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."
Much ado over the name of God by Commander (Rtd) S Thayaparan formerly of the Royal Malaysian Navy
Friday, February 08, 2013
"The opinions that are held with passion are always those for
which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the
holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion
are almost always held passionately." - Bertrand Russell (Sceptical Essays) COMMENT There
are no complexities in the ‘Allah' issue except the simplicity of
craven agendas of political parties desperate to hang on to power or
desperate to claim power. As always, when it comes to Islam, outrage is
nearly always manufactured.Only this time, after a period of cessation, the outrage was manufactured by the DAP. I havealready discussedthe politically inept manner in which the DAP chose to handle this issue through its party's Christmas day message. The
fact that the Selangor sultan has decided to intervene, thereby
fostering the perception that Islam again is under siege (sic), points
to the perilous endgame that Umno wishes to play and the opposition
alliance (which should know better) seem intent on joining.
Umno watchers as opposed to partisan watchers I have talked to, agree that with the Selangor sultan entering the fray, it merely points to the declining influence of Prime Minister Najib Razak within Umno. While the right-wing elements in his party continue to stir the
religious and ethnic pot, Najib is making a spectacle of himself
attempting to position himself as a moderate voice when it comes to
religion and race. His various meetings with simpatico Christian (and
others) religious heads and the disbursements to various non-Malay
causes, has had little impact on a certain section of the electorate.
The conventional Umno wisdom is to take the hardline and non-Malay
support be damned. What certain factions within Umno hope to achieve
with the opportunity that the opposition has given them is to dethrone a
lame duck prime minister and light the fire for an Islamic revival that
they believe they can contain.Meanwhile the DAP who has more or
less locked down the Chinese vote, continues to coddle the Christian
evangelical movement within its rank, which finds expression in the
putrid sloganeering of youth movements like 'Rise up it's time to take
Subang for Jesus' endorsed by certain religiously-inclined DAP leaders.
PAS, never one to take its Islamic credentials lightly, has gone and
changed its moderate position (of allowing non-Muslims to use the word
‘Allah') into one of bizarre word play, which to be honest,
characterises most edicts from this religious political party tenuously
holding on to the middle ground.
Add to this quagmire, the PAS
administration in Kedah have muddied the waters with their usual Islamic
preoccupations with regards to how non-Muslims celebrate their
festivities. All of which should make right-thinking Malaysians question
PAS' commitment to the middle ground, not withstanding the total lack
of political finesse of the DAP. Instead of framing this
issue for what it really is, one of freedom of speech or expression,
what has happened is that the vested religious interest within Umno and
Pakatan, have been calling the shots and politicising this as a "simple"
issue of constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom.Comedy of errors
It really is a comedy of errors with the Council of Churches of
Malaysia (CCM) stating that they intend to use the word ‘Allah' in
defiance of the royal decree because of their rights enshrined in the
constitution. What would have been a credible argument is the
one the MCA put forward concerning the judgment on the use of the word
‘Allah' that I assumed was the whole point of initiating legal
proceedings. Or
better yet reconsidered their (Council of Churches) stand to the
so-called "compromise" of the 10-point solution as enunciated by
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Idris Jala (right)
when this fiasco first broke out all the way back in 2011 with regard to
the Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia bibles and was rejected by the youth
division of CCM.
So as far as religious tensions are concerned,
notwithstanding the usage of the word ‘Allah', the Umno state and the
opposition forces in this country had more or less reached an
"equitable" solution even if it was only a band-aid solution. So, what
exactly is the problem? There are numerous issues that involve
non-Muslims that would hopefully be resolved permanently when a new
supposedly multi-religious/ethnic coalition comes into power but until
then we have to choose our battles wisely and compromise by way of
band-aid solutions.
The only reason why we got this 10-point
solution was due to the efforts of the opposition led mainly by the DAP.
It was the perfect example of political parties chasing the votes of a
certain section of a religiously diverse electorate. There were
criticism of this 10-point solution but overall it was a clean political
victory for the forces of moderation in this country no matter which
side of the political divide one belonged to. Then this Christmas, this
‘Allah' issue weaseled its way back into the discourse.
A
cunning strategist would have used this 10-point solution as a gateway
for bringing in other issues by zealously monitoring its implementation
or the present regime's commitment to their solution. As it is, like
most convenient political tools, it was forgotten in the rush for the
next big scandal.Political expediency
The
DAP had backtracked earlier, claiming that Lim's statement was meant
only for Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, which just goes to show you
how political expediency trumps principle and finally after all this
horse manure, Pakatan finally puts forward a unified front with Abdul
Hadi Awang giving the coalition's final stand on the issue. It
would be constructive for Pakatan supporters to remember that Pakatan
had already made this stand when the controversy first erupted but all
this seems to have been forgotten when the DAP in a foolhardy move
decided to pander to the Christian evangelical movement on Christmas.
Not that "freedom of religion" has anything to do with the ‘Allah'
issue. Partisans, especially DAP apparatchiks, have gone out of their
way to give etymological lectures on the word ‘Allah' and within those
lectures there are enough historical distortions and cherry picking to
fool the true believers that their religion (Christianity) is under
siege here in Malaysia. Of course Muslims, Christians and Jews
have been killing each other (and themselves) for centuries in their
God's name but never (as far as I can recall) because of the name of
their God.
Of course, the non-Muslims have not had an easy time
with the creeping Arabisation instigated by Umno. Moreover, the constant
thorn in Umno's side is the fact that Sarawak and Sabah, thanks to the
20-point agreement, have been resisting the Umno-created Islamic
hegemony that those in the Peninsular unfortunately have to contend
with. In a piece about Nurul Izzah Anwar (right) and the controversy that erupted over her remarks regarding conversion, I commented
on the rather queer fact that oppositional types love to define what a
"true Muslim" is through their political/religious allegiance lens. We
get the same narrative here. A "true Muslim" (1) would not be ignorant
of the historical/cultural usage of the word ‘Allah' here in Malaysia
and (2) would be comfortable enough by non-Muslim usage. As
usual this true Muslim meme, clashes with reality when it comes to the
acknowledging the diverse religious imperatives in this country and the
compromises that have been made in the name of religious equilibrium.
Umno's outsourced thugs
Meanwhile
on Umno's side of the fence (which unfortunately also includes certain
factions within PAS), obnoxious outsourced thugs continue the Umno
narrative that Muslims (or should that be Malay Muslims) would be
confused by the indiscriminate use of the word 'Allah'. What I
find contemptible of this ploy is that it is disrespectful to Muslims
all over the world. You want to tarnish the reputation of the Islam you
are propagating by all means go ahead, but Muslim all over the world are
not so easily confused.
They still hold steady to their faith
in the face of American bombs. They hold steady to their faith in the
face of the brutality that is inflicted on them by their own Muslim
regimes. They still hold on to their faith in the face of changing
values within the larger culturally diverse communities they immigrate
into.
Apparently, the only easily confused Muslims are those living in Malaysia.
We are moving into the final dash of an election that would be a
turning point in the history of Malaysia. If you think that
"controversies" such as these do not have an effect on voting patterns,
you are sorely mistaken. Do not make the mistake of coddling a specific
voter demographic because you assume everyone else will fall into line. The
opposition, of which the DAP is the most important secular component
(or at least it should be), cannot afford such slip-ups. As Saturday's
rally confirmed, the opposition in this country is a complex mix of
diverse interest united in its goal of changing stewardship of this
country.
Amongst a certain section of the electorate, there is
this sincere belief that Pakatan with all its contradictions is the best
chance this country has. This belief should neither be taken for
granted nor be manipulated for shallow divisional interests.
It is no longer amateur hour in oppositional politics.Malaysiakini
