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."
COMMENT | Here is my message to Gerakan Pembela Ummah leaderIsmail Mina Ahmadand
the rest of his chicken hawk coterie. You leave this country. We do not
want extremists who are ignorant of history. We do not need extremists
who probably have not read the constitution but who would support those
who would amend it, who distort it or disregard it because they share
the same “race” and “religion” as Ismail and his racist, bigoted
hatemongers.
Ismail makes it sound as if the Malays carried out all the hard work
of defending this country. However, as former prime minister and now
opposition PM-designate claims – “We find that we are not so committed, not so hardworking and sometimes we are not so trustworthy.”
No doubt, there are going to be many articles disputing the claims
made by Ismail. There will be articles highlighting the contributions of
non-Malays, to the defence, culture and economy of this country.
However, all this is missing the point. Non-Malays will never be treated
as equals in this country. When Malay bigots make this claim, they know
they are making claims which are racist and bigoted but make them
anyway because it is always incumbent on the non-Malays to defend their
existence in this country.
It is always the non-Malays who have to prove that they are patriotic. Non-Malays have to demonstrate how much they love this
country. Malays, meanwhile, have leaders who have engaged in massive
corruption, destroyed the rule of law, enacted bills that would curtail
the power of the sultans – the most damning of which is the National
Security Council (NSC) bill – and made racist and bigoted speeches
calling for the spilling of non-Malay blood and yet the Malay community
assumes ab initio that they are the true patriots who built this country.
And really, what is it the non-Malays have to defend? We have to
defend our “success” in Tanah Melayu. We have to defend the fact that we
have to work hard because we are not beholden to a system of privilege –
ideological, religious and constitutional – that enables us to think
for ourselves and realise that the world does not owe us anything. We have to defend how we spend our wealth – too expressive in the
luxuries the fruits of our labour affords us, and we are deemed
un-Islamic, corrupt in our excesses, and of course, corrosive to the
Malay/Muslim community.
