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."
By Major (Rtd) Mohd Iskandar David Abdullah When the government announced the formation of the Eastern Sabah
Security Command (ESSCOM), I said to myself, “About bloody time!”. I
imagined security sectors formed from Kudat to Sandakan to Lahad Datu to
Semporna and Tawau, mirroring what we used to have along the
Malaysian-Thai border during the Communist insurgency such as Kota Alfa,
Kota Bravo, Kota Charlie and Kota Delta spanning Kuala Perlis to
Tumpat. The initial aim was to combat the communist guerrillas and
stopping their infiltration from Southern Thailand. After the treaty in
December 1989, we had elements of the Unit Pencegahan Penyeludupan (UPP)
or the Anti-Smuggling Unit operating in these areas in a supporting
role, to curb the smuggling of contrabands and also human trafficking.
Instead, I find it rather amusing when the Ketua Setiausaha Negara
announced that Datuk Mohammad Mentek has been appointed as the Director
of ESSCOM effective April 1st. What is wrong with this appointment?
Mohammad Mentek is the Director of Immigration for the state of Sabah,
the agency that, in my opinion, has failed badly in curbing the in-flow
of illegal Filipino and Indonesian immigrants into that state.The New
Straits Times ran a story on Mohammad Mentek’s appointment and a
statement by the KSN that was complemented by Mohammad’s curriculum
vitae; citing even that Mohammad would be very experienced in the field
of security and public order.This April 1st appointment has to be an
April’s Fool joke with an extremely bad taste. Surely the KSN should
know the functions of the Immigration Department like the back of his
hand.
If I may provide a memory-jogger for all, the immigration Department’s functions are: 1. Issuing of passports and travel documents to Malaysian Citizens and Permanent Residents. 2. Issuing of visas, passes and permits to Foreign Nationals entering Malaysia. 3. Administering and managing the movement of people at authorised entry and exit points. 4.
Enforcing the Immigration Act 1959/63, Immigration Regulations 1963 and
Passport Act 1966.
If you think I made the above up, browse the
immigration website. How much of an expert do you think the Sabah Director of
Immigration would be in the field of counter-insurgency warfare,
joint-command operations and public order? Other than the pen being
mightier than the sword, I doubt if the person’s handled anything more
than the butter knife, let alone deploy battalions of soldiers and
policemen in combat situations.This is another example of the government
missing out on a good opportunity to make things better. Obviously, the
main concern when we talk about Sabah right now is its defence from
foreign elements. With the heavy presence of our security forces there,
we can only see illegal immigrants returning to their homeland, and not
the other way round. Therefore, the government should have had a clear aim (again,
quoting from the Principles of WAR) in ensuring its strategies in making
Sabah more secure conform to this aim. A concept called
Defence-in-Depth should have been adopted instead where the Army and
Police’s General Operations Force occupy the peripheral islands off
Sabah, as being done in Ops PASIR, supported by the Navy, Marine Police
and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. These are the
front-liners that will be meeting armed militants head-on. Onshore,
defence and security should be effected by the Army and Police. The
Immigration Department will just stick to its supporting role, weeding
out illegal immigrants.. Therefore, in my opinion, the ESSCOM should be jointly-directed by
the Deputy Commander of the Army’s 1st Division, one of the deputies of
the Commissioner of Police, Sabah, and the Malaysian Maritime
Enforcement Agency’s Head of Regional Enforcement for Sabah and Labuan.
The reason is because they are in-charge of the combat and
combat-capable units operating in this region, not the Immigration.In
conclusion, the choice of the Director of Immigration for Sabah as the
Director for ESSCOM is a grave mistake. I respect the person for who he
is, but if the government wants to be seen serious in protecting the
Malaysians in the state of Sabah, leave the job to the professionals.
Not someone who holds a Master of Science (Statistics) degree and a
Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) degree from the University of
Minnesota, United States. A food for thought on 1st April 2013
