Link graphic for a KJB version Bible Verse that will be automatically updated when we update it from time to time
">


Articles, Opinions & Views: If you do not vote, do not complain - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy

Photobucket
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
 
Fighting Seventh
The Fighting Rangers
On War, Politics
and Burning Issues
Profile
Miscellaneous

American Thinker
American
Newspapers Online

Arab News
Asia News
Asia Times
Assyrian News
BBC News
Breitbart News
British and
International
Newspapers Online

CAMERA
CBS News
City Journal
CNN
Christian Solidarity
International

Daily Caller
Daily Mail
DAP Malaysia
Dawn
Drudge Report
Dutch News
Faith Freedom
Ali Sina

Foreign Affairs
Forward
Fox News
Google News
Guardian
Haaretz
Harakah Daily
English

Herald Malaysia
Hurriyet Turkey
History of Jihad
Independent
Indian Newspapers
Online

Inspire Magazine
IPOH Echo
International
Herald Tribune

Jerusalem Newswire
Jihad Watch
Local-
French News
In English)

London Times
Malaysiakini

Malaysian Insider
Malaysia
Centre for Policy
Initiatives

Free Malaysia Today
Malaysia Chronicle
Malaysia
-Sarawak Report

MEMRI TV
Middle East
Forum

Mission Network
News

MSNBC News
National Review
NEWSMAX
New York Post
New York Times
Nut Graph
Opinion Journal
Right Wing News
Spiegel
Star Online
Straits Times
Sun Malaysia
Sydney
Morning Herald

Telegraph
The Malay Mail
The Rebel Media
The Sun (UK)
Time
Times of India
Town Hall
US News
World Report

USA Today
VBS TV
Washington Post
Washington Times
World Net Daily
World
Watch Monitor

Yahoo News
Ynet News



No Atheists
In A Foxhole

Rudyard Kipling

" ā€œWhen 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

" ā€œWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā€

ā€œIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā€
ā€œOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
ā€œThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace,
for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā€
ā€œMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā€
ā€œThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

ā€œNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
ā€œIt 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."

Proud To Have
Served With Warriors

Glorious
Malaysian Food
Foreign Bloggers
&
Other Stuff
Gaming

Major D Swami
WITH Lt Col Ivan Lee
Click Here

Lt Col Ivan Lee
you want him with
you in a firefight!!!!

Dying Warrior
xxxxxx
Condors-Infantry
Fighting Vehicles
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Camp
Bujang Senang
Click Here
xxxxxxxx
The A Team
Click Here
xxxxxxxx
Major General
Toh Choon Siang
Click here
Lieutenant General
Stephen Mundaw
Click Here
With His
Dying Breath
Killed in Battle
In Death
Last Thoughts
Before Battle
Whilst There Is
Life, There Is Fight

Not Done In Yet!!

Iban Trackers
XXXXXXXX
Facts On RoP
Hutang Negara
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
If you do not vote, do not complain - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Malaysiakini : ā€œDo the unexpected. Take 20 minutes out of your day, do what young people all over the world are dying to do: vote.ā€ ā€• Rick Mercer
This is what is stacked against you if you do NOT vote
COMMENT | I really dig this passage from David Foster Wallace - ā€œIf you are bored and disgusted by politics and don't bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched establishments of the two major parties, who please rest assured are not dumb, and who are keenly aware that it is in their interests to keep you disgusted and bored and cynical and to give you every possible reason to stay at home doing one-hitters and watching MTV on primary day.
By all means stay home if you want, but don't bullshit yourself that you're not voting. In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some diehard's vote.ā€ I like the quote so much that I have used it before. It neatly exposes the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of not voting. It also is a reminder that cynical arguments of not voting as a means of registering dissatisfaction helps the very people you are dissatisfied with.
At a recent forum, activist and former lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said that she respects the decision of abstaining from voting. While voting may not be the only way to effect change ā€“ it is the easiest way and one that demands very little of a citizen in a functional democracy ā€“ claiming that believing otherwise ā€œdegrade a personā€™s humanity down to the act of votingā€ is obnoxious, considering all over the world people are in some cases dying in their efforts to get this most fundamental of human rights.
Meanwhile, DAPā€™s Hannah Yeoh, referring to the ā€˜abstain from votingā€™ movement as ā€œunhelpfulā€ ā€“ unhelpful to whom, I wonder? - preached the usual political bromides of changing the system incrementally. This, of course, is political speak for ā€œdo not hold us to our grand promises because the system does not work that way.ā€
I do not respect the decision to abstain from voting. I am all for finding out the reasons why young people (especially) are disillusioned by the choices that they have (I have written numerous articles on this subject) but ultimately if you do not vote, you should not complain about the state of the country. You should not endlessly bitch and moan about how hard done by you are by the system.
Here is a taste of why I think some folks choose to abstain ā€“ ā€œThe opposition always says that people are not ā€˜educatedā€™ and that if they only knew the ā€˜truthā€™, they would understand why we need to change the government.
Perhaps people know the truth and they believe that it is safer for whatever reason not to vote because it would not make any difference, especially now that the opposition has joined forces with the very man they claimed was destroying this country ā€“ how many times has this country been destroyed? ā€“ and attempting to engineer a revival that would see the system not only rejuvenated but also redeemed. Perhaps some folks do not want to be a part of that.ā€
I will bet my last ringgit that the same people who do not vote also troll news sites and fill social media with their numerous complaints, confine their ā€œactivismā€ to forwarding anti-establishment or pro-opposition polemics even though neither appeals to them, and mocking people from both sides of the political divide for being part of the problem. This, of course, is a direct result of partisanship because the people who have chosen a side do nothing to ensure that the side they have chosen is accountable for the promises they make or the words they speak. Pro-establishment partisans and pro-opposition partisans just shout at one another, and this is exactly what the political elites they support want.
Abstaining is not an option
For them, fighting online, making libellous, racists or bigoted comments behind the cloak of anonymity, passes for free speech. Most politically engaged folk believe that the echo chambers they inhabit represent the majority view, and that those who do not subscribe to those views do so because they are complicit in the bribe-taking or are racists or bigoted.
Is it any wonder that there is a growing movement to abstain from supporting either side? Look, I have made my pitch for why a two-party system (flawed as it is) is better than returning the establishment to power. Some folks disagree with me but I would hope that they still cast their vote. If you are voting for Barisan National or leaning that way, I do not think you are stupid or uninformed or racists or bigoted. Trust me, you can be all those and vote the opposition. You have your reasons for maintaining whatever social, political and economic equilibrium you think best suits Malaysia. So, vote with your conscience and hope for the best.
After all, despite what some people say, this country has thrived somewhat with all the systemic inequalities and maybe you think that our luck will hold and maybe it will. Maybe if the establishment gets the mandate it desires from a diverse voting demographic, it will loosen up on its racial and religious agendas and get back to policies that are more inclusive.
If you are opposition-leaning and are disillusioned with the opposition, remember what happened to all those progressives ā€“ and the opposition in Malaysia is supposed to be progressives ā€“ in the US who believed that the GOP (Grand Old Party/Republican) candidate and DNC (Democratic National Committee) candidate were not worth voting for. How did that work out for them? But the Americans are lucky because they have mid-term elections coming up next year. We have no such safety valves.
If I had it my way, the opposition supporting demographic would vote for any PSM candidate that stood for election even if it means not supporting the other Harapan candidates. People who are lucky enough to have this option have it easy. At least, they know that they are voting to drain the swamp.
If you are unlucky and have to make do with what you have, the least you could do is make your voices heard if and when you think the opposition is going down the wrong path. At least this way you are complaining about something you could influence.
Now some opposition politicians delight in the fact that opposition voters ā€œhave no choiceā€ but to vote for them, so they act with impunity. The reason why they get away with this is because of the way they have framed the debate. The world is not going to end if the opposition does not gain federal power. In fact, if they retain state-level dominance, the world will move on in much the same way, which is a slow steady decline.
So, abstaining is not an option. If you do not like what the opposition is selling, do not vote for them and instead vote to maintain the status quo. If you do not like what the establishment is selling, vote for the opposition. Do not think that by abstaining you are not shaping the direction of this country. Believing that abstaining sends the message that a certain section of the polity is dissatisfied is pointless because a lower turnout or less support merely confirms that a win is a win, which is one of the drawbacks of democracy.
What the opposition should be concerned about is that if people do not see a difference between the opposition and the establishment, this is not the fault of voters. It is the fault of the opposition.
posted by Major D Swami (Retired) @ 11:03 AM  
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home
 
ARCHIVES


Previous Post
Indian Soldiers
World War 1
Links To Rangers
Military Related Links


End of a Saracen
East Malaysian
Warriors
Blow Pipe
xxxx
xxxx
Lieutenant Colonel
Zulkapli Abdul Rahman
Click Here
Lieutenant Colonel
Harbhajan Singh
Click Here
Heads from the Land
of the Head Hunters
Heads
20 Harrowing Images
Vietnam War

Creme De La Creme-Click here

Killing Time
Before Deployment

Lt Col Idris Hassan
Royal Malay
Regiment
Click Here

Also Known as
General Half Track

Warriors
Dayak Warrior
Iban Tracker with
British Soldier

Showing the
British Trooper
what a jackfruit is!!

Iban Tracker

A British Trooper training
an Iban Tracker

Iban Tracker

Tracker explaining
to the British Soldier who
knows little about tracking

Iban Tracker
Explaining to the
British Trooper the meaning
of the marks on the leaf

Iban Tracker
Aussie admiring
Tracker's Tattoos

Lest We Forget Major Sabdin Ghani
Click Here
Captain Mohana Chandran
al Velayuthan (200402) SP
Ranger Bajau
ak Ladi PGB
Cpl Osman PGB

Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
Photobucket
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Powered by

Free Blogger Templates

BLOGGER

google.com, pub-8423681730090065, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 <bgsound src=""> google.com, pub-8423681730090065, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0