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."
A new Malaysia was created on May 13 - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Victims of May 13, 1969, some still unidentified
Malaysiakini : “Because of that, there exist all kinds of assumptions when ethnic
ties become strained and unhealthy. This can cause that event and I do
not want to mention the particular date.” - Then deputy prime minister, Muyhiddin Yassin, 2014
(Muhyiddin did not mention the date specifically, but Utusan Malaysia inserted May 13, 1969, to his quote in parentheses.)
COMMENT
| The quote above by the current home minister and former deputy prime
minister Muyhiddin Yasin that opens this piece demonstrates that, for
Malay power brokers, the May 13 riots is just another tool in their
political arsenal, to be used when circumstances warrant.
A couple of years back, in discussing the use of May 13 as a political weapon,
I wrote: “What really is terrifying of May 13 is the way how the state
uses it to demonise Malaysians based on ethnicity. The people making the
threats, the aggressors become the victims and heroes of their own
narratives, and Malaysians who do not subscribe to orthodoxy become the
villains and scapegoats for all that the system has wrought.” The home minister
now says: "What is the point of raising these old stories? These should
serve as a lesson, and more importantly, the government should focus on
what we are doing now and in the future.
