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 : ADUN SPEAKS | It is understandable
why Rafique Rashid Ali (Pejuangās federal territory deputy division
leader) sprang to the defence of Pejuangās leader and the twice former
prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Rafique took umbrage at the fact
that I was a perennial pessimist when it came to Mahathir and that I
should not have called a Pejuang a mosquito party. It does not take a pessimist or an optimist to comment about the contributions or non-contributions of Mahathir.
It is better to be a pessimist in pointing out wrongs rather than an optimist in remaining silent about wrongs. The fact that the Chinese are doing well in business must be
attributed to their hard work and resilience in the face of overt and
covert discrimination that was introduced in the guise of the New
Economic Policy.
The fact that the Chinese are doing well in
business cannot be solely attributed to the role of leaders like
Mahathir or others. Furthermore, the economic and commercial resilience
of the Chinese does not mean that there is no discrimination towards
them.
It would be an insult to the Chinese community to deny them
their fruits of labour, despite the envy and jealousy of extreme Malay
nationalists. The Forbes list of Malaysian millionaires
and billionaires is an interesting example of how well non-Malays in
general and Chinese in particular have done in business and commercial
undertakings.
However, not all those who are listed are genuine
businesspersons. Many are cronies of former prime ministers like
Mahathir and others. Using the Forbes list hardly negates my argument of extreme cronyism under Mahathirās administration.
Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad
Never the same after Mahathir
Rafique is right in pointing out that the DAP became close to Mahathir during Pakatan Harapanās short-lived administration.
Whether the relationship was one of symbiosis or parasitic needs to be flushed out.
The 22 months of Mahathirās administration under Harapan was a costly one not only for PKR, Amanah but also for DAP.
