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."
Non-Muslims losing the secular game By Commander (Rtd) S THAYAPARAN, formerly of the Royal Malaysian Navy
Sunday, December 16, 2012
"In a well-functioning democracy, the state constitution is
considered more important than God's holy book, whichever holy book that
may be, and God matters only in your private life."- Ayaan Hirsi Ali (The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam) COMMENT I
find it extremely funny that PAS finds the time and opportunity to pray
for the demise of Umno and BN but has to hold numerous "councils"
before they can decide to take action against those errant local council
"saboteurs" that DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim
Guan Eng seems to think are jeopardising the fragile "secular"
alternative alliance.I
mean surely PAS could spare a prayer for God's wrath against those
within their ranks who would use Islam for nefarious Umno purposes. I
always get a kick out of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's (right)
justification that the Umno demise prayer was in keeping with Islamic
principles that allowed such a prayer to be recited when one felt
"oppressed". Does anyone else see the irony in this?
Moreover,
this whole ‘saboteur' theory is a fair enough assumption in this period
of political war. What is disturbing is that nobody in the alliance has
come out strongly for the alternative theory, which is that there are
people in PAS who reject this ‘separate but equal' masquerade of
secularism and really subscribe to the ‘hudud for all' belief.
An honest response from PAS should have been that they reject the
application of Islamic laws on non-Muslims as per their opposition
compact and all such laws are void ab initio concerning those
"caught" in the Islamic net. In other words, legal wrangling be damned
(or at least figured out later) in favour of outright political secular
rhetoric.
Spare those of us who actually subscribe to the idea
of secularism (that the oppositional forces claim to advocate) all this
drama about reaching ‘consensus' and discussing the issue with religious
councils. However, PAS finds this extremely difficult to do.
When they are not displaying their flaming extremist colours when they
go on their morality crusades or attempting to differentiate themselves
from Umno morality crusades, they are playing lip service to the tenets
of moderation and secularism that they know their supporters, both
Muslim and non-Muslim, don't have much allegiance to, what with the
march to Putrajaya and all.
If PAS could find a legal loophole
in its Automatic Enforcement System (AES) crusade, surely they could
find one in their religious text or the glorious Islamic
traditions/history (we constantly keep hearing about) that advocates
secularism for Islamic entities that find themselves in multi-religious
compacts.
Difficult balancing job
PAS
secretary-general Mustafa Ali (one of the few politicians in this
country that I hold in high regard because of the extremely difficult
balancing job he is required to perform) explanation that the ‘KB Four'
was not related to syariah law is a copout. The policing of
morality in a country, which has Islam as its official religion, does
not have the luxury of falling back on legal technicalities of disparate
indecency (sic) laws which interpretation is complex in a
multicultural/religious country with differing standards of morality. These kinds of acts have occurred in Umno-influenced municipal council
edicts and when it had, Umno had been barraged with venom of how they
allow their Islamic preoccupations to override non-Muslim sensitivities.
In addition, since when in this country does "indecent" behaviour cover
unisex hair cutting salons? I get it. I really do. For decades, the
moral police have harassed young Muslims couples. Nobody, certainly not
the non-Malays, had anything to say about it but make jokes at the
expense of their fellow Malaysians. We were warned that we should not
"interfere" in the affairs of the Muslims, since their laws did not
"touch" us. Except it did.If
Gerakan wants to challenge this so-called "indecency" by-law or
whatever law the municipal council felt the need to apply, I say more
power to them. It is all a big drama anyway but I for one would like to
understand if Pakatan states would adopt such measures in states that
are supposed to be governed by a secular coalition.
The
political parties (Gerakan, where were you all these years?), which were
supposed to maintain the ‘separate but equal' delusions, did nothing to
halt the Arabisation process except to see if they could profit from
it.
PAS always confined to the wilderness and without a taste of
real power were content to play out their Islamic preoccupations in
their own backyard. However, the scenario has changed. PAS is a power
player in national politics with a credible chance of someday being part
of an alliance which could win federal power. Maybe there are
saboteurs or maybe we should interpret what Kelantan state executive
councillor Takiyuddin Hassan said about certain by-laws allowing
non-Muslims to be charged with indecency (much like what happened in
certain non-Muslim ‘indecency' cases, under the Umno watch) as a period
of desensitising. The aim of this period is that non-Muslims get into
the habit of thinking that the same Islamic standards applicable to
Muslims apply to them too.
In addition, yes, The Star is
supposed to be a MCA propaganda organ but it is useless and juvenile
decrying this when this is politics as usual everywhere in the world.
Political parties have their propaganda organs and if the said
propaganda are effective, it points more to the weakness of the targets
of such attacks and their inability to counter such attacks.
DAP plays religious card, too
Even my piece on PAS and the middle groundcould
be considered some sort of PAS apologia (my well-known affection for
this party cultivated in a bygone era that was drenched with radicals
now cauterised from the fold). I throw around the term "appeasers"
to political parties that I do not support - MCA, MIC, etc - as a
cautionary tale against Umno but the reality is, that in the strange bed
fellows politics which is the alliance of my choice, the term
"enablers" could very well be used against the DAP and PKR. Well
more against DAP because let's face facts, PKR is still in its ‘journey
man' phase and until it can command a percentage of voters without the
influence of the other two time-tested political parties, it will remain
the glue that binds the behemoths together and nothing else.
Do
not get me wrong, I do not belittle this role and if PKR can survive
without the Anwar factor (and I am hopeful that it can), it heralds the
shape of things to come, as far as multiracial parties go. However, DAP
has positioned itself as the ‘champion' against Islamic provocations
used by Umno but also (and let us never forget this) by PAS. That is the
deal.
Penang BN chief's Teng Chang Yeow query is Penang heading towards Islamisationis
rather idiotic. No Teng, the whole of Malaysia has been in an era of
Islamisation, thanks to you and your comrades in BN. What the DAP is
doing is merely enabling their Islamic counterparts to carry on this sub
rosa process in lieu of Umno. The DAP's upping of the religious
affairs coffers from RM12.5 million in 2008 to RM64 million in 2012, as
evidence of how the Malay community is not marginalised, is extremely
shallow thinking but not surprising in the quest for the Malay/Muslim
vote.
CM
Lim Guan Eng rambles on how "the Malays are not angry we give money to
Chinese vernacular schools, and the Chinese are not angry that the
Muslim affairs council are getting money for their activities". So let
me get this straight. The Chinese get money for education and the Malays
get money for their ‘Islamic affairs'.
Moreover, how exactly is
this encouraging ‘secularism' or better yet, does anyone else finds it
queer that an administration that advocates secularism is busy handing
out money to one religious group and not the others?
Furthermore, why is it the best evidence of helping the Malays is only
through financing their religious institutions? More importantly, since
this is a need-based allocation, who monitors how the funds are used and
what they are used for?
When groups like the Sisters in Islam
draw attention to the fact that hudud is discriminatory and
unconstitutional or when academics spell out the reality that syariah favours the rich and powerful, where do you think these Islamic ideas are promulgated? Sisters
in Islam (who are the favoured punching bags of PAS) are told to get
with the programme and vote for the opposition. However, the most
influential of opposition parties is raising the allowances of religious
teachers, who most probably towed the Umno line but who would most
likely switch to the PAS tune now that a better deal is offered.
Where, dear readers, do you think all those ideas that the SIS find anathema are being spawned?
Sounding the alarm bell All
these little PAS provocations manufactured or not, which is lost in the
deluge of Umno corruption is slowly building up. The MCA, which I have
no allegiance to, is not a credible advocate for sounding the alarm bell
of Islamic transgression on secular territory merely because they
appeased their Umno warlords for decades. Dissing the disingenuous
messenger is acceptable but ignoring the message is outright stupid. Let us be honest here. All this faux ‘muhibbah' displays of non-Muslim
politicians garbed in Islamic attire swooning about in mosques, is a
one-way street meant to desensitise the maybe opposition-leaning ummah.
You will not get any Muslims (certainly not in this country and
certainly not politicians) dressing up in the ‘others' ethnic finery
glad handling in their places of worship.
The realpolitik is
that when you are in bed with an Islamic party, the best you could hope
for is a ‘separate but equal' policy. After all this drama, the
licensing terms involving hair salons owned by non-Muslims in Kelantan
has been postponed. It really should not have been an issue in the first
place.At least Takiyuddin is honest enough to admit that the
decision to "postpone" the implementation of the licensing terms is an
election tactic to pacify non-Muslim voters.Karpal Singh (right)
seems to be the only one holding up the DAP's end of deal in a
consistent uncompromising manner. Of these latest provocations and the
quest for Putrajaya, he says "However that the objective cannot, and
must not, mean sacrificing principle at the altar of political
expediency. The DAP is committed to opposing any attempt to extend
Islamic law to non-Muslims, whether directly or indirectly."
Do
not blame PAS for not holding up its end of the deal when the other
parties continue enabling the regime from Kelantan (and those within the
Muslim community committed to the idea of a Islamic state, a harsher
version of Umno's?) merely because the throne is within reach.
Losing the secular game? We have not even been playing it with any real conviction. Malaysiakini
I
mean surely PAS could spare a prayer for God's wrath against those
within their ranks who would use Islam for nefarious Umno purposes. I
always get a kick out of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's (right)
justification that the Umno demise prayer was in keeping with Islamic
principles that allowed such a prayer to be recited when one felt
"oppressed". Does anyone else see the irony in this?
If
Gerakan wants to challenge this so-called "indecency" by-law or
whatever law the municipal council felt the need to apply, I say more
power to them. It is all a big drama anyway but I for one would like to
understand if Pakatan states would adopt such measures in states that
are supposed to be governed by a secular coalition.
CM
Lim Guan Eng rambles on how "the Malays are not angry we give money to
Chinese vernacular schools, and the Chinese are not angry that the
Muslim affairs council are getting money for their activities". So let
me get this straight. The Chinese get money for education and the Malays
get money for their ‘Islamic affairs'.
Karpal Singh (right)
seems to be the only one holding up the DAP's end of deal in a
consistent uncompromising manner. Of these latest provocations and the
quest for Putrajaya, he says "However that the objective cannot, and
must not, mean sacrificing principle at the altar of political
expediency. The DAP is committed to opposing any attempt to extend
Islamic law to non-Muslims, whether directly or indirectly."
