by drrafick
August 19, 2011
1. Words can’t describe the anger and pain that I felt with the MAF Chief over his political partisanship comments that disgraced the serving and retired members of the Malaysian Armed Forces. It is unbecoming for a General to call retirees a traitor to the service when he does not have the facts on hand. Anyone who can tell the truth and stand by what they said deserves much more respect than this General whose chest wall is pasted with tin medals. Half of them are probably earned while sitting at a desk and pushing papers.
2. We expect our generals to lead and provide leadership to the man in uniformed. We expect him to defend the integrity of the nation and not defending any political party. Loyalty to the government of the day has its limits. It does not include having a blind loyalty to the political party. In our country the civil service is lame and dictated by politicians, the police are crippled and now the MAF leadership has defamed itself. He send a strong message to the public that confirms that the brass are spineless and their past career growth has been dependent on politicians. They continue to look at politicians for their post retirement career.
3. Aren’t there any officers with strong character and conviction to serve the King and the country today? Has the phrase loyalty to the King and country has been change to blind loyalty to BN? It worries me as the 2nd and 3rd layer of our civil service, police and military has been groomed to be politically loyal to BN first and country second.
4. To the MAF chief, as a retired military officer I demand that you stand tall and apologize to the nation. If you don’t have it in you to do so, then does the next best thing i.e. resign! The same goes with the service chiefs that stand behind him during his press conference. They have disgrace the flag, country and the people. There are men and there are officers. Which one are you?
#1 by DAP man on Friday, 19 August 2011 - 7:01 pm
Dr Rafick,
This is called the Malay feudalistic mentality. They seldom, if at all, go against their master.
The Army chief thinks he is serving UMNO.
The IGP thinks he is serving UMNO.
The State Secretary things he is serving UMNO.
The EC chief thinks he is serving UMNO.
The CJ thinks he is serving UMNO.
The Ag thinks he is serving UMNO.
#2 by Loh on Friday, 19 August 2011 - 7:52 pm
///The decay in the UK started about 30 or 40 years ago. British society already showed signs of breaking down but the government did nothing. Today, we are seeing the result of that neglect. The English youth are probably amongst the worst in the world. They have no ambition, they are uncouth and uncivilised, they are arrogant and inconsiderate — in short the English youth is an example of everything that is wrong with society.
Malaysia, today, is what the UK was 30 or 40 years ago. By 2030 or so, Malaysia is going to be what the UK is today.///–RPK http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/no-holds-barred/42927-malaysia-in-reflection
Actually it was not that the government of UK did nothing, the reverse was true, they did too much like a nanny. There are 120,000 teenagers who came from homes which give no example of what earning a living means. From grandfather to the grandchildren, they live on handouts for decades. The government in UK thinks that the people do not have to be responsible for their livelihood. The state would pay for their living needs so long as they did not cause troubles.
In Malaysia the government pretends to look after the interest of a section of the society in return for their votes. Among the favoured section, they behave like the families in UK which never know work. Of the balance, they are fed up of doing national service and being discriminated.
The UK government has arrested close to two thousands persons based on CCTV images. But CCTV in Malaysia always fail to work at the crucial moment, and the simple homicide case of TBH needed the speculative talents of judges to close.
UK faced rioting which lasted three days because the police personnel chose not to apply robust methods for crowd control. In Malaysia, police used water cannons and teargas on peaceful gathering of persons who were out to send a political message. That is the different between Malaysia and UK, though they made the same mistake of taking over the responsibility of the citizens to lead their lives, albeit for different reasons.
#3 by undertaker888 on Friday, 19 August 2011 - 8:30 pm
The real traitors are those NEP umno ret@rds. Everytime a name from umno, MCA or mic comes about, the things i can think of are corrupted, thieves and ball carriers.
Argh!!! How I hate these buggers.
#4 by Joshua on Friday, 19 August 2011 - 9:16 pm
UMNO illegal leaders behave more than King.
#5 by dcasey on Friday, 19 August 2011 - 9:38 pm
“It worries me as the 2nd and 3rd layer of our civil service, police and military has been groomed to be politically loyal to BN first and country second” – Dr Rafick
The more than a million able, skilled and patriotic Malaysian rakyat who left the country to work and live elsewhere were worried about this problem long time ago. That’s the reason why they left. Now those remaining Rakyat who are still in this country, in whatever skin colour, race or religion he/she may be, should start to wake up to this reality. All of us should stand solidly behind Dr Rafick and say loudly to the BN govt …. “It worries me sick”.
#6 by Lutfi on Friday, 19 August 2011 - 10:34 pm
So anyone who gives statement in support of the government is working for Umno. Nobody should say something good about the government bcos Malaysia now is a failed state. People are not safe here Election is being tampered and if there was any clean election held in the past 54 years, Mr Lim Kit Siang is now our Prime Minister! Come on guys. DAP is the all time loser and is only good at becoming a loser, shouting and barking like dog.
#7 by asia on Friday, 19 August 2011 - 11:31 pm
BN is a cancer of corruption to Malaysia land
Anything they touch their cancer of corruption will spread to it
To save Malaysia we must terminate it as soon as possible before too late
We must terminate it before it spread to your families and children and your grand children else there will be no cure
Let’s save MALAYSIA in GE13
#8 by Cinapek on Friday, 19 August 2011 - 11:46 pm
A couple of decades ago when I worked in Thailand, I was very proud to point out to my Thai colleagues how proud we were that our AF were apolitical compared to the Thai military which plays a prominent role in Thai politics.
I suppose that is all in the past going from the comments of this AF chief. I am utterly appalled at the stand taken by him and, I suppose, the other service chiefs who were standing behind him. He cannot differentiate between Govt and party and in his little mind, his claim of being loyal and serving the “Govt of the day” is actually to serve UMNO. During an election, there is no Govt but only a caretaker Govt and the soldiers, like all other eligible voters, are voting in a new Govt., which becomes the Govt of the day after the election results are confirmed.
If this is typical thinking of the AF, it spells grave danger for the rakyat. Already he has made a sinister threat by saying that the AF cannot be expected to be loyal to the people if the people are not loyal to the AF based on their twisted thinking. I dread to think what they will do if BN loses GE13.
#9 by monsterball on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 12:11 am
We are witnessing the fruits of Mahathir’s 22 years race and religion politics where weak minds like that General is trying yo be too smart.
This so call General’s comments and remarks will be hated by thousands in the Arm Forces too…but keep quiet….just to keep on earning a living.
This General is a UMNO B …whose trademark is welknown…deny and accuse from the start..like an UMNO B politician.
Najib must be feeling so proud…as he said now…the electoral roll stays as it is for 13th G…while the Govt.will do it’s best to clean up so call “errors” and not phantom votes.
#10 by citizenwatch on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 12:48 am
LKS, PR! Why let Naj get the army and police collude together? No protests from you all. Naj plans are obvious isnt it if there’s an emergency. And PR by now should take legal action against BM, NRD and EC for obvious fraudulent elections. No more engagements with them. Get international justice if possible.
#11 by citizenwatch on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 12:53 am
There? Najib already said no need for Select Committee. Don’t engage anymore. In other countries the ruling government will be taken to task and action taken for blatant fraud in elections. What are you waiting for?
#12 by Loh on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 1:24 am
///PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) today questioned a journalist over a picture she had taken during the Bersih 2.0 rally.
But according to Lawyers For Liberty (LFL) coordinator, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, the officials had behaved like thugs in their intimidation and harassment of both her and her client.///–http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/08/19/mcmc-officers-behaved-like-thugs/
The picture which appeared later in internet represented a faithful evidence of what happened. The police should have made use of it for their investigation but MCMC chose to shoot the messenger. Not only officials of government agencies behave like thugs, they used thuggish means to build their spirit of brotherhood of the thugs fraternity.
#13 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 7:13 am
General, you are paid with the $$$$ earned through the blood, sweat, toil and tears of 27 million Malaysians.
And you think that your loyalty is to UMNO, Najib and Mahathir.
Ok, you deserve this one: ypu don’t deserve two hoots of respect!
#14 by cemerlang on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 8:51 am
Thooose days when England could even support all their citizens who are homeless is slowing coming to an end. That is why there are riots. Education costs go up like mad because part of the public money goes to helping the homeless. In addition to other things. Ordinary human on the street knows what it means to be patriotic to the nation. Grassroots know what is actually going on. Go to kopitiam and you have loads of stories and gossips; all of which form the true picture. Soldiers have no choice but to be brainwashed because without them, Malaysia is in great danger. So you cannot blame them. But at the same time, they can only ask no question and expect no answer. You are under orders. You are ordered to go there. You go. Like all the civil servants with nice hi fi titles but it is beyond their control. You face the music if you even have a brain.
#15 by dagen on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 10:00 am
Listen DAP. Even without the benefit of those confirmation by the 4 brave & patriotic ex-army men we all know that army postal votes rigging had been going on; and had gone on for decades.
The point is this. Having gone on for such a long time (without actual detection) the rigging must by now have taken on a very fixed and established pattern in terms of its methodology in execution and in terms of its line of communication for umno to order the desired rigging activities.
In short what we are dealing with here are not random events which can difficult to detect and prevent but established and definite events with fixed structure (think of it as a plant – well of the poisonous umno variety) which can easily be identified and uprooted completely and cleanly.
Hammer this issue to death DAP. Uproot the whole umno’s postal votes rigging establishment.
#16 by Peter on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 11:02 am
Armed Forces cheap oopps… “chief” General Zulkifeli has got his priorities wrong. The soldiers are there to protect the country, not some political party.’es, there are other military personnel who would come forward, but I think they are afraid of what they may lose. I personally know a very senior officer who is aware of the electoral fraud, but if he reveals himself he will lose all that he has got. But given time and some soul searching, they will. Good, honest and brave men should not be made to look like liars – these are men of honour. However liars, cheats and disloyal Malaysians holding high office should be exposed – that is our national duty. This guy has brought shame to those of us who served this country by your denial, and you have brought shame by allowing this to happen.
#17 by dagen on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 12:39 pm
The army is one strange lot of people exhibiting an odd group behaviour: Odd to us civilians of course. They are odd not because they are so but because they are trained and conditioned to become so. The idea is so that (1) they behave like machines; (2) they take orders from their superior and execute them unquestioningly (ideally that should be the case); and (3) they are fearless.
Now all of these are made possible only because the army is indoctrinated with one critical purpose in their minds – to fight the enemy for king and country. In other words, there must be in existence an enemy that is threatening the king and the country. Should the army lose sight of this purpose they will very quickly lose the spirit to go on fighting. They will not take orders and execute them as were expected of them.
The american army lost that fighting spirit in iraq because there was no enemy. They were told of a a big bad enemy – threatening american soil with WMD – who must be killed. That enemy did not exist. Many american army cried or broke down and they had to be sent home, despite all the tough physical training and mind hardening. Towards the end of vietnam war the same thing too happened. The marines could no longer go on fighting because they could not see the purpose of that war.
Now back to the postal votes rigging issue. I bet bersih has done the country one major favour. Bersih told the army that rigging the postal votes in umno’s favour has nothing to do with fighting the enemy nor protecting king and country. If anything, it is purely an exercise to protect and prolong umno’s grip on power. And we all know that that grip on power has for decades been abused by umno in all ways thinkable.
Worse, aliens were allowed into the country by the hundreds of thousands (now numbering in total, millions and millions). This alone is enough to constitute a threat against the king and country – a very very real threat indeed. It seems, now we have a real enemy: UMNO.
The army must realise this. The army must know about this.
#18 by good coolie on Saturday, 20 August 2011 - 5:28 pm
Hail to the whistle-blowers of the Armed Forces! They are, forever, loyal soldiers.
#19 by Jeffrey on Sunday, 21 August 2011 - 9:38 am
Of course MAF cheif knows who appointed him and who could remove him. What do you expect him to say? People side the powers-that-be/system than fight it – because in the case of the latter who would back you and make sure you are kept harmless? Take the case of RMAF sergeant N. Tharmendran who complained he was made scapegoat for thjeft of the jet engine and claimed that he was tortured during interrogation. On last Nov 25, he was re-arrested right in the court by a RMAF Provost Marshall team and thrown into Batu Kentomen camp detention centre where he currently is. After initial hullabaloo the public civil society & opposition have already forgotten about his predicament. It is hard to remember and sustain the initial outrage being felt about his case – to continue keeping his case in public radar- when every new day there are fresh outrages to engage the attention of public civil society & opposition!