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."
Who's taking responsibility for Lahad Datu standoff? By Mat Zain Ibrahim
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Nobody bothers to mention 9th Rangers, who actually pinpointed the location of the Al Maunah group. A sub unit of 9th Rangers, their Unit Combat Intelligence Squad under the command of Captain Abdullah made first contact. As they were broken up into 5 men patrols they were able to cover more ground. The 5 men team that made first contact was under the command of Sergeant Ukon. In that contact (fire fight) Sergeant Ukon was wounded. Captain Abdullah the commander of the UCIS Platoon,
managed to extricate his wounded sergeant. He located the main force of
Al Maunah. Contact report was sent to Battalion Headquarters. The Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Mundaw reported that incident to 2 Brigade Headquarters. The Brigade Commander, Brigadier General Yazam gave the orders to destroy Al Maunah.
When Lt Col Stephen Mundaw was directed to do so, he was thrilled and excited, he had the ooportunity to expose his young officers and young soldiers to the real thing.Since the CPM laid down the arms, they were only doing peace time soldiering. Which was training and operations aiding the police on illegals and other boring laid back duties. Whilst battle procedure (preparations for battle i.e reconnaissance, plans, issuance of ammo, orders, rehearsals, logistics plans, fire support plans etc) were being conducted, orders came from the higher ups in Mindef to stand down. No one remembers or mentions the role played by the 9th Battalion Royal Rangers. It is convenient to forget, so that others who do not deserve glory can covet and claim it.
From then onwards it was a drama between the Police and the Army as stated below. Personally, the Lahad Datuk incursion should be handled by the Military. Let there be the rule of law, when you hang Kampong folks from Malaysia with home made guns, I think we should destroy foreign heavily armed invaders instead of pussyfooting around and handling them with kid gloves - edit.
COMMENT
Until today, there is not one honourable person who is prepared to take
the responsibility for the lapse of security that resulted in the Lahad
Datu standoff. Surely there must have been someone put in charge of the
area, but has neglected his responsibilities. If Prime Minister
Najib Abdul Razak is serious about protecting the sovereignty, security
and safety of our country and the citizens, he would have caught hold of
one or two of the ground commanders and relieved them of their command. Only
then will the rakyat believe that the PM is not only in control but
that he is on top of the situation and has his priorities right. Since
nothing of that sort is happening, we can only expect that, eventually,
the blame will go to the lowest ranking soldiers, who will be accused
of sleeping on the job and for failing to wake up their superiors. And
also the constables who have failed to gather the intelligence before
the intrusion for actions to be taken before the invaders landed. This
was the position taken by our Najib himself, when he was interviewed at
length by reporters from on July 9, 2000, after the Sauk incident. When
Najib was asked about the lapse of security at the 304 Army Camp that
resulted in the arms heist by the Al-Maunah gang, his answer was that
all the standing orders were already in place but the fault was on a few
low-ranking soldiers who did not follow the instructions to the letter. When
queried about the capabilities of the intelligence operators, Najib
said the police should have gathered prior information about the
Al-Maunah activities and if he had been told of the involvement of one
army major in the group earlier, for instance, he would have taken some
actions against the said major. As the defence minister then, it
was improper for Najib to stoop so low as to pick on the level of
soldiers guarding the armoury to shift the blame to. He should have
reprimanded severely the division commander, or at the very least the
brigade commander, for failing to ensure that units under their command
carried out their tasks jobs properly. In other words, Najib is
telling the rakyat that he can take action against soldiers or police of
the lowest rank only, but would not dare touch the generals or police
chiefs. ‘Dealing with armed enemies' The
citizens must surely remember how the people in the Klang Valley were
terrified and lived in horror for almost two months, between May and
June 1993, when the notorious Kalimuthu aka Bentong Kali went on a
rampage, and with just one automatic pistol, a 9mm Sig Sauer. More
than 200 police personnel (me included) were deployed to track him down
and only managed to get Bentong Kali on June 29, 1993. And even then,
only after he had already killed 16 people. If a person can
inflict that many casualties using just one handgun, then we would
rather not imagine the damage the Sulu militants in Lahad Datu can cause
to our citizens with the firepower they brought along with them, as
reported. Najib himself admitted in that interview of July 2000
that he was nervousand could not sleep well when told about the arms
heist at the 304 Army Camp. If he, as a defence minister then,
could have such fearful feelings, then he cannot expect the citizens,
especially those in Lahad Datu and the rest of the country, to be
unafraid of their safety after knowing about the armed intrusion by a
group of foreigners who are known to be seasoned fighters. It is
the duty of the government of the day to provide the citizens with
regular updates on these situations, similar to what was done during the
operations against Bentong Kali and the Al-Maunah group, to name a few. It
would be wrong and irresponsible for the government to downplay the
Lahad Datu intrusion or hide the truth from her own citizens, who might
be caught off guard should any of the intruders slip through the cordon. Our
sovereignty, our pride, our security and safety are being threatened
and put under siege by hundreds of armed invaders and the prime minister
is saying that the rakyat do not have the right to know? It is a
sad and embarrassing situation that Malaysians are forced to depend on
news and statements from President Benigno Aquino and the Malacanang
spokesperson to get a better understanding of the actual state of
security of our own country, instead of hearing it from our very own
prime minister or home minister. Is the PM being fair to the people in this regard? He should reassess his position. Why no military involvement? Malaysians
are wondering, and many are asking, why the military appears to be
sidelined instead of being mobilised to help solve the standoff, since
the intrusion has become a national security issue and of public
interest. My gut feeling tells me that Najib is worried that if
the military is involved in this operation, it will develop into another
"standoff" within the Lahad Datu standoff. This
time, it will be between the police commanders and the army field
commanders, who will be arguing over who is to be in-charge of the whole
operation, who is to get the most media and TV coverage, who is to be
cited as the hero at the end of the day and who is to be awarded another
medal and title. This will be a more long drawn-out and complicated
issue to settle than the actual standoff itself. Seriously I am
not trying to pull a fast one here. Neither is it my intention to
belittle both the current police and military commanders or to embarrass
anyone, dead or alive. I am still part of the big family, and so are my
brother and in-laws, albeit all in retirement. This "standoff within a stand-off" did happen in real life, during the Bukit Jenalik, Sauk, incident. The
question of who is the "real hero" in the surrender of those Al-Maunah
arms raiders between, Lt-Gen Zaini Mohd Said and ASP Abdul Razak
MohdYusof , has not been resolved fully until today, after almost 13
years. As far as Najib is concerned, it's Zaini, who
"single-handedly" brought the Al-Maunah arms heist and hostage standoff
to a finish. Only God knows how he came to this conclusion. But
as far as the former IGP Norian Mai and the police are concerned, the
real hero is ASP Abdul Razak, who at the time of incident was a chief
inspector based in with the General Operations Force in Ulu Kinta. According
to the former IGP, it was Abdul Razak who, by continuously arguing
"religion" with the Al-Maunah gang, managed to convince the group to lay
down their arms. Even when Zaini, wgho was then army field commander,
and GOF Commander SAC II Abdul Hadi Mahmud went in with the security
forces, Abdul Razak was already there and trying to calm both parties to
ensure that no confrontation took place. I would suggest that in
order to avoid complicating the already complicated Lahad Datu
standoff, it is better to let IGP Ismail Omar finish his business and
show us that he really knows what he is doing and keeping the citizens
updated. Where's the rule of law? Without
a doubt, what the Sulu armed intruders have done is waging war against
the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah, irrespective
of whichever angle one looks at it. No
one from the intruders should be allowed to get away scot free, under
any circumstance. They must face the full weight of our laws as a
deterrent to prevent others from following their footsteps. We should not be afraid and should ignore any threats of retaliation from any quarter. After
all, our people are already conditioned to threats of another "May 13"
chaos taking place and still they can go about their business as usual. Our
people have already accepted the fact that the chaos did take place and
the threat of history repeating itself will always be there, that the
threat will remain as a threat forever. They will cross the bridge when
the time comes, if at all. The real losers are the hatemongers. What
is before Najib now is an "Al-Maunah like standoff". I must say that
Najib was quite hands-on during the Sauk incident. Now, the citizens who
have always been under threats, some of which were incited on his own
behalf, would be watching very closely how Najib handles the Lahad Datu
standoff instead. The rakyat can judge whether Najib's actions
will be more or less, or less is more, as compared with the Al-Maunah
standoff. If he does more, there will definitely be a backlash from
certain quarters. If he does less, he will get more whacking from the
rakyat. So, he had better find something in between... a "just nice"
solution. Good luck to the prime minister and we should wish him well. Malaysiakini MAT ZAIN IBRAHIM is former chief of the Criminal Investigation Department, Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent.
Was I wrong from the first instance that this is a Military issue? I have operated there and so did many others. Did the police operte there? Now who is in command. Do we Military personnel take orders from Police?? Total screm by Hisaputing and Najib comes to the fore as if he is Sun Tzu trained. Let the Military do what they do best
Nobody knows the sacrifices ot the troops. Today is asking why no Indians or Chinese. What happened to this country? You and me never defended the honour of this country? You had with Somalians. I had with communist. Veni Vedi vici my friend. Let's see how things go. Remember when I said this was a Military issue....Police learn or Hisaputing went back leaving his chiplings in Lahat Datu.
Was I wrong from the first instance that this is a Military issue? I have operated there and so did many others. Did the police operte there? Now who is in command. Do we Military personnel take orders from Police?? Total screm by Hisaputing and Najib comes to the fore as if he is Sun Tzu trained. Let the Military do what they do best