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."
IO never said Pastor Koh abduction looked like police operation, court told By Hidir Reduan Abdul Rashid
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Malaysiakini : The investigating officer (IO) behind the enforced disappearance of
Pastor Raymond Koh never commented that the incident looked like a
police operation, the government’s counsel told the civil court.
Senior
federal counsel Nurul Farhana Khalid told this to the High Court in
Kuala Lumpur which today was hearing a lawsuit by the missing man’s
family against the government and police over his abduction in 2017.
“My
instruction is that (Inspector) Ali (Basra Abu Bakar) never made a
comment that the incident looked like a police operation,” Nurul Farhana
said. She was in the midst of cross-examining lawyer Roeshan Celestine Gomez, who was a witness for the family.
On Oct 19, 2017, during the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry
into the incident, lawyer Roeshan testified that Ali told him “not to
worry and that it looked very much like the modus operandi of a police operation”.
Pastor’s car
Roeshan
then was telling the inquiry that Ali was recording his statement over
the incident that the lawyer testified he saw, namely that Koh (above)
was being abducted from the pastor’s car in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on
Feb 13, 2017. Ali, who was stationed at the Kelana Jaya police station
then, had also testified during the inquiry.
On April 3, 2019, Suhakam concluded that Koh’s abduction was an enforced disappearance that involved the Special Branch from the police headquarters in Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur. A year later, the missing man’s wife Susanna Liew filed a civil court action to compel the authorities to reveal his whereabouts.
In
the course of the full court trial of the civil action, Roeshan had
reiterated through his testimony that Ali had told him that the whole
abduction looked like a police operation, with the witness telling the
civil court that the whole incident looked “professionally done”.
During
proceedings before judicial commissioner Su Tiang Joo, Roeshan
disagreed with Nurul Farhana’s cross-examination that Ali never told the
witness that the incident looked like a police operation. Later
during re-examination by the family's counsel Jerald Gomez, Roeshan
reiterated that Ali did make the comment to the witness that the
incident looked like a police operation.
"For sure, Ali said it
looked like a police operation; he later made phone calls to confirm
there was a police operation that day. I then felt relieved as I felt
that it has been resolved and I then went home," Roeshan said. The
witness added that he only began to realise the abduction involved
Pastor Koh when he later received a WhatsApp message after the day of
the incident, which revealed that the one who was abducted was Pastor
Koh.
Trial before Su is set to resume on Aug 21 and 22.
Amri Che Mat with wife Norhayati Mohd Ariffin
Besides
Koh, Suhakam also ruled that activist Amri Che Mat was a victim of
enforced disappearance involving the Special Branch and the police
force. Amri was abducted sometime around midnight on Nov 24, 2016. In
November 2019, Amri’s wife Norhayati Mohd Ariffin filed a suit against
21 defendants in relation to her husband’s disappearance, including some
of the same defendants named in Liew’s suit.
Norhayati’s legal action is also set to be heard before Su tomorrow, with her, as well as her daughter Amirah, set to take the witness stand.
