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."
The beautiful game, ugly rules with double standards By R Nadeswaran
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Malaysiakini : His parents, members of the Kenyah community in a remote Sarawak
village, had been stateless since their own births due to the isolation
of their settlement. As a result, they were unaware of the importance of
proper identity documentation.
For
more than three decades, he submitted several applications before his
citizenship was approved on January 19 and received his MyKad 10 days
later.
In June last year, seven foreigners - Gabriel Felipe
Arrocha, Facundo Garcés, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, João
Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal, and Héctor Hevel - knowingly submitted birth
certificates containing false information in their applications for
Malaysian citizenship, MyKad, and passports.
It is now public
knowledge that the birth certificates of these were “manufactured” by
the NRD, and their applications for citizenship were fast-tracked by the
same department.
For context, the NRD claimed that the birth
certificates of their grandparents were issued after it had gathered
“secondary evidence” that they were born in various parts of Malaysia,
but the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) had obtained the original birth certificates issued in Brazil, Argentina, and the Netherlands.
If
the same law - the National Registration Act - had been applied to
these seven, their MyKads would have been seized and their citizenship
revoked. More importantly, they would have been prosecuted.
Double standards
But these seven are no ordinary Joes. At one time, they were so revered and valued that even the home minister “abused his powers” to fast-track their citizenship applications.
The seven ‘heritage’ players
They
are football journeymen - or, to put it bluntly, “mercenaries” -
willing to sign and falsify documents to change their nationalities for a
few shillings.
Their “Godfather” – someone in or connected to the
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), after one debacle after another
at football’s controlling body, Fifa, went to the Court of Arbitration
for Sport for redemption.
Acting president Yusoff Maqhadi described it as “a major war” to defend Malaysia’s footballing reputation, declaring that all resources would be used.
But
they forgot the doctrine that those seeking equity must come with clean
hands. It requires that anyone seeking equitable relief from a court
must act with fairness, good faith, and without fraudulent conduct
regarding the matter in dispute.
A
moot point: Malaysia does not recognise dual citizenship. So, has the
NRD seized the blue MyKads and has the Immigration Department revoked
their passports?
The archives contain numerous anecdotal accounts
of individuals like Soliman who have waited years - sometimes even
decades - for their citizenship applications to be processed.
But
in the case of the seven foreigners, it took just 45 days for their
applications for birth certificates, MyKads, citizenship, and passports
to be issued.
A case of NRD’s double standards? The answer is a resounding “yes”.
Distortion of justice
Malaysia’s
citizenship system is no longer merely a bureaucratic maze - it has
become a mirror reflecting the nation’s legal, moral, and ethical
contradictions.
On one side, ordinary long-time residents like
Soliman endure decades of humiliation, waiting for recognition that
should have been theirs by birthright.
On the other hand, foreign
footballers are ushered through the gates of citizenship in a matter of
weeks, their papers “manufactured” by the very institution entrusted
with safeguarding national identity.
This is not a clerical error.
It is a deliberate distortion of justice. The NRD bent the rules for
mercenaries in football jerseys while punishing elderly Malaysians for
minor infractions, thus shredding the principle of equality before the
law.
The doctrine of clean hands - so loudly invoked in court
cases and international arbitration rings hollow when the state itself
is complicit in fraud.
The hypocrisy is staggering: villagers in
Sarawak are told to wait, plead, and prove their existence, while
imported strikers are handed blue MyKads as if they were trophies.
The
law, meant to protect the sanctity of citizenship, has been weaponised
to serve expedience and political vanity. What does it say about a
nation when its most sacred document - the birth certificate - is
treated as negotiable currency in the marketplace of football?
Rigged system
Malaysia
does not recognise dual citizenship, yet the silence over whether these
passports and MyKads have been revoked speaks volumes. It suggests not
oversight, but complicity. And complicity corrodes trust.
Every citizen who has fought for decades to be recognised now knows that the system is not broken - it is rigged.
The
real scandal is not just about football. It is about the erosion of
integrity in governance. If citizenship can be bought, bent, or
bartered, then the very idea of belonging becomes meaningless.
Until
the same law is applied without fear or favour - whether to a stateless
villager or a foreign mercenary, the promise of justice will remain a
hollow slogan, and Malaysia’s credibility will continue to bleed, not
just on the football field, but in the conscience of the nation itself.
