7th Rangers: Malaysian Armed Forces officers corps has disappointedly directly and indirectly failed to keep the Malaysian Armed Forces clear of being apolitical By Dzirhan Mahadzir
Fighting Seventh
The Fighting Rangers On War, Politics and Burning Issues
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."
Malaysian Armed Forces officers corps has disappointedly directly and indirectly failed to keep the Malaysian Armed Forces clear of being apolitical By Dzirhan Mahadzir
Monday, May 14, 2018
Via WhatsApp : In the last two years, it has to be noted that a portion of the Malaysian Armed Forces officers corps has disappointedly directly and indirectly failed to keep the Malaysian Armed Forces clear of being apolitical and above being a tool used to promote the ruling political party, particularly in the run up to the elections. At the same time, the conduct of numerous MAF official and personal twitter accounts and their postings fell way below the standards to professionalism and too often smacked of sycophancy towards then Prime Minister Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak and then Defence Minister Dato Sri Hishammuddin Hussein.
As it is, the Armed Forces have not shot themselves in the foot but have literally shot themselves in the head with this, as for one, they have now undermined their credibility with the incoming government, who used to be the political opposition by doing and saying things that all indicate strong support of Barisan National and as a result now will not be trusted by the Pakatan party who now are the government and two, the Pakatan government knows that the Armed Forces will just blindly obey whoever is in charge of the government and hence they can disregard the opinions and concerns of the military officers and leadership and tell them just to obey orders given to them.
Of course some may argue the “Kami menurut perintah”, or we are subject to orders but I’ll point out that such a line of defence is not entirely valid, and if I have to give an example for that, look at the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes trials to see how well that defence works, of course it is an extreme example, but the essential fact is that while orders, in theory, have to be obeyed, there are times on ethical or principle grounds, when they should not be obeyed and in my opinion, while the Malaysian Armed Forces do have to support the government of the day, that does not mean that they should go beyond a certain level that goes clearly into partisanship and at the same time, common sense should have told some officers not to make fools of themselves in doing so on social media.
