Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen 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 soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt 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."
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak - The greatest enemy of the state by Dzulkefly Ahmad
Monday, August 31, 2015
Malaysiakini : COMMENT
Permit me to remind you, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, that this is
my third open letter since you took the helm of this much embattled and
now failing nation.
By any reckoning, it was a crucial Sunday
yesterday, Aug 30, 2015, as the tens of thousands of the Bersih 4
demonstrators waited in vain you to either graciously exit or confess
your āsins of omissions and commissionsā.
Yet as time is quickly
running out and as Bersihās unprecedented-34-hour rally ended at when
the clock struck midnight to start off Merdeka Day, I am sending this
open letter to you - my third, donāt forget - in simple and unambiguous
terms.
Since you have fully utilised your constitutional power,
alas, even going beyond it by usurping the powers of others, so as to
deceitfully evade and dodge a proper investigation, I am taking this
opportunity āto put you on trialā.
I am now accusing you of
subverting our democracy, of undermining our economy and ruining any
semblance of a vibrant nation-state. By so doing, you have become the
greatest enemy of the state.
Shall
I begin by accusing you of having, inadvertently perhaps, crippling the
economy and finance of our country?
Most significantly of late, is your
unfortunate misdealing in the infamous 1Malaysia Development Bhd or
1MDB and particularly with respect to the notorious RM2.67 billion and
RM42 million transfers to your three personal bank accounts as
ādonationā.
To summarise, on March 21 and 25, 2013, Tanore Finance
Corp, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, transferred
some US$681 (RM2.67 billion) in two tranches to two accounts, belonging
to you, Najib Abdulk Razak, at a Kuala Lumpur branch of AmIslamic Bank
Bhd. This was close to the 13th general election, which took place on
the May 5, 2013.
All these funds have now been amply argued and
proven to bankroll your election campaign in the GE13. You have admitted
to not getting any personal gains from these funds. Thatās surely a
moot point and perhaps academic. The AmBank Banking Account Number
belonging to you was 2112022009694. The account was closed on Aug 30,
2013.
RM4 billion borrowed from pension fund
On Dec 24, 2014, SRC International Sdn Bhd, another company wholly owned by the Ministry
of Finance, transferred RM40 mllion into a fully owned subsidiary
company, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd. On the same day, Gandingan Mentari
transferred the same amount to Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.
This money
transferred to you was part of the RM4 billion borrowed from the
Malaysianās public pension fund or Kumpulan Wang Amanah Persaraan or
KWAP that was unaccounted for. Two days later, ie on Dec 26, 2014,
Ihsan Perdana transferred a total of RM32 million to two separate
accounts belonging to you; RM27 million to AmPrivate Banking Account
Number 2112022011880 and RM5 mllion to AmPrivate Banking Account Number
2112022011906 both belonging to you, Mr PM. The funds were allegedly for
the purpose of CSR programmes.
Let us get straight to the questioning and you tell us, Sir, why you shouldnāt be impeached for committing the following:
Simply
put, shall I now contend that you have committed serious offences under
the Anti-Money Laundering Act or AMLA, in that you breached,
inter-alia, the following laws of Malaysia: (i) Sections 17(a) and
17(b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2009 for giving
and/or accepting gratification corruptly;
(ii) Section 214 of the
Financial Services Act, 2013, and its predecessor, Section 8 and 9 of
the Exchange Control Act, 1953, for undertaking or engaging in
international and/or domestic transactions which include, but are not
limited to the act of making any payment without the written approval
and/or permission of the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM); and (iii) Sections 409 and 420 for criminal breach of trust and cheating.
By
reasons of these matters, you Mr Prime Minister, have acted illegally
and have committed the offence of money laundering, punishable under
Section 4(1) of AMLA.
Shall I now also contend that you have also
subverted the institutions of check-and-balance on the government by
dismantling the Special Task Force investigating the 1MDB, on rumours
bandied around that they were ready to have you charged. Is that so?
That would be extremely deplorable. By unilaterally sacking the
attorney-general (AG), intimidating the governor of the BNM and
promoting the Public Accounts Committeeās chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed
into your government, you have paralysed the investigation into 1MDB
abuses by the current and past top managements, working in cahoots with
your famous business buddy, Jho Low.
To
expect the Speaker of the House of Representativces (Parliament) to
permit a special session, where āa vote of no confidenceā can be tabled
against you, would be too much of a wishful thinking.
On record,
you have suspended two newspapers and blocked access to a website that
has been reporting extensively on 1MDB. You acted with speed and
vengeance on whoever is seen to be questioning you on the various
offences mentioned above. Youāve accused them of āundermining
parliamentary democracyā, a crime that many wouldnāt contend is most
aptly suited to you instead.
Shall I also now accuse you, as the
prime minster-cum-finance minister, to have ostensibly and endlessly
ruined our economy? Notwithstanding the challenging external factors
that affect all developed and emerging economies, experts are now
admitting that our countryās confidence and credibility crisis stemmed
essentially from the absence of checks and balances, exacerbated by a
serious lack of transparency, disclosure and accountability.
While
the rapidly shrinking ringgit seems unabated, the risk of intense
inflation and default for our dollar-denominated debts have become real
and grim. Doubtless, you have not been managing well the bloating
external debt, the ailing stock market and the dwindling foreign
reserves.
You continue to illusively harp on our strong
fundamentals. All these parameters are taking a beating on the back of
your poor governance and gross mismanagement. 1MDB stands as an epitome
of your self-styled fiscal mismanagement, dubbed Najibnomics, and it
really stinks to high heaven, Sir! For all these āsins of omission
and commissionā may we respectfully call unto your goodself to please
step down with grace, before you will disgracefully get booted out?
Whether
Malaysia will do better without you is open to debate. Incidentally,
youāve also miserably failed to cement our very-fractured social-fabric
by your flip-flopping political stances. The racial and religious
divides deepen dangerously. Please donāt overstay your welcome. Please make your exit soonest! Just do it for our Merdeka Day!
DR DZULKEFLY AHMAD is secretary of Gerakan Harapan Baru. This letter was written yesterday, Aug 30, 2015.