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."
Zahid DNAA: Legal justifications, political ramifications, and credibility conundrum By R Nadeswaran
Saturday, September 05, 2026
Malaysiakini : But if they were indeed defective as claimed, how did the court decide that the prosecution had established a prima facie case and Zahid was to enter his defence? For the record, four witnesses had already testified for the defence.
While Idrus maintained stoic silence, Anwar, as if the AG himself, went on a tirade of sorts: āWas it 47? Every cheque is a charge. So, the charge is questionable. Every cheque issued is a charge by itself, which does not necessarily seem to be professionally done.ā
Anwar Ibrahim and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
What Anwar failed to understand or explain is that the Criminal Procedure Code requires every cheque to form a separate charge.
But in Malaysia, nothing is more convincing than throwing in a bit of political drama for a more salacious reading.
āWhen was the charge proffered? During that time, Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister. When? A week after he called up the president of this nationalist party (Umno), which is a member of my coalition, and told him (Zahid), āYou dissolve your party and join my partyā,ā Anwar said.
On Jan 12, Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar declared that Zahid's corruption case was āsettled once and for allā, but he could have unwittingly exposed a fundamental breach of prosecutorial procedure established by one of his predecessors.
ZahidāsNFA
On May 3, 2019, then-attorney-general Tommy Thomas issued a Public Prosecutor Direction No 2/2019, a directive establishing stringent safeguards against the discontinuance of criminal proceedings.
For context, the directive emerged after a period of public outrage over prosecutorial decisions that appeared to lack transparency and consistency.
Thomas wrote in the directiveās background, lamenting that the spate of discontinued proceedings at that time had called into question the integrity of the entire prosecutorial system.
Lawyers from various quarters are urging the Attorney-Generalās Chambers to explain why it has concluded that there will be āno further actionā (NFA) in the Yayasan Akalbudi case against Zahid.
However, no answers were forthcoming from the AG.
In May, the Court of Appeal allowed the Malaysian Bar to pursue a judicial review against the decision to temporarily discontinue prosecution against Zahid in 2023.
In a unanimous decision, the panel of three judges led by Faizah Jamaludin said they found the Barās judicial review application āappropriateā and not frivolous.
They said the lawyersā professional body raised arguable issues that warrant a full judicial review and remitted the matter back to the High Court for hearing.
The panel also said Barās challenge was not a collateral attack on the criminal court presiding over the case; instead, it challenged the legality and rationality of the AGās decision that led to Zahidās DNAA.
With Umno-Pakatan Harapan relations fraying after the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections, and leaders trading open attacks, Anwar - who for three years had deflected calls for answers, even in Parliament - now faces renewed demands for a review, with mounting pressure for Zahid to be charged.
Besides, with the MACC and AG prosecuting, among others, former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and former human resources minister M Saravanan, the voices have grown louder.
Calls for review
On Thursday, DAPās Jelutong MP RSN Rayer fired the first salvo, urging the AG to review the discontinuation of Zahidās 47 corruption charges, involving funds from Yayasan Akalbudi, a foundation chaired by Zahid.
Rayer questioned why prosecution against the BN chairperson was discontinued despite the governmentās renewed crackdown on corruption, saying the same standards must apply to political allies and opponents.
RSN Rayer
Yesterday, DAP Youth joined the chorus, calling on the AG to revisit the decision to drop the charges and, if the evidence and legal grounds warrant it, revive the prosecution.
The wing said the matter was closely tied to the countryās institutional reform agenda, arguing that the Madani governmentās credibility in fighting corruption could be undermined if politicians within the government were not subjected to the same standards as those outside it.
So, is this sudden surge of prosecutions a flash in the pan or a show of might, or is it another seasonal show to appease citizens calling for a concerted effort to wipe out corruption?
Anwar, despite repeatedly telling Malaysians he would never interfere with the MACCās work, made a grave error of judgment by giving his take in Singapore when Zahid was given the DNAA in 2023.
The DNAA is not just a procedural twist in a corruption trial - it is a defining moment for Malaysiaās justice system. By defending the move, Anwar has placed his reformist credentials on the line, trying the Madani governmentās anti-corruption agenda against a decision that reeks of political expediency.
The silence of the Attorney-Generalās Chambers, the apparent disregard for safeguards introduced under Public Prosecutor Direction No 2/2019, and the timing amid coalition fragility all converge to erode confidence in the impartiality of the law.
In the end, the DNAA is more than a legal reprieve; it is a political signal. And unless that signal is corrected with clarity and courage, the Madani government risks losing the very credibility it claims to uphold.
