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."
"Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it." - Mark Twain
COMMENT The
Retired Armed Forces Officers' Committee (Rafoc) recently held an
informal post-election talk where I was invited to be panel member. The
rest of the panel were as follows and the moderator was Mej Jen Dr
Nordin Yusof (Rtd).
Lt Jen Mohd Salleh Ismail (Rtd)
Laksdya Mat Rabi Abu Samah (Rtd)
Mej Jen Abd Malek Shahar Harun (Rtd)
Mej Jen Mohd Yunus Long (Rtd)
Laksma Imran Abd Hamid (Rtd)
Lt Kdr Phua Hean Sim (Rtd)
It
must be stressed that Rafoc is a non-partisan, independent
organisation. The purpose of this talk from Rafoc's own notice board is
as follows: "The ‘Get-Together Talk - GE13' is to provide the
occasion for our members to get together and talk on the recently
concluded 13th general election in Malaysia - the scenario, the causes,
the players and the future of the country, etc.
"We may not have
to come up with resolutions or DS solutions (military jargon for ‘the
correct answer to a problem') as such. The event is also to instill to
our members that we, the retired Armed Forces officers' community must
continue to be concerned on what has happened, what is happening and
what will happen to our country." I was impressed that Rafoc
offered a plurality of voices to express their opinions in these
contentious times to an audience of retired officers, who were concerned
of the path this country is on. Two contending narratives
Two narratives emerged from this talk. The first, as propagated by some
panel members and members of floor, was that the so-called Chinese
tsunami was an indication of the impending clash between the Malay and
Chinese communities. The second narrative and perhaps the more
mainstream one, was a rejection of the first narrative and received
popular support, was that it was not a Chinese tsunami but rather a
Malaysian tsunami, which was based on the common ground of good
governance and a rejection of systemic corruption.
Proponents of
the first narrative raised the specter of May 13 and the usual sabre
rattling or should I say keris brandishing rhetoric. It occurred to me
that partisans, whether Malay or non-Malay, who caution the citizens of
thiscountry of that shameful event, do so with an almost bizarre
relish.When
reminded of the fact that the recent Kelana Jaya rally comprised of
Malaysians of various races, they dismissed such facts, with the usual,
"it was a Chinese-dominated rally" spiel. When reminded of the fact that
the Himpunan Bangkit rally was a Malay-dominated affair, which was
evidence of a re-emerging polychromatic Malay polity, it was dismissed
with the usual, "The opposition is splitting the Malay community" spiel.
For proponents of the first narrative, only Umno could maintain peace
and stability and by rejecting Umno, you are rejecting peace and
stability. Some argued that the Chinese communities' rejection of the
MCA was tantamount to rejecting peace and stability. 'If it ain't broke, then why fix it'
Pro-establishment panel members and members of the floor put forward
the rather disingenuous arguments, on the lines of "if it ain't broke,
then why fix it" but chose to ignore the very real flaws in every
government institution which was brought up by other panel members and
speakers from the floor. It should surprise no one that the
issue of corruption was the underlying theme of most of the discussion.
Speakers from the floor brought up the various corruption scandals,
especially those concerning the armed forces.
It was obvious for
all those who attended that most people wanted to engage the system and
correct the existing flaws in a non-partisan manner but more
importantly in a non-racial approach. Talk amongst participants of the
conference in and out of the hall, centred not on the racial prophets of
doom, but how the various institutions of the state have been
compromised over the years.One
retired officer who is now with Transparency International-Malaysia
(TI-M), said his door was always open to anyone who wanted information
or clarification on the numerous cases of mismanagement that plagues the
nation and the Armed Forces in particular.
And this is the
problem with pro-establishment partisans or those sympathetic to the
racial power-sharing social contract of BN and Umno. They assume that
people who support the opposition are race blind. Now, the
reality is, that unless you have drunk the kool aid, most right-thinking
opposition supporters are not blind to the fact that racial politics
will always be with us however of paramount importance and the ideals
that we find common ground in, is that good governance, accountability
and transparency, will lead to a more egalitarian Malaysian polity.
Stocking the gravy train
It is pointless playing the racial card and demonising the Chinese
community, because the reality is, the reason that there is class
struggle within the Malay community is because for decades, the
self-appointed guardians of the Malay community, with the aid of their
non-Malay cronies, were more interested in stocking the gravy train than
in forging a national identity which all could subscribe to. The consensus was that Rafoc is ever ready to contribute to national
interest in a bipartisan way, to avail their expertise and wealth of
experience to any organisation interested in engaging with them. The
perception of the armed forces, like many government institutions, is
mired in controversy and the public is perhaps unaware of how committed
retired service personnel are to the national well-being.
On a
personal level, I would like to encourage more retired officers to come
forth and engage in the ongoing discourse. I would like Rafoc to
organise more talks like this and to invite MPs from BN and Pakatan
Rakyat to debate the issues of the day.
If there were a need for
reconciliation, a good start would be that the opposition be allowed to
engage with the various branches of government and not be portrayed as
enemies of the state. S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
Sir, Retired Armed Forces Officers' community (Rafoc) constitute only a small fraction of the total number of Ex-service men (200K+) of other ranks. So, when passing any resolutions or statement by Rafoc, care must be taken not include the whole community of Ex-service men of other ranks. Thank you. Ex-navy, 60s.
Sir, Retired Armed Forces Officers' community (Rafoc) constitute only a small fraction of the total number of Ex-service men (200K+) of other ranks. So, when passing any resolutions or statement by Rafoc, care must be taken not include the whole community of Ex-service men of other ranks.
Thank you.
Ex-navy, 60s.