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."
Ronnie Liu and the burden of race - Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, March 28, 2022
Ronnie Liew
Malaysiakini : āKeep your language. Love its sounds, its modulation, its rhythm. But
try to march together with men of different languages, remote from your
own, who wish like you for a more just and human world.ā - Helder Camara, Spiral Of Violence
COMMENT | The burden of race in the ketuanan system, as I wrote in my piece about Tommy Thomas, is that āit makes you either an accomplice or an outsiderā.
Which brings me to Ronnie Liu (above). A supporter of Liu called me to explain how surprised she was with the numbers he got. Liu, too, was surprised apparently.
To be honest, I was not surprised. When Liu was vilified by certain
quarters in the DAP for his ādilute its Chinesenessā remark, hackles
were raised and hypocrites were having a field day.
Liu has not only chosen to be an outsider in the ketuanan system but he is also an outlier in the Bangsa Malaysia narrative created by the DAP in a misguided strategy against the ketuanan system.
The
fact is, that you would only find Liu's remarks offensive if you had
drunk the Bangsa Malaysia kool-aid, which only seems to apply to DAP
supporters and nobody else.
I have no idea what Liu means by
"Chineseness", which is fine because I have no idea what his detractors
mean by "Bangsa Malaysia" or even "multiracial". I do know that neither
is mutually exclusive when it comes to Malaysia.
