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."
MS : With this amazingly lucid explanation by TT of what really happened, how it happened and what remains to be done, two facts have become abundantly clear.
1. Tommy Thomas is one of the best legal minds to have occupied the chair of Attorney General
2. Najib Razak, the convicted felon and his coterie of ill-educated advisors in 2013 are solely responsible for what was their petulant and puerile reaction to the Lahad Datu debacle. Had they been more circumspect and had relied on proper legal advice, they could have avoided damaging the country in the manner they did.
As if the crooked 1MDB outing was not enough to damage the country's reputation.
Malaysia : COMMENT | The recent public
discussion on the “seizure notice” issued in Luxembourg against assets
belonging to Petronas to satisfy the US$14.92 billion award by the
Spanish Arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa has been marred by a fog of
disinformation and lies.
The Malaysian public is
entitled to truthful disclosure of matters concerning the dispute
between the Sulu claimants and the government of Malaysia, which led to
this massive but completely illegitimate award.
This
note is to record my experience in dealing with the dispute after I was
briefed on it in August/September 2019 during the last six months of my
tenure as attorney-general.
At the outset, I
should state that I no longer have access to documents, unless they are
in the public domain. I hope this article will prompt those who have
the full facts to join in the public discussion.
The 1878 Grant is the sole and exclusive basis of the claim by
the descendants of the Sultan of Sulu. That grant ceded ownership and
sovereignty in perpetuity of parts of present-day Sabah to the British
North Borneo Company. It was a legacy of the Empire.
It
was similar to the grant of Bombay by the Portuguese to the British in
1661 and the ceding of New York (New Amsterdam) by the Dutch to the
British in 1664. Nearer home, Penang in 1786 by the sultanate of Kedah
and Singapore in 1819 by the sultanate of Johore: in both cases to the
British.
In none of these cases is there a similar
claim in the 21st century arising from the original grant in
perpetuity. The Sulu claim must therefore be viewed in the context of
empire and colonialism. The transfer of other peoples’ lands by one
empire to another was commonplace in centuries past; a legal challenge
by arbitration centuries later is novel.
The bargain under the 1878 Grant
The three material parts of the Grant read as follows:
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