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."
GE13 a defining moment for Malaysia by Dennis Ignatius
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
COMMENT
No matter how often one reads about the sordid corruption and abuse of
power in Malaysia, one can never get used to the staggering scale of
betrayal by those we trusted to govern in our name. The latest scandal,
that certain political leaders illegally and secretly manipulated
citizenship grants in order to shift the balance of votes in their
favour, is beyond outrageous. The full scope of their treachery might
never be known.
What is particularly galling is that despite all
the publicity, despite the fact that we are about to head to the polls,
it's still business as usual. It speaks of an overbearing sense of
impunity and an utter disdain for the people of Malaysia. It is
mind-boggling, as well, that Malaysia, according to the international
financial integrity watchdog Global Financial Integrity, is now second only
to China in the outflow of illicit funds. Untold billions have been
looted and squirreled abroad even as our nation sinks further into debt.
At this rate, the day of our economic reckoning, a reckoning that will
fall primarily upon the shoulders of the common people, cannot be too
far off.
A
government which allows these things to continue unchecked year after
year surely loses all its credibility as well as its moral legitimacy.The
carnage that decades of misrule has wrought is now evident in nearly
every area of national life - the justice system, the police force, the
civil service, the Election Commission and the anti-corruption
commission.
Abroad, meanwhile, Malaysia is increasingly seen as a
nation in decline. Each year we sink lower and lower in critical
benchmarks for corruption, transparency, good governance, education,
human rights and press freedom.
Where once we ran with the best, we now hunker with the outliers; where
once we benchmarked ourselves with the finest, we now settle for being a
cut above the worst. Benjamin Franklin's axiom
Part
of the problem is that we, as a nation, have for too long put our trust
in personalities and political parties rather than in the kind of
institutions that alone can guarantee our democracy and help ensure good
governance. So enamoured were we with personalities that we did little
as the caudillos undermined our national institutions and weakened the
fabric of our nation.
We unwittingly traded our fundamental freedoms for short-term prosperity and stability. And
now, we, like many other nations before us, have discovered the truth
of Benjamin Franklin's axiom - that those who trade their freedom for
temporary security deserve neither and will lose both. Only
strong democratic institutions can help ensure that a nation survives
the corrupt or ineffectual leaders that democracies tend to throw up
from time to time. America, for example, could survive Nixon because its
democratic institutions were strong, whereas the Philippines collapsed
into chaos together with Marcos because its institutions were weak.
The
reality is that power is always highly corrosive and corrupting, and
must be kept in check by strong democratic institutions and traditions.
History clearly shows that absent an effective system of checks and
balances, today's reformers could well become tomorrow's abusers.
While
the upcoming general election will, in the first instance, be a contest
between personalities and coalitions, their respective policies on the
central issue of democratic reform will be the key to our future.
The
task is, admittedly, huge - dismantling institutionalised cronyism and
injustice, re-establishing standards of good governance, rebuilding all
our national institutions and forging a new national consensus.
Happily,
there is a resurgence of confidence and optimism that it can be done,
that we are possessed of the resilience, fortitude and basic solidarity
necessary to overcome the challenges that years of misrule and division
have wrought. The mass outpouring of support for Bersih and other
citizen initiatives clearly demonstrate that people are not going to
keep silent anymore, that enough is enough. Equally important,
there is now, in the Pakatan Rakyat, a genuine, viable and credible
alternative to BN. They have already far surpassed the BN in their
transparency, management and good governance in the states they now rule
despite harassment, sabotage and black propaganda.
Between fear and hope
The choice before Malaysians is, therefore, both clear and stark - we
either vote to rebuild our democracy or vote to diminish it further. The
choice we make at this election will forever define our nation. Those
who want to maintain the status quo are, of course, hoping that fear
will keep us from reaching for hope. They have invoked the spectre
of racial and religious strife, of foreign meddling and economic ruin.
This calculus was recently summed up by the cynical remark: "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't."
It is an utterly false
posit, for the choice before us is not between two devilish alternatives
but between fear and hope, between tyranny and democracy, and between
our worst instincts and "the better angels of our nature," to quote
Abraham Lincoln.In his Merdeka speech, Tunku Abdul Rahman (right),
the father of our nation, said, "At this solemn moment therefore, I
call upon you all to dedicate yourselves to the service of the new
Malaya: to work and strive with hand and brain to create a new nation,
inspired by the ideals of justice and liberty - a beacon of light in a
disturbed and distracted world."
It's time to rededicate ourselves to that unfinished task. Malaysiakini DENNIS
IGNATIUS is a former foreign service officer who has served in London,
Beijing, Washington, Santiago and Buenos Aires. His last appointment was
High Commissioner to Canada.