Wednesday 27 March 2013

Story That Touch My Heart

 
 
It's sad when we see Malaysians slag off the very people whose lives are put on the line daily for the sake of the nation .

I was in LD for some work last week. I had the chance to chat with a few of our brave men. Most were tired & hungry. Most have been living on instant noodles, dry biscuits, 3 in 1 coffee, isotonic drinks & cigarettes for the last month or so.

Remember how a lot of Malaysians were mocking the government for the KFC meal? Of course these ignorant buffoons conveniently ignored the fact that it was sponsored by KFC & not the government but I digress. That box was the first bit of meat some of our heroes had eaten in weeks.

Those in the party had an impromptu collection that night & we collected some 2.5k. We bought chocolate wafers, cream biscuits, cigarettes, Milo, canned curry chicken, sweets, potato chips, cap badak heat expelling drinks etc which we managed to distribute to 8 road block points. It's insignificant but some even had tears in their eyes when we handed it over.

It is torturous, not just physically but mentally. Just imagine this; deprived of proper food, sleep, bath, toilet facilities & constantly alert for an attack for the last month or so.

And if you still can't emphatize for these brave souls, I can safely say that whatever bit of humanity you have within you is well & truly gone, extinguished. And as much as I abhor this line of argument, I really think if you fall in that category, you should seriously consider migrating for good. We sure as hell don't want you here but hey it's a democracy, unlike North Korea where you get sent to the gulag for not supporting your uniformed heroes. 
 
As BC rightly points out, the army are better prepared with their field rations. The GOF are normally utilized for one off operations which is concluded within the day itself.

I understand from our conversations that those from the Sarawak battalions were deployed with 24 hours notice. We need to give credit to the operations center as well for sending packed food to the outposts once daily. In between, they'd have to consume noodles & biscuits.

We need to understand that LD itself is about 100miles from ground zero. At the same time, the road blocks are spread far & wide to ensure that the checks are layered to minimize escape or intrusion risks. With so many personnel to feed, obviously it's a logistical nightmare. Bear in mind that when the fighting started, there were problems with getting food to the evacuation center for a couple of days to.

That said, hopefully lessons are learned from this incident. And if we are faced with such a scenario in future, we'd be able to feed our heroes better.

Now, more than ever, is the time we showed our undivided support to our troops. When we came out of our vehicles just to chat, these extraordinary men were all smiles as smokes were passed round as were drinks & sweets. They appreciated these little gestures which encourages them to soldier own.

Speaking to a fellow Sarawakian from the 11th battalion of the GOF, I asked him what could we get them at the outpost. His answer is a timely reminder to all Malaysians of the sacrifices others do on our behalf.

Answering me in the local Sarawak Malay dialect he said, "Sik kamek ngarap apa apa ngan kitak. Cukuplah mun kitak dapat smayang ngan kamek semua nok kat sitok selamat masa bertugas."
(We expect nothing from you all. It is sufficient if you could pray for the safety of all us on duty here...)

These selfless & extraordinary Malaysians deserve better than what Malaysians had given them all these while. Even if we can't contribute in any other way, let us never forget them in our daily prayers. 

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