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."
Calling detractors 'bebal' unhelpful, alienates genuine critics By Mariam Mokhtar
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Malaysiakini : COMMENT | There was an absence of
magnanimity, except only an abundance of arrogance, when Prime Minister
Anwar Ibrahim slammed his critics for being inflexible when he accused
them of exaggerating and politicising āsmallā issues.
If only
Anwar would stop living in denial and start to connect with the
electorate instead of just placating the Malays and having minimal
engagement with the non-Malays. He could at least try to be the
prime minister for all Malaysians, at all times, and not just in the
run-up to the general election.
He should leave his ego at home and stop taking criticisms personally. Anwar and his sycophants fail to understand that people who censure him do so out of concern for the future of the nation. They speak out not because they hunger for power, prestige, position or a post in a GLC or other public institution.
Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple
Anwar singled out
the temple relocation controversy and the scuffle between an unlicensed
balloon vendor and enforcement officers as minor issues. He said, āSmall matters which can be questioned in a good way are made into big issues as if a war is going to happen.ā
MS : "Large-scale corruption, slapping, hate speech, destroying/relocating temples, child marriages, incest, underage sex, and sexual abuse of tahfiz pupils and children in Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) are all perpetrated by Malays."
None of the above has been even perfunctorily addressed by Malay politicians like Anwar who is focused almost entirely on burnishing his "islamic" credentials and showcasing the "strength of Islam" as if the listed litany of ills besetting the community does not prove otherwise.
By constantly training their guns on the minorities, organizing meaningless boycotts and issuing dire warnings and threats against imagined aggravations, politicians like Anwar keep their own community distracted from the malignant tumors eating them from the inside.
Spending billions through fat bureaucratic entities like Jakim have obviously done nothing to mitigate the many social ills with which the community has now come to be associated.
Robbie98 : The vast majority of people who take the time to write comments are people who are worried about the direction our country is heading . A constitutional democracy, with the assured protection of all citizens and their individual faiths , is slowly being replaced by an ultra religious Islamic narrative .
Political power and numbers are being used to shut down anyone who disagrees . The US versus you narrative is being used with increasing force . Our political leaders do not appear to have a vision to ensure a peaceful progress without resorting to aggressive self serving gestures.
The distrust among the various races is palpable and clearly visible at times . Simple incidents like the socks issue , the incident of slapping , the Hindu temple issue ,are blown of proportions increasing the disharmony . The divisions started in earnest about 25 years ago and has rapidly accelerated in the recent years .
Lip service about unity at the time of elections or when seeĘing to maintain power and position alone is certainly not going heal the increasing fissures . Let me hope and pray that we as a nation and people can learn that unity is our strength to maintain and protect our future. We need to learn to care for each other as in the past .