Sunday, August 05, 2018

Victory from defeat



I say old boy, stiff upper lip and all that, jolly good show 

The British have been well-known or notorious, depending on your outlook, at turning military defeats into victorious events worthy of celebrations. The most famous of all has been Dunkirk, France in 1940.


From the web I obtained (extracts):


The British retreat from Northern France in Spring 1940 is often referred to as 'almost a victory' and people discuss the 'Dunkirk spirit' at great length. This 'spirit' refers to the way that a large number of civilian ships crossed the channel to Dunkirk in order to help demoralised British forces return to Britain.

Undoubtedly these acts by ordinary British fishermen and sailors were heroic, undoubtedly the British retreat from Pas de Calais was a disaster.

When war was declared with Germany in 1939, Britain and France expected to fight in Northern France once more as they had done 25 years previously.

The German war machine (Wermacht) had moved on though, they had developed a new kind of warfare (Blitzkrieg - 'lightning war') that was storming across Europe routing armies at will. British and French forces were, with minor exceptions, swept away during the spring of 1940 by this new warfare.




Although the French and British, not wishing to give any credit to the Germans, may blame each other for the defeat, the British may accuse the French of not defending their homeland and the French may accuse of the British of trying to cut their losses early, the truth is that neither army was ready for the kind of war that the Wermacht were fighting.

The all-too-predictable result being that the Allied force was defeated and routed.

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) struggled its way to the city-port of Dunkirk where as many as 300,000 troops were withdrawn to Britain despite being under continuous assault from German aircraft.

It is believed that the only reason the Wermacht failed to kill or capture the whole BEF was that Herman Goering insisted to Hitler that the Luftwaffe (German air force) be allowed the 'glory' of assaulting Dunkirk without ground support. Put simply, the German army was better prepared for the Battle of France in all areas, they soundly defeated the French and British forces.

Others were Gallipoli, Turkey in 1915 and Somme, France in 1916. Both battles have also been remembered every year by the Aussies and Kiwis, especially Gallipoli. Many Aussies define Gallipoli as the birth of their sovereign nation, an Australia detached from Mother England.


Further back in history and in South Africa was the battle at Isandhlwana (today's Durban) 1879. Again I obtained following extracts from the Web:

Some 1000 British and 2000 Zulus died after the Zulu forces cut off the line of retreat back to Rorkes Drift.


Once again it is interesting to consider the historical context and the way that this battle is often discussed in the British mainstream.


The fact that the colours of the 24th regiment (the British unit that fought in the battle) were not captured by the enemy and were recovered after being washed up down stream from a river where it is surmised that a Lt. Coghill died defending the banner is often seen as a coded victory for the honour of the British army.

What actually happened to the Regimental colours is a matter of historical interpretation as not a single soldier survived to tell the tale.



There have been numerous others, but let's now switch to today's Malaysia, especially in Sungai Kandis.

PKR has won as expected but alas, with its winning majority slashed by half (compared to GE14) due mainly to poorer turnout (less than 50% - main mahjong? wakakaka).

The diminished majority may reinforce perception that public confidence in the government is already waning just two months after they took over federal power, and I suspect UMNO will turn its defeat into a victory a la Dunkirk etc, wakakaka.

But UMNO also has had its vote capture chopped off by half. I am not sure whether PAS voters have played UMNO out, wakakaka. 


PKR candidate for Sungai Kandis Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni and his wife Azlinah Abdul Razak arrive at Dewan Besar Tanjung MBSA, Shah Alam August 4, 2018. — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim 

Yes, UMNO will now undoubtedly claim moral victory. Looks like we still have a few more lessons to learn from our previous colonial master, wakakaka.



14 comments:

  1. Before GE14, PKR and DAP had tons of practice in dealing with defeat.

    It's a huge climb down for Ktemoc's fav former TUAN UMNO to having to claim. "Moral Victory".

    ReplyDelete
  2. I say old chap, jolly good show, I'd say the Malaysian version of the French resistance aka the undirosak mob played a vital role in the battle for sg. kandis wakakaka, how dare you forgot about them wakakaka again

    I say old chap, such a bodek of an article to draw similarities of a disastrous defeat to a moral victory, did you not notice they were playing the race and religion card in the run up to d day? nothing to say about that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. in malaysia EVERYONE is racist so what need is there to re-emphasise such usual rants

      Delete
    2. your mahathir is also a big racist, otherwise why form a party that no non-pribumi can join

      Delete
    3. Including you.....cheebye motherfucker kaytee?

      Pauline hanson is right in banishing people like kaytee from australia

      Delete
    4. I did NOT fCk your mum so stop saying I am your motherfucker

      Watch out for Pauline's you-know-what - it can snip off your wriggling tongue, wakakaka

      Delete
    5. What a mother load of shit!

      The point HERE is umno/pas were playing the race and religion card in the run up to d day?

      Did mamak's party do ANY such thing to the d day?

      Oooop… 1000x sorry, being in faraway Oz, couldn't verify lah! Lagi kenal 吃糊 by the other players all the time during the otakrosak mahjong session. Jadi betul2 blur le!

      Wakakakaka…

      Delete
  3. DUMNO and PUS played the Race and Religion cards to the fullest at Sg. Kandis, and there should be no more fertile ground with 70% Malay electorate.

    Their votes got slashed, so you need to be a real DUMNO supporter to claim Moral victory.

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  4. umno still the najib umno, pas still the hadi pas, can we have something more refreshing n capable?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Turnout halved, majority halved, all parties support level also halved.
    Looks straightfoward.
    But... the amount of spinning is still full tilt.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Less turnout can mean several things to different people but I would prefer these answer after studying the percentages of previous and current voter turnout vis percentage of winner votes vis percentage of loser votes.

    1. Everyone knows PH is going to win again and hence the lethargy comes in to go again and vote. Better stay at home with family or go to work or play mahjong.

    2. Those who went out to vote were probably the strongest supporters of their parties who are thus more likely to go to vote to see their candidate win the bye-election.

    Having said that, and seeing the additional rise in percentage win of the PH candidate even with a lower voter turnout, a few more conclusions can then be derived again why the BN candidate has a even lower percentage of the voters voting for him in a low voter turnout. They are :

    1. Most of the BN supporters in Sg Kandis remain hardcore supporters and have not changed their voting pattern just like those PH supporters who turn out to vote.

    2. Approximately 1/2 of previous PAS supporters prefer not to turn out to vote even after their leaders told them to vote for BN.

    3. Many DAP, Amanah, Bersatu voters did not come out to vote since it was seen more as a PKR vs UMNO contest instead of a PH vs BN contest.

    In summary, PKR party has definitely overtaken UMNO party as the mainstream party to vote for in a majority Malay, Moslem constituency.

    How can anyone else sees Victory in Defeat in such a scenario except to gloat even when licking one's wounds.

    Wakakakakakakakaka

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ktemoc calling Sg. Kandis a moral victory for UMNO is what Penangites call A'n Ka'Ki Sim or "comforting ones own heart" or more devastatingly Bull-Shitting one's self.

    If UMNO cannot win a 75% Bumi seat, playing Race and Religion card to the fullest, with full support from PUS leadership, where can it win ?


    Good question...things look very bad for UMNO..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. aiyoyo, Mr Dedak Makan-er, where is it that I said " Sg. Kandis a moral victory for UMNO"

      aiyoyo again, you are such an incorrigible LIAR

      Delete
    2. Is that WHY u keep protecting jibby/hippo's kleptomaniac indulgences bcoz this shameless couple DIDN'T openly say BUT acted upon the claim?

      Same f*cking logic from the same hyena den!

      Delete