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."
I applied for my new Mykad, quite some time back, that's a long time back, long before the deadline. I am one of those people who likes to do things long before deadlines. I am not one of those who waits for police discounts for fines, sending income tax returns directly to KL and not at the last minute to the local office. You know the deeply encouraged and embedded Malaysian culture of doing things at the last minute, which you all encourage.
Oh, yes, coming back to the Mykad, my wife and I collected ours at the State National Registration Office, you know when it was located near the Perak Medical College. You have apparently now moved to Jelapang.
My Church, recently decided to do a public service on what your gross incompetent people have been doing, yes, from the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara. What was shocking was that people who had filled their forms as Christians were registered as "Buddha". "Buddha" is the person and Buddhism is a religion. There were a a large number of them. What really riled me the most, I, who am an ethnic Indian and an ex-govenment servant, who used to carry dog tags engraved with the words "Kristian", in the event I fell in the service of my country suddenly finds himself converted to "Confucius". Confucius is a person, the practice or a way of life is known as "Confucianism". I was against putting religion in the identity card from the beginning of this fiasco.
Allow me to educate you ignoramuses on that, Confucius taught ideas; but with Confucius's adoption in the Hàn Dynasty as the official moral and political doctrine of the State, the Confucian tradition became so broad that "Scholar" or "Literatus" became all but synonymous with "Confucian," and so Confucianism could simply be called the Ju Chia [], or School of the Literati. Go here for the details, Confucius . Further you go against everything the "Rukunnegara teaches, Kesopanan Dan Kesusilaan" which means, "Mutual respect and good social behaviour". That's in the fifth line. Which you and your people at the NRD seem to ignore.
You might want to say that I might have wrongly filled my form, even though I am a pensioner, I retired at the age of 44 after 26 years of service in an elite Infantry Unit, the Royal Malaysian Rangers. I am as clear as crystal on what I wrote, I wrote the word "Kristian". My question next, is this a scam on the part of the NRD, to make people pay for corrections. RM10 for every correction will amount to a substantial sum. I do not understand the rationale of that, because of your gross incompetence and ineptitude on your part we have to pay the price ?
On my part I refuse to pay. I took a day off, of my limited and valuable off days to renew and get this glorified Mykad. The next question is, can I claim for my mileage and for my off day in cash for your blunders. Meaning a one day pay for processing and another day for collection. My mileage claim will have to cover my trip from Penang as I work there, my residence is in Ipoh. Forget about providing me a bus fare, it must cover two and fro trips from Penang. Or maybe send your team to my place of choice to undo your BLUNDER. For goodness sake do not apologise to me, when you do that you would appear to me like a tender morsel. I need more than an apology.
I think and many others think so too, that you people are "Monkeying" around with the religion of others. Over and above that you want to rip people off their hard earned money. I would also suggest that all of you attend some kind of sensitivity training, from TOP down, starting with you. I deserve respect from the likes of you, no I demand that respect. Or is there a hidden agenda behind all these doctored blunders ?
I am writing this letter to you in English, to check whether you could coin a decent reply in English, you know with all the gross incompetency flying around. Aah yes, I do expect a reply.
Regards
Major (Rtd) D.Swami
Ps. To the editors of all the publications, please feel free to publish my letter to highlight this criminal incompetency to the public. I sincerely thank you.