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."
Malaysian superior and mighty security forces has flushed
out the Sulu Sultanate armed invaders ā BRAVO to our brave and courageous
boys. It was reported 52 of the intruders, together with their general were
killed. Although thereāre still leftover from the 100 ā 500 who came and
try to invade Sabah, Malaysian military should have sufficient
firepower to neutralize them, once and for all. The best
news ā none of our security forces personnel was injured since the
āOperation Daulatā started with an airstrike by jet fighters of the Royal
Malaysian Air Forces. For once, it gets you thinking ā what were these
intruders thinking ā that they could defeat 100,000 Malaysian military
forces with their 100 ā 500 Rambos?
However, there were confusions and doubts as to the
effectiveness of the airstrike as the āmopping upā operations couldnāt find
any bodies, according to Agence France Presse. On the other hand, spokesman
for sultan Jamalul Kiram III claimed the bomb exploded as far as 1 km away
from his menās location. It would be a magnificent scenario, with intruders
watching the fireworks while devouring their barbeque chicken wing 1km
away. They even claimed that the airstrike had actually hit Malaysian own soldiers who moved in
to the camp left by the intruders.
While every Malaysian is celebrating the victory, the
self-proclaimed sultan Jamalul Kiram III is now proposing an exchange of hostages. It seems
conflicting reports are making everyone frustrated. Malaysian authorities
should be transparent as to the claims made by the intruders. Like it or
not, this Sabah invasion issue will not
disappear so soon. Nevertheless, what can we learn from this crisis and the
weaknesses exposed? The country has lost 8 lives and most importantly the
permanent lost-love which is irreplaceable, even with promotions and millions of dollars in assistance
funds.
[ 1 ] Chain of Command & Crisis
Management
The most sparkling question - can the 8 fallen heroes be avoided, or
at least minimized? Based on the ultimate airstrike and
ground attack decision which saw no
casualties from Malaysian securities forces so far, the answer
is obvious. The 8 families could still enjoy their father and husbandās
loves, if a clear chain of command and a competent leader was in order in
the first place. You do not negotiate with terrorists, let alone sending
KFC and Tropicana orange juices to them (*grin*), to the tune of 2 weeks
before recognize theyāre dangerous. If Cuba were to do the same to Florida, US military would have
finished them within hours, the most ā mission accomplished.
If thereās one thing that PM Najib should do after
this crisis, it is to transfer Home
Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, his cousin, to probably Ministry
of Youth and Sports. This manās incompetence is beyond anyoneās
imaginations. In fact, thereās no difference if you put Hishammuddin or Ng
Yen Yen in charge of the Sabah invasion crisis management.
Both would screw up big time since they tend to use their mouth instead of
brains to do the thinking. Regardless of their religion, a terrorist is
still a terrorist and you do not
negotiate when your sovereignty has been breached. You do not
call for a time-out to negotiate for 2-weeks when youāre being raped, do
you (*tongue-in-cheek*)?
To make things worse, the chain of command was not
visible at all. People do not know if the Home Minister or the IGP
(Inspector General of Police) Ismail Omar was in charge initially. Their
statements contradicted each other so much so the terrorists were having
lots of fun and time exploring their newly invaded land as if they were
tourists. Thereafter youāve Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi and Armed Forces
chief Gen Zulkifeli joining the party, and yet there was no clear sign of
who was actually in charge of the operation. Once, IGP claimed the
airstrike killed 12 Filipino gunmen but later the Armed Forces chief
clarified that the 9 bodies
of Sulu militants discovered were of those killed in last Fridayās
shootout, and not by the air strikes.
Maybe Malaysia has been enjoying too long
a peaceful period that the distance instance of war was not considered into
the national security SOP. A clear chain of command should be drafted (if
thereās none) for such crisis, and if thereās already one, why wasnāt it
followed? If their intention was to be front-paged in newspaper as if
theyāre war hero, politicians should be thrown out from the command
centreās windows.Let the real man do the job.
[ 2 ] Military and Defence Logistic
The Defence Ministry got RM15.2 billion and RM13.7
billion in their 2013 and 2012 annual budget respectively. While the
country has a total of 44 fighter aircraft ranging from Sukhoi Su-30, F/A-18
Hornet, MiG-29, Tiger and Hawk, there seems to be a serious lack of military transport aircraft.
The country has 16 units of Lockheed C-130 Hercules with capacity of 92
troops each. Considering you need to transport military hardware into the
warzone, thereās hardly any decent transportation means to deliver soldiers
to the battleline. This was the reason why the request for AirAsia Berhadās
(KLSE: AIRASIA,
stock-code 5099) commercial flights to transport more army into Sabah
warzone.
Perhaps PM Najib failed his geography or he didnāt
know that Peninsula Malaysia and the East Malaysia is separated by South China Sea. If the country can afford
a US$75 million Boeing 737-700 for his VIP usage, surely a decent number of military transport aircraft
should be in the inventory to transport personnels between
Peninsula Malaysia and the East Malaysia, no? As former defence minister,
PM Najib should know the importance of such basic necessity. Wouldnāt that
be more important than 2 units of Scorpene submarines purchased at the cost
of RM3.4 billion? Heck, the money spent on submarines alone can be used to
purchase 10 units of Boeing 737-700 with lots of loose change left.
Sure, you may argue that even US military utilizes
commercial flights to transport their army. But in the case of US, they
only activate such plan during a major
operation involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tons
of hardware equipments. They used it when they need transportation far
away, such as in the Middle East. Do you think the US army would be made to
check-in at commercial airports before being transported if their own
country is invaded? US would be reduced to the size of Singapore if they need 2-weeks to
transport army when attacked by Cuba (*grin*).
[ 3 ] Security Loopholes in East Malaysia
Admit it ā Sabah and Sarawak are sitting ducks waiting to be invaded
anytime by anyone. During the Sabah invasion crisis, up to 7
battalions (about 7,000 soldiers) from PeninsulaMalaysia were sent to Sabah. Does that means Sabah alone cannot defend itself
from 200 terrorists, since the state does not even have 7,000 soldiers, out
of the countryās 100,000 strong army? If Sabah has the numbers, why wasnāt
it used instead? Even if Sabah doesnāt have 7,000
soldiers, couldnāt some be sent from Sarawak instead? AirAsia operates
between Sabah and Sarawak right?
While Sabah has a long coastline to
defend, you do not have to be a genius to figure out where the piratesā favourite
landing points are. Unless they come in using submarine
or aircraft carrier, chances are they would be using the same routes as how
they migrate illegally into Sabah and subsequently given
their āICsā by former premier Mahathir. If you think the military
intelligence does not have this information, then youāre insulting one of
the best intelligence units in the world. Furthermore, itās not as if only Malaysia has coastline on the
planet.
Now that Sabah has been breached easily by
a mere 200 terrorists, thereās a need to restudy the existing national
security scope and coverage. If the Sulu Sultanate managed to invade Sabah about a month ago, chances
are they would be able to do it again in the future. They must be stopped
at all cost, unless you want to grant more āICsā to them in exchange for
their votes.
[ 4 ] Stop Training Foreign Fighters
(Terrorists)
The allegations about Malaysia being training camps for
terrorists can be googled on the internet. And itās a known fact thatMalaysia trained many of the MNLF (Moro National Liberation
Front) commanders during their war against the Philippine government. Hadji
Acmad Bayam, former chief propagandist of the MNLF, revealed to the Manila
Bulletin that these MNLF forces may have at their disposal a huge arsenal,
which they hid deep in Sabahās rugged terrain when they
returned to the Philippines after their rigid training.
He claimed among the firearms are Belgian-made G1 and FAL, which the late Libya leader
Colonel Gaddafi
supplied through Malaysia.
To add insult to injury, Bayam said he was confident
the Malaysian authorities will not able to find the hidden MNLF firearms because they were
kept very well by the MNLF commanders who stayed behind in Sabah. Now, before the Malaysian
government rubbish such claims, Najib administration should confront his
mentor Mahathir about this extremely dangerous allegation, unless he wants
to keep a time-bomb behind his backyard. If this is true, Sulu Sultanate
followers or any Filipino Malaysians can stage another havoc within Sabah itself, whenever they feel
like doing so. The sight of these people who can appear to be an innocent
citizen and yet can change to a terrorist with a blink of an eye is
absolutely scary.
As of now, itās still too early to declare a complete
victory over the crisis. The Sabah invasion has opened up a
new chapter or wound that may not heal as fast as it started. The war is
not over yet. But thereāre already 8 families who have lost their fatherās
and husbandās love forever, thanks to politiciansā
incompetence and arrogance. Via e-mail, author unknown.
