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."
Malaysiakini : āThere is always the threat of tomorrow's treachery, or next
year's treachery, or the treachery implicit in all the tomorrows beyond
that.ā - Tim O'Brien, "In the Lake of the Woods"
COMMENT | The issue with Azmin Ali (above)
is not his ambition or his alleged sex scandal, but that he continues
to rely on support outside Harapan to destabilise PKRās leadership. It
has got so toxic that it would wrong to call Azmin Ali's supporters
enablers when "handlers" would be a better term.
If Azmin was
demonstrating solidarity with his party when it came to issues affecting
his party, it would not make a difference if he had a sub rosa
agenda against Anwar Ibrahim. This is politics, after all. However,
Azminās continued reliance on outsiders to ferment trouble and
consolidate support is the existential threat facing PKR at this moment.
If
this was merely an internal squabble, although destabilising, it would
not be as toxic to Harapan as it is now. If Anwar, the party supremo,
cannot keep control of his party, then he deserves to lose power. But
Anwar is not only battling Azmin Ali, for he also has to contend with
Azminās allies from Bersatu and, of course, the riff-raff from Umno/PAS. The
fact that Anwar continues to genuflect before the prime minister,
someone who has shown tremendous public support for Azmin and contempt
for the Harapan reform agenda, is demonstrative of how weak the Harapan
political establishment is.
