same old
On Friday, a similar conspiracy emerged. The police announced
that the wife of a former minister is under investigation following a
report alleging that she was plotting to topple the government and Prime
Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
But Na’imah Abdul Khalid, the wife of the late former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, came out swinging, dismissing the claim of being involved in any form of effort to topple the government.
In a statement, Na'imah said that any attempt suggesting she was behind the Bloomberg exposé involving MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki is not only irresponsible but also an insult to the journalists concerned.
“The
claim that I am trying to destabilise or topple the government is
laughable and brings to mind past accusations faced by the prime
minister himself, when he used to declare having the ‘formidable
numbers’ to seize power.
“Unlike him, at no time did I engage in,
contemplate, or support any effort to destabilise or topple an elected
government,” she said.
Na’imah Abdul Khalid
But
by this time, a copy of the police report filed by a 54-year-old who
listed his occupation as “editor” was already circulating online.
The
gist of the report is as follows: On July 31 last year, he, together
with his business partner, attended a discussion via Zoom with the
chairperson and staff of a UK-based strategy and communication company.
Also
allegedly present were Na’imah and her two sons, along with two
lawyers. The discussion, the report claimed, covered the use of
international media to pressure the MACC and Anwar, specifically to drop
charges against Naimah.
It was also suggested to use “lobbyists”
around the world, including in the UK and the US, to apply pressure on
the Malaysian side.
“My partner and I felt that this matter was
wrong and amounted to betraying our own country, as it involved
conspiring with foreign agents to bring down the prime minister and the
government of Malaysia,” the report stated.
Emerging questions
For many, this claim and the side-shows provided a welcome relief from the serious business of corporate mafia, kuil haram (illegal temples), etc, which had been making the headlines during the week.
If it was a deliberate diversion, it succeeded, but then, questions began to emerge.
Why did it take the editor more than six months to realise the matter was wrong? What happened during the interim? Mental block?
Oh yes, he was in London on Feb 10 when Bloomberg broke the story on the MACC’s shady dealings, and hence his memory was jolted, and he put two and two together.
But
Na'imah offered a different explanation entirely. According to her, the
individual who lodged the report had initially approached her in July
2025, offering his services as part of a proposed communications team.
He was later terminated due to poor performance. After his dismissal, she claimed, he made further monetary demands.
She
insisted the contents of the police report are false and preposterous,
and that its timing - seven months after the alleged meeting - points to
a desperate attempt to distract the public from growing calls for
Azam’s removal.
Deflecting attention
The
conspiracy theory is a political chameleon, adapting its colours to suit
the landscape of the moment. Once deployed to shield Najib from the
1MDB scandal, it now resurfaces to deflect attention from mounting
scandals facing the Anwar administration.
The parallels are
unmistakable. Then, as now, foreign actors are cast as the villains.
Then, as now, the machinery of law enforcement is mobilised to
investigate those who dare to challenge the status quo.
Then, as
now, the timing is impeccable - and the impression of the masses is that
these circumstances are designed to change the conversation when it
becomes uncomfortable.
But
the public is no longer naive. We have seen this script before. We have
watched it unravel. And we recognise that when the dust settles, the
protagonists of these manufactured crises often fade away, leaving
behind a trail of distraction and division.
The question is not
whether Na'imah conspired with foreign agents or just spoke with public
relations personnel, which remains a matter for proper investigation.
The question is why, time and again, conspiracy theories become the default refuge of those in power.
Why,
when faced with legitimate scrutiny, is the response to cry foreign
interference? And why does the truth always seem to be the first
casualty in these political dramas?
Until we break free from this
cycle of manufactured narratives, we remain prisoners of our own
political dysfunction - forever chasing shadows while the real issues
fester in the dark.
