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."
From Aliran He
is running to the Indian Malaysians to back him up strongly with
promises of a better deal for them if the BN is returned to power,
writes P Sivakumar.With the 13th General Election around the corner , Prime
Minister Najib Razak is running around the country frantically to garner
support for the BN by throwing cash and other goodies to the people. Realising that the Malays are no longer reliable when it comes to voting
for the BN and the Chinese Malaysians votes are unpredictable , he is
running to the Indian Malaysians to back him up strongly with promises
of a better deal for them if the BN is returned to power in GE13. Najib knows that many of the Indians , especially those in the
lower-income bracket, are gullible and will easily fall prey to sweet
talk; hence he is hankering after them for their votes.
All round discriminatory treatment
What better stooge than MIC can Najib get to orchestrate an action plan
of entertainment and handouts to win over and frighten the poor Indians
and garner their votes for BN. Whether the Indians are going to give him their full support this
time , as anticipated, is doubtful because for more than 50 years the
Indians have consistently given their loyal support to the BN and all
they may have got in return is all round discriminatory treatment.
Nevertheless , even if the PM is sincere in wanting to help the
Indians , it would appear that the Malay-dominated civil servants in the
Government are not inclined to toe his line as they have their own
agenda. To lend credence to this statement , a classic example is the
poor intake of non-Malays into the civil service and the thousands of
stateless Indians and red IC holders.
As far as contracts, business permits, licences, scholarships, places
in varsities and government institutions of higher learning are
concerned, their grievances continue to be put under the carpet .Furthermore , the Indians are also very unhappy with the way the NEP
has been implemented right from the beginning . Although the NEP was
designed to narrow the economic gap between the Malays and the
non-Malays, its primary aim was the eradication of poverty at all levels
regardless of race.
Deliberately neglected
Under this concept , every poor family – whether Malay, Chinese or
Indian – should have benefited without any discrimination but
unfortunately the Government had all along concentrated on solving the
problems of the Malays only and deliberately neglected to address the
problems faced by the non-Malays, including the Indians. As a result, many of the poor Indian families who deserved help have
been left out and are forced to struggle to cope with the realities of
life under extreme hardship.Also in the name of the NEP, the government has totally transformed
the nation’s bureaucracy in favour of the Malays, who have taken over
most of the important and key positions leaving scant employment
opportunities for the non-Malays.
Thus, it may not be an exaggeration to say that the public sector has
now become the near monopoly of one race with BN having marginalised
and alienated the non-Malays. Under the guise of privatisation, every new establishment,
institution and enterprise has also been made to favour the Malays, thus
ostracising the non-Malays altogether. This should not have been the case in a multi-racial country like
Malaysia where every major race should be seen to be participating in
the mainstream administration of the nation.
Najib has often said that the Government is always fair to all the
races , but with so much discrimination and double standards being
practised by the BN government, can he candidly say that he has been
fair to all the races? Definitely not, and yet he has the cheek to say that repeatedly. So
the PM’s 1Malaysia slogan is nothing but a gimmick to hoodwink the
people . The so-called power-sharing among the coalition partners like
Umno, the MIC and the MCA is also a farce. What the non-Malay partners have seen all through is the dominance of Umno Malays, much to the bane of MCA and MIC. It is Umno that is calling the shots and dictating all terms for more than half a century.
Right to fair treatment
The Umno-dominated BN government has been perpetrating an iniquitous
regime of divide and rule in favour of one dominant race only, whereas
all citizens regardless of race deserve equal treatment.The non-Malay founding fathers of independence certainly did notnegotiate for such terms nor envisage this kind of discriminatory
treatment for their communities after independence. If the government resorts to major changes to bring about enhanced
benefits to the Malays in order to uplift their socio-economic status,
it is perfectly all right as nobody will begrudge them for doing so. But
it should not be done to the detriment of the non-Malays as they also
have a right to fair treatment.Hence to ensure justice and fair play to everyone regardless of race,
it is imperative that communal parties such as Umno, the MCA and the
MIC are dismantled altogether and multiracial parties like Pakatan
Rakyat should replace them.
The argument by the BN that Pakatan Rakyat is not capable of governing the country is not only preposterous but utter nonsense. Anwar Ibrahim was once the DPM in Mahathir’s cabinet and is certainly
capable of running the country. Hadi Awang, Lim Kit Siang and Karpal
Singh are all seasoned politicians who are fit to run the country when
given the opportunity. The BN is simply cooking up negative stories about the opposition to
instil fear in the minds of the people so that they will not vote for
the opposition.
Vote for change
The people have had enough with the unscrupulous tactics of the BN
government, and it is high time another party like Pakatan is elected to
ensure fair governance. When President Roosevelt of America died, America did not collapse;
similarly when Winston Churchill of Britain died, Britain also did not
collapse but continued to survive. So if the BN collapses in the coming
GE13, nothing will go wrong except that it will bring about the demise
of the BN even as Pakatan celebrates.
So let us all vote for the change that Malaysia badly needs to move forward as one nation and one people.
P Sivakumar is the president of the Malaysian Indian Business Association
