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."
COMMENT | Would it surprise anyone that when the dust of this recent scuffle
at the Nothing to Hide 2.0 forum settles, the perpetrators – always
young Malay youths – would be portrayed as the aggrieved party, much
like the thieves of the Low Yat fiasco? Umno has always been protective
of its voting base with Malay oppositional voices harassed and
intimidated when it comes to courting this specific demographic.
While I have been skeptical of the efficacy of this particular tactic
of the opposition when it comes to using the 1MDB issue as a vote
getter, the response from the regime and the attempts to derail any form
of dialogue points to how much this regime fears the architect of
modern Malaysia – Dr Mahathir Mohamad -and his designs on the throne of
Putrajaya.
While the current Umno grand poohbah holds solidarity prayers with
Muslims begging God for peace and stability, the Najib refuseniks busy
themselves with the task of destabilising Umno hegemony. There is no
point talking about a Malaysian tsunami
because the violence in this event, the harassment that Malay
oppositional figures face, the use of the state apparatus to investigate
Najib refuseniks’ sympathisers points to the reality that the next
general elections will be the ultimate Malay scuffle.
While some would argue that the questions asked by these so-called
provocateurs were meant to derail the forum, the reality is that those
questions form the basis of right-wing Malay politics and are the means
to which Umno has maintained hegemony.
Those question about the Memali incident, Bersatu’s simpatico with
the DAP and the supposed sins of jailed political prisoner Anwar Ibrahim
– rights, race and religion – were meant to demonstrate that the former
Umno prime minister had abandoned the Malay community and conspires
with the ‘Chinese DAP’ to supplant the rightful place of Malays and
Islam in this country.
