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."
Anwar, the Malays are just not that into you By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, August 17, 2023
Malaysiakini : “I regard any attempt by Pakatan Harapan, if any, to move further to
right-wing ideology and policies just to win support from the
conservatives, and not progressive Malays, by subscribing to the narrow
sentiments of Malay racism and chauvinism… as going further to
extremism, which is prohibited by Islam,” - Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul
Karim
COMMENT | Every time I
hear political operatives say that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and
Pakatan Harapan should not pander to “Malay conservatives” or drift
further to the right, I have no idea what these people are talking
about.
First of all, the only left-wing and progressive parties on
the board at the moment are PSM and Muda, and nobody is interested in
voting for them. All the more reason for PSM and Muda to carry on with
their efforts. People will come around, hopefully before it is too late.
Look,
someone like activist Kua Kia Soong is routinely demonised by the
Harapan base when what he advocates using the language of the left are
really centrist ideas when it comes to the Malaysian context.
However, the so-called progressive Harapan base rejects those ideas
and instead focuses on pragmatism (which is a necessary concept) but in
the Malaysian experience means appeasement, and then wonder why our
democratic spaces are shrinking with each successive roll of the dice.
Harapan
is the definition of a right-wing coalition if we are going to use
popular American political terminology and I would not even consider
them genuine “conservatives”, which is what I identify with.
Of
course, this is Malaysia, so entitlement programmes and affirmative
action which are anathema to right-wing types are mixed in with Western
culture war manure which coincidently are foundational ideas of an
extreme interpretation of the religion of the state.
