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."
COMMENT | Non-Malays must give up the idea of governing By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, June 08, 2026
Malaysiakini : For the non-Malays in this country, this merely means baseline democratic norms.
Nobody
is questioning the position of the religion of the state, the role of
the monarchy and of course the entitlements of the majority.
What
we want is not to be persecuted using the religion of the state, the
weaponisation of the royal establishment and being marginalised by the
entitlement programmes of the majority.
We
expect the leadership of our chosen political parties to look after the
interests of the people, specifically the non-Malay communities.
Mind
you, what the non-Malays value in terms of economic posterity and
political stability are policies which would benefit all Malaysians,
hence mainstream non-Malay politics are utilitarian in nature.
Malay
rights have been weaponised to the point that the Madani regime would
rather not carry out any utilitarian policies that would benefit
everyone, especially the Malays, because they are the majority, for fear
of the opposition claiming that Malay/Muslim rights are being sidelined
because of the DAP.
The lesson of the failure and failings of Madani is that the non-Malay community must give up this idea of governing.
Damned if you do, damned if you donāt
Even
with the best of intentions, non-Malay political operatives are
hampered by the mainstream political dogma of all parties, which is
grounded in ethnic and religious superiority.
Non-Malay
political operatives say one thing to the base and do the exact
opposite when they sit down and formulate policy, either on a state or
federal level.
Campaign promises are discarded, or their failure to implement them is blamed on the deep state.
Non-Malay
politicians act as if they have no power, or when they attempt to use
it, they are vilified by being labelled anti-Malay, at which point they
fold and conform to official state and federal religious and ethnic
narratives of superiority.
In Pakatan Harapanās brief tenure in
the federal government, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad
publicly castrated Lim Guan Eng when he said that Lim had to run
everything through him before he made any important decisions.
There was a concerted effort to give the Malays more at the expense of the Chinese community, but nothing could be said at the time because this would upset the DAPās non-Malay base.
What
the author describes in his piece is what the Malay establishment wants
from its non-Malay partners. What they want is subservience.
Aminuddin
is gleeful of the fact that the MCA only survived because Umno breathed
life into it, and bemoans the fact that even though the MCA relies on
Malay-dominated polities, they continue insulting the Malay uber alles
government with the interests of the community they represent.
He even makes the point that the MCA, in order to get back Chinese support, mimics the DAP.
āPada
PRU 14, MCA sebenarnya sudah mati tetapi diberi nafas kembali oleh
Umno. Ini kerana lebih 90 peratus daripada masyarakat Cina sudah
menyokong DAP melalui PH dan menolak MCA. MCA yang memang sudah sekian
lama terdesak mahu memenangi kembali hati pengundi Cina, mereka sanggup
berbuat apa sahaja termasuklah āberperangaiā seperti DAP.ā
(In
GE14, MCA already met its end but was given a new breath of life by
Umno. This is because more than 90 percent of the Chinese community is
already supporting DAP through Harapan and has rejected MCA. MCA has
indeed long been desperate to win back Chinese votersā hearts; they are
willing to do whatever it takes, including āactingā like DAP.)
Ideals clash with reality
The
non-Malay political narrative post-May 13 has been one of
backpedalling, reversals, sycophancy, and Orwellian doublespeak because
the weight of expectations collided with the realpolitik of Malay rule.
Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Liew Chin Tongās description of how the DAP gave everything
to then-home minister Muhyiddin Yassin, but it wasnāt enough, points to
how non-Malay political operatives were desperate for some sort of
consensus or compromise, but this still made them targets of opportunity
for the Malay establishment.
Muhyiddin Yassin
The
DAP, which should have been an outspoken political bloc in the regime,
is neutered by Umno and sidelined by the chief executive because Prime
Minister Anwar Ibrahim understands that the very appearance of relying
on them or defiance from them would be bad optics for the voting base he
wants to cultivate.
We see all these non-Malay political
operatives in government at the state and federal levels, but what
changes have they made to the way this country is governed?
Partisans
have this really dumb line about how non-Malay politicians are āhard
workingā, and you have to ask yourself what exactly they are working
hard for, or better yet, who are they working hard for?
Some
non-Malay partisans are contributing to the racist narrative that
non-Malay politicians ab initio are hardworking compared to their lazy
Malay counterparts. The reality, of course, is all these politicians are
doing is nurturing a conducive ecosystem of political and corporate
malfeasance.
These days, the DAP seems to be the connective
tissue between the mainstream Malay establishment and the plutocratic
class rather than the connective tissue between democratic ideas and
their non-Malay base.
What other choice do we have?
The
reality, of course, is that all these politicians are doing is
nurturing a conducive ecosystem of political and corporate malfeasance.
During
election season, all these non-Malay political operatives start banging
the drum when it comes to issues facing the non-Malay communities, and
of course, the threat of the Green Wave is shouted from the rooftops of
Putrajaya and urban and semi-urban centres.
Anwar is very well
aware that although non-Malays rant and rave on social media, the
reality is that when it comes to the ballot box, they will vote for his
proxies because they believe that, as flawed as he is, there is no
alternative.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
Rational
Malaysians have to understand that it is pointless to be in any kind of
supremacist government because the price of admission is subservience.
Better to be on the outside on your feet than inside on your knees.
The
problem is, being on your knees inside gets you paid. As it is,
non-Malay governing seems more like gaslighting for entrenched
supremacist interests.
I truly believe when non-Malays realise
that it is better to have a strong opposition voicing baseline
democratic ideas and not be involved in the current swamp of
policymaking and becoming contributors to the swamp, there will truly be
a movement of reform for rational Malaysians, regardless of race,
religion or class.
