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."
From Malaysiakini No doubt the biggest highlight of the BN Manifesto, launched on April
6, was the increase of BR1M from RM500 to RM1,200 for every household
earning less than RM3000 per month, estimated to represent 80 percent of
total Malaysian households. The statistic - 80 percent of
Malaysian households or 5.2 million families earning less than RM3,000 a
month, comes from BN's own website glorifying the objectives of BR1M. Does BN not realise that BR1M is a manifestation of its failure to uplift Malaysian families out of this low income trap? By
touting its "noble" BR1M handouts and promising to make it an annual
payment for years to come, BN is sending a conflicting message to the
people - how can a country striving to achieve high income status still
need to rely on a RM100 per month handout for 80 percent of its
households?
The BN government has been running on deficits for
the past 15 years, with a disproportionate of its revenue (40 percent)
coming from a single source, Petronas. Rating agencies and
international creditors have already forewarned that Malaysia need to
diversify its revenue sources and reduce subsidies. This means
that to protect Malaysia's current credit rating, it is inevitable that
some form of tax, e.g. GST has to be introduced, while subsidies on
petrol, sugar and a host of other essential items must be reduced. The
government has acknowledged as much via its agency Pemandu, though
these reforms has been swept under the carpet due to elections. But the
implementation is inevitable.
What this mean for the low-income
households, as they queue under the hot sun to get their BR1M cheques
(so that BN representatives can snap a picture or two for publicity),
they will receive a one time off and unsustainable boost to their
income, while their costs of living will rise over many fronts on a
permanent basis. Net effect to their standard of living? Likely to be
minimal. A host of other welfare initiatives, such as gradually
reducing car prices and broadband fees are akin to giving scraps to the
masses while some privileged few continue to enjoy a sumptuous buffet
spread.
Car prices in Malaysia are artificially expensive because
of AP's awarded to BN cronies and super-high excise duties to protect
politically-connected car companies, some of which even accorded
"national car" status when most of its components are sourced overseas. For
so many years, we Malaysians slaved to pay off our car installments,
while these AP holders and "national" concessionaires laugh all the way
to the bank, without breaking a sweat. Finally, only after
Pakatan Rakyat unveil their aim to lower car prices, presto, does the BN
government scramble to make cars affordable for the masses. Too little,
too late.
The scheme to lower broadband fees may be cause to celebrate until you compare the costs with our neighboring countries. A
Unifi package offered by Telekom Malaysia for 20Mbps upload/download
speed is at RM250 per month, while a similar package offered by M1
Singapore costs just RM100. And for RM250, M1 Singapore will give
the user up to 200 Mbps, or 10 times the speed given by TM for the same
price! And if we compare data plans given by Maxis, Celcom and the
likes against what is offered by their counterparts in Singapore, we
will soon realise that due to the monopolistic control of our national
broadband spectrum by these well-connected companies with the BN
government, users in Malaysia has always received the short end of the
stick.
All these years, we have been paying up to 100 percent or
more for similar data packages, and now the BN party wants to cut it by
20 percent?! The government also announced that one million
"affordable" homes will be built, including 500,000 PR1MA houses that
will be priced 20 percent below market rates. You see the key word, below market rates. With
the government reserving massive swathes of prime land for
politically-connected companies or state agencies, it is little wonder
that land prices are escalating at a rate faster than the increase in
average wages. It could be that by the time these homes are built
and released at 20 percent discount to the market rate, the low-income
purchaser would be no better-off than he is now.
Meanwhile,
million dollar homes are still selling like hot cakes in the city centre
and a 100-storey monument are built in an already oversupplied office
space by a certain state agency. Poor households owe nothing to the BN government for these BR1M handouts. For
years, Malaysians has borne the brunt of artificially high prices due
to the collision between powerful tycoons and their political masters,
while corruption and lop-sided deals has seeped away billions which
could have been used to boost our spending power via targeted cuts in
income tax or sustaining the subsidies on essential items. What
the BN gives on one hand, it takes away on another. The privileged few,
under the protection of BN, have been enjoying the blood and sweat of
millions of Malaysians for too long. Do not be swayed by these
crumbs from desperate BN politicians who want to continue to stick their
crummy hands into the national cookie jar - it is time to take back
what has always been rightfully ours.
