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."
This Deepavali, a tale of two mothers - Panchalai and Rosmah - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, November 04, 2021
Panchalai
Supermaniam
Malaysiakini :He doesn’t really get what is happening. He has some
vague idea that something is going to happen to him on the 10th of
November but he thinks he is going to go to a beautiful garden and be
happy there. It’s beyond words.” - N Surendran
COMMENT | This Deepavali, two mothers will be in Singapore to visit their offspring.
Panchalai
Supermaniam who works as a cleaner will visit her intellectually
challenged son in prison who is to be executed on Nov 10 and Rosmah
Mansor, the wife of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is
currently on trial for receiving bribes, will be visiting her pregnant
daughter, no doubt in more luxurious circumstances.
One child will
be executed and the other will give birth. One mother will know the
anguish of loss and the other will greet a new life with joy. While
Panchalai has to rely on the goodwill of strangers to raise money for
her final trip to see her son, the other faces no such obstacles.
Indeed, while the alleged crimes of Rosmah amount to millions, the
son of Panchalai is going to be executed for strapping a couple of grams
of diamorphine to his thighs.
If this does not tell us something about the justice system, here and in Singapore, well there is nothing more to say.
This
Deepavali, two mothers will have very different conversations with
their children. Panchalai child belongs to a class of children - of any
race - which has felt the brunt of the failed policies of successive
governments.
Panchalai Supermaniam at a press conference.
These
“children of Malaysia” are the forgotten children; those children that
the state has deemed transgressed against the state.
