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."
Malaysiakini : An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” - Winston S Churchill
COMMENT | The question is much more urgent than merely the banning of transgender folk of their right of religious worship. Not
that the rights of trans people are not urgent but rather all these
issues of rights are in jeopardy because of the balkanisation of dissent
when it comes to collective and individual rights in this country.
This
balkanisation happens because of the Muslim/Non-Muslim divide, which is
a political construct, and one that has systemically encroached upon
our public and private spheres for decades under successive governments
including that of supposedly "moderate" Pakatan Harapan.
When this
balkanisation does occur, it makes the divide and conquer strategy much
more effective to totalitarian or fascist power structures. This
means that we cannot dissent as Malaysians but rather we have to
sublimate egalitarian principles based on race and religion (which is
not mutually exclusive in this country), which then makes systemic
change impossible.
The point is not that dissent, especially when it comes to religious issues, is not favoured by the majority. What
this balkanisation does is silence the voices of the minority in the
majority by denying them access to like-minded individuals, thus
negating a collective diverse response to issues.
