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 - 10 years or more of trials and tribulations for Malaysia By P Gunasegaram
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Malaysiakini : DAP, the other main party within the Pakatan Harapan coalition, is facing a crisis of credibility with its support base of Chinese and urban voters eroding rapidly.
Nobody
I know expects Harapan to be the main driving force, if ever it was, in
the next unity coalition, with everyone pretty sure that Harapan will
be pushed out of the driverās seat and into opposition.
Prime
Minister Anwar Ibrahim must see the cards stacked against him, which
means he will let his tenure go to full term and then most likely retire
after that.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
At 79 this year, he is hardly the person to take the country to new heights. He had his chance and blew it.
Even
if he wants to switch sides to the winning coalition/electoral pact,
they may not want him, even if he has willingly or unwittingly handed
the mantle to them on a platter by his inaction and inaptitude, losing
support from all quarters.
PN, the dominant partner
Remember PASā main partner in the Perikatan Nasional coalition is now Hamzah Zainudinās Parti Wawasan Negara.
In the BN/PN coalition or electoral pact, it will be PN which will be the dominant partner.
Umno-BN is not really the phoenix rising from the ashes, even if things go well in terms of the electoral pact with PAS-PN.
If
nobody derails the train, it is almost inevitable that if they
combined, PN and BN will be the ones asked to form the government.
Currently,
PN controls 62 parliamentary seats (PAS 43, and Wawasan Negara, 19).
Given their current strength, they could take the total in a new
election to over 80.
If BN can take their number to over 40 from the 30 held, PN and BN are set to form the next government on their own.
In the current 222-seat Dewan Rakyat, 112 gives a majority.
Sabah
and Sarawak will be induced to join the winning side, and they will be
part of quite a solid pact, even a two-thirds majority. But a pact with
no direction and strategy for the future.
PAS
will lead the team of PN-BN as Bersatu remains totally sidelined,
although it may give up the reins to someone in Umno or to the other
major partner, Wawasan Negara, in the revitalised PN-BN electoral pact,
for the prime ministerās position.
No Islamic law for all
It
would not lead to Islamic law for everyone, which would require a
two-thirds majority. There is a body of opinion that says even then, it
will go against the basic doctrine of the Federal Constitution if it is
done, opening legal challenges.
Even if it is put to parliamentary
vote, the move to create an Islamic state for all is unlikely to
succeed because Sabah and Sarawak will largely not support it.
The non-Muslim components of BN too will oppose it.
More
frightening than an Islamic state is that the non-existent fight
against corruption will descend into an open support for it to fund the
various parties, cultivate breeds of businesspeople who support the
government, and the ignorance of all public revelations of corruption
and misgovernance.
Itās a continuation of the Madani government
but only much worse, a descent into the downward spiral of Umno politics
which has cost the country dearly over the decades.
Spawning rapacious behaviour
It
will enrich the already rich, ignoring the plight of poor Malays and
others, and spawn more rapacious behaviour exemplified by the 1MDB
scandal, losing RM42 billion in loans stolen and perhaps over RM100
billion in opportunity costs.
As
corruption increases, expect racism to rise. The current crop of
politicians still believe that racism will unite groups to support the
more dangerous corruption that they will be pushing. Malaysians are no
longer convinced of that rhetoric, though.
The unique Bersama
In
the meantime, Bersama is the only party that is not playing racial
politics among those considered to be in contention, if not now, then in
the future.
But all they are likely to do in the immediate future is to get a few seats and maintain the fight for the long term.
At
the 17th general election, five to seven years from now, they may make
some headway, especially with the young, our hope for the future.
However, they will probably need another five years to make a real difference and have a shot at becoming the dominant party.
The
problem that faces Malaysia now is one of poor leadership. It's true
what they say about others being worse than Anwar. But unless there is
some change, there is no impetus towards better leadership further out.
Change forces new leaders to emerge.
A new set of longer-term younger leaders is our only hope for change in the future.
The current leadership espousing patronage politics, which implies continued corruption, has to go or be forced out over time.
After GE16, it's going to be more of the same with the probability of greater misgovernance.
Priorities
for economic development and better living standards will be misplaced
in favour of the narrow interests of a few. The future is foreboding
indeed.
A silver lining
The only silver
lining is that in the likely event that the new coalition leading the
government misgoverns, there will be greater impetus for change then,
and perhaps Bersama might become an acceptable alternative, although it
may take GE18 before it can take over.
For most Malaysians, it
means making the best of a bad situation now, doing what is possible
within current constraints and taking any opportunities for change,
passing the mantle to others who have proven that they can be better.
Some
patches of light: a strong, well-diversified economy, relatively
well-trained workforce, a nice place to live although deteriorating and
largely good people whom politicians are trying their level best to make
racist.
This seems like a good place to stop writing and prepare
with equanimity and calm for the trouble and turmoil ahead and learn how
to live with it until it passes, making little transformations along
the way.
Malaysians already know full well whatās happening and what they are up against.
