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."
Election 2013 results expose Dr M’s decline as a force
Thursday, May 09, 2013
From Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — Election 2013 has laid bare the declining
influence of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a political force, an analysis
of where and how he campaigned has showed. The former prime minister campaigned incessantly but Barisan Nasional
(BN) candidates whom he backed or shared his ideals - such as the
controversial Zulkifli Noordin and Ibrahim Ali - all lost. In Kedah - where his son Mukhriz is now Mentri Besar on the back of a
BN victory - local politicians and observers have pointed out that
voters gave PAS the boot because of poor governance by the Pakatan
Rakyat (PR) party. Brand Mahathir did not win Kedah for BN, but it was rather a case of
PAS losing the state, one senior Umno politician in Kedah told The Malaysian Insider. Dr Mahathir’s attempt at painting the battle for Gelang Patah in Johor as a Malay versus Chinese battle also failed miserably. Many analysts and BN politicians have said that his incessant playing
of the race card for the Election 2013 campaign saw support for him
deplete. “He still has his niche group of supporters in the Malays, they
wouldn’t simply demonise leaders whom they feel have been there for them
long enough.“But yes... at times, it may be true that his time
is over. What he says, how he says it, may not have traction among the
younger generation, in the urban areas. But let us not forget - he is
not the PM of the day,” Sabah Umno secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan
told The Malaysian Insider.
But other leaders were not so kind, believing the 87-year-old Dr
Mahathir should finally enjoy his retirement and stay out of current day
politics where they say he is fast growing irrelevant. They said that in the age of social media politics, Dr Mahathir’s
influence is waning quickly as Malaysians prefer the more liberal,
moderate and inclusive brand of politics brought by Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Razak.Dr Mahathir’s strong support base among the traditional, older Malay
voters would likely be insufficient to win the votes for Barisan
Nasional (BN) again. They said that it would be the fast-growing urban, middle-class and
young voters who will soon form a larger part of the electorate. And going by the vote trend of Election 2013, it is this key
demographic that BN must win over if it wants to return with an even
stronger mandate in the next general election. “I hope by looking at the analysis of the elections, he will realise
that his time is over,” said Institute for Democracy and Economic
Affairs (IDEAS) chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan. “He should leave the administration of this country to the new generation of politicians led by Najib. “He has had his time and he has done tremendous things but his day in
politics is over. Before he destroys his legacy, perhaps it is time to
leave gracefully,” he added. Election 2013 saw Dr Mahathir backing right-wing Muslim hardliners
like Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali and vice-president Datuk
Zulkifli Noordin but neither one emerged victor in their contest. Speaking to The Malaysian Insider recently, Shah Alam Umno
division chief Datuk Ahmad Nawawi M. Zin admitted that if Dr Mahathir
had not campaigned in Shah Alam, BN may have earned more votes. Rafidah agreed that the use of racism to win support should be rejected“On
the whole, in the cities, I feel Dr Mahathir’s influence is no longer
relevant as the issues he brings and his opinions do not really suit
with the current generation, especially with his backing of Perkasa. “Perhaps BN has to review this,” he said.While his foes in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) made sure their leaders worked
hard to eschew racism while on the hustings, it was race that dominated
nearly all of Dr Mahathir’s speeches over the stretch of the 15-day
campaign period. He repeatedly singled out his long-time parliamentary foe Lim Kit
Siang for leaving his seat in Ipoh Timor to contest the Chinese-majority
Gelang Patah seat in Johor, calling the DAP veteran an “extremist
racist” for allegedly attempting to sway the Chinese to hate the Malays. “I will say it out as vocal as possible. Lim Kit Siang is a racist.
Lim Kit Siang is a racist. Lim Kit Siang is an extremist racist,” he had
said during a ceramah in Shah Alam three days before polling day. Speaking to The Malaysian Insider recently, Tan Sri Rafidah
Aziz, a veteran Umno leader who served under Dr Mahathir’s
administration agreed that the use of racism to win support should be
rejected. Without singling out her ex-boss, the outspoken former Wanita Umno chief told The Malaysian Insider that racial diversity should be wielded as a strength and not a weapon to divide and rule. “Gone are the days when we can become champions of a certain race. I
never subscribe to it. We are Malaysians first and foremost. “I am a Malaysian who happens to be Malay... but it is our
Malaysian-ness that we carry proudly when we are out there,” she said. Merdeka Center for Opinion Research director Ibrahim Suffian,
however, noted that while Dr Mahathir’s methods had been rejected by the
urban and middle-class electorate, the leader still commands a huge
following among Umno’s traditional support base in rural, Malay
Malaysia.Wan Saiful insisted that Dr Mahathir should bow out from the political scene and make a graceful exit. But
he agreed the influence was not as far-reaching as Umno and Dr Mahathir
himself may have estimated, noting that many Malay voters in these
exteriors had also swung to the opposition. “Voters are more discerning. They reject this brand of ethnic chauvinism,” he observed.
But Ibrahim said Dr Mahathir still has much influence within Umno,
the BN lynchpin, a point that fellow political analyst Wan Saiful agreed
with. “I agree... but he is influential among only Umno members and when it
comes to an election, what you need to do is not just to pursuade your
own side,” he pointed out. Wan Saiful insisted that Dr Mahathir should bow out from the
political scene and make a graceful exit, saying this was necessary for
the former prime minister to ensure his legacy as Malaysia’s ‘father of
modernisation” is not marred by mistakes he may make today.
“Najib is the PM of today and Dr Mahathir is of yesterday. Najib has
sensed the need to move into a different direction and this is what he
is doing,” he said. Agreeing, Ibrahim reminded of the vast changes in the flow of
information in today’s political landscape, saying this had largely
affected the results of Election 2013 and Dr Mahathir’s influence. “There is that challenge because Dr Mahathir is used to running a
country when there was no social media and the population was more
easily controlled and was smaller. “Today, you have a much younger generation who live in times when
information is free-flowing. The environment has changed and with it,
many of our leaders must change too,” he said.
