'Armed Forces chief General Zulkifeli has got his priorities wrong. The soldiers are there to protect the country, not some political party.'

General 'shames' military, says senior lecturer

Ksn: Armed Forces chief General Zulkifeli Mohd Zin is totally confused about the need to obey military orders.

The subordinates in the military and the police should follow the orders of the superiors in the lawful execution of their duties.

However, the commanding officers cannot order their subordinates to mark other people's ballots as giving such orders and executing them is a crime, perjury, treachery, and above all denying others their democratic rights as citizens to vote for people of their choice.

Bernard Phillips: The image of the general appearing with his service chiefs was very serious one.

I half believed that he was indeed going to make an important and grave announcement. Like, the Armed Forces was ready to take over the government and declare martial law in the country if there is political chaos.

But no, it was merely to threaten a few ex-servicemen who 'dared' to speak out against the EC (Election Commission) and the BN government.

If I was unconvinced before, I know now that there is definitely something that was going on with Armed Forces votes.

But if the general thought it necessary to intervene, then I would have thought that he would first thank those servicemen for bring the matter up, encourage others who have encountered such experience to come forward and then announce a full enquiry into the system.

That General Zulkifeli, is what loyalty is all about - loyalty to the soldiers who have served their country faithfully and ensuring that these serving soldiers are not cheated of their voting rights. But Prof Abdul Aziz Bari made that point more eloquently.

Hanyayangbenar: I always think that Armed Forces is independent, impartial and only answerable to Agong as the highest authority.

However, Zulkifeli's comment only confirms the overwhelming Umno influence in the Armed Forces, which is not heard of in the past with former ex-chiefs.

Is this the beginning of rubber-stamp military chiefs picked by Umno to blindly follow what the party wants?

Major Kamaruddin: Yes, 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.

General Zulkifeli, Sir, you have brought shame to those of us who served this country by your denial, and you have brought shame by allowing this to happen.

Ex-AF: I remembered that during Reformasi time (1997-98), there was an NGO by the name Pemantau headed by the late Navy vice admiral Mohd Shariff Ishak. The secretary of the organisation was Lt Cdr Nor Yasmin.

It was formed to uncover 'military' postal vote manipulation. There were a few people in the committee who had good knowledge of such electoral fraud, and I hope these people will come forward.

Mirror Thyself: Ask any ex-servicemen and they are willing to tell the truth and shame the devil.

One ex-serviceman had served TUDM (Air Force) for the past 22 years. During his tenure, he and his colleagues were not asked to vote as all. Voting was done on their behalf at MINDEF (Defence Ministry).

Apparently, during the 2008 GE, S Samy Vellu lost because postal votes went somewhere else instead.

Bil: We don't need generals who are loyal to political parties. They should be loyal to the king, country and the people. General Zulkifeli should be looking into the allegations of electoral fraud in the Armed Forces, instead of branding the whistleblowers traitors.

Ace: Kudos and salute to you, Abdul Aziz Bari, for being daring and professional enough to come out and say what you have said.

It makes full sense and many right-thinking patriotic citizens know it for a fact but it really helps when a Malay comes out to say the obvious.

I hope more and more upright and righteous Malays will take this stance openly and not allow the corrupt, the dirty, the unfair and the evil to carry on their manipulations.

Kim Quek: Professor Aziz Bari couldn't have expressed the indignation of the nation better at the load of nonsense spewed by the general.

That our chief of armed forces should possess such low intellect and mentality is a horrid reflection of the utter lack of integrity and calibre of our political leadership.

Swipenter: This reminds me when our MOD (Ministry of Defence) questioned the loyalty of the ‘pendatangs' towards our country and king on the reasons why there is such a small percentage of ‘pendatang' military personnel.

It was not like that before, just as in all the branches of the civil service. I must agree that many politicians from the major political party have a warped idea and/or misunderstood the concept of ‘loyalty' towards king and country.

These gutter politicians use their warped idea of loyalty to demonise a large section of Malaysians and cause racial polarisation in the country.

BTN: What can I say, the general who leads soldiers with guns and bombs to protect the country has got his priorities wrong. Soldiers are there to protect the country, not some political party.

Tailek: I am very worried that if it comes to the crunch, who will the general support - the Agong as his commander-in-chief and the constitution or the ruling party.

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