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 : “He did not care for the lying at first. He hated it. Then later he
had come to like it. It was part of being an insider but it was a very
corrupting business.”
- Ernest Hemingway (For whom the bell tolls)
COMMENT | Nazir Abdul Razak’s amnesty
and then “shoot to kill” idea of dealing with corruption in this
country would be a tenuous proposition even if the political system
itself was not so corrupt.
The entire political system of this
country is part of a complex ecosystem of private and public interests
that seek not only political hegemony but also religious hegemony.
We are not dealing with corrupt individuals within a system but rather a system of corruption with a few honest men and women.
Corruption
is not a recent phenomenon, but rather it is part of the DNA of the
organism fueled by racial and religious imperatives and a compromised
electoral system.
Umno/BN designed the system, so any attempt at
corrective measures would be met by a deluge of racial and religious
provocations that would destabilise the country.
Let us not forget
that when we talk of corruption we are not only talking about the
corruption of the political elites but also of institutions which are
considered sacred cows to the bangsa and agama crowd.
