It looks like we are not alone in having problems with the PJM. Read on...

On the 27 October 2006, there was a Letter to The Editor of my local newspaper. The Townsville Bulletin. It told readers not to allow their offspring to sign up with the Australian Defence Forces. It gave valid reasons why they shouldn't.

On the 1 November 2006, there was another Letter to The Editor - this time fro the Minister of Veterans Affairs, Mr Bruce Billson.

This in turn produced the following.....

Letters to The Editor.

Saturday 4 November 2006

Townsville Bulletin
North Queensland
Australia



Dying in wait for Malaysia medal

I am amazed, no, I am astonished at the speed of which whatever department in Canberra is able to reply to the Letters to the Editor segment of your paper. The reply from the Minister of Veteran Affairs, Bruce Billson, TB 01/11/06, is only one example of late.

Credit therefore must go to those public relations persons employed to keep an eye on these things.

That brings me to the problem I hope to solve through your paper.

During February 2005, the Federal Government in conjunction with the Malaysian Government announced the award of the Malaysian medal, Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM), to those service members who served in Malaysia during 1957 - 66.

The Governor-General was awarded the medal in February 2006, and a number were issued prior to Anzac Day this year. But to date a large majority of the members eligible are still waiting. A period of 20 months has passed since the announcement.

Repeated calls to the Honours & Awards. Department of Defence have been fobbed off, stating that their responsibility ended with the verification of the eligible service. They then forward the application to the Malaysian Embassy.

And that is where it all ends.

Surely someone from the Prime Minister's and Cabinet office, such as the Medals Validation Unit, can make some inquiries about the holdup, because eligible members are dying faster than the medal is issued.

NAME WITHHELD. Condon.

[I woud remind readers of the Fight4 Forum that the PJM was presented to the Australian Governor-General on the 30 January 2006, not February 2006 - John f.]


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Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka,
from the HD Committee and its decision.

We in the uk thought you had it all sewn up down under, but it seems that the combined suits just want us all to die off, so ending the silly problem once and for all.
In WW1 my grandfather landed at Sulva with the Lancashire Brigade and thereafter had nothing but praise for the ANZACs he fought alongside. In those days medals did not come easily and I think that all the troops of ours who fought in that Turkish Hell hole got was the 1915 Star...commonly known as,"pip." All their efforts came to nothing, but at least they got the gong, and pretty toot- sweet. My grandad was wearing it when he went over the top on the first day of the Battle of The Somme less than a year after his withdrawal from the Dardanelles. He was lucky enough to wear it, along with Squeak and Wilfred and another gong he notched up for WW2, at the local War Memorial until he died in 1958.
Our mutual problem with the PJM must be something to do with the decay of the moral fibre of what we thought was The Commonwealth which replaced Empire. We lads of the 1950s were brought up to believe in all kinds of things to do with duty and obligation...which made us such good soldiers, sailors and airmen when we were called, as I was for National Service. The suits in your and our halls of administration have no idea of the mores of our generation and, in my opinion, they have no idea of how to deal with the wishes of our Queen. They are all jobsworths kow towing to the politicians of the day....and fearful of the future of their pensions. I copuld go on long enough to get myself arrested and put into the Tower or London but I hope you get my drift.
Forty odd to fifty years is a long time in the minds of the babes in suits but there is one person who does remember our sacrifices in the only war that WE have won with honour since 1945 and that person is the Queen. Like her or not she has got on with her job for longer than any of us, and given a chance will see that we get our due reward......Mike Barton.


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Mike Barton

Read the following in the Telegraph today:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/06/npensions06.xml

It seems that senior civil servants in the UK can look forwrd to index linked pensions of 75,000.

The gang of three who refuse to correspond with some veterans about the PJM don't need medals for a job well done. They can afford a standard of living in retirement most could only dream of. Is anyone good at Maths. How much capital would you need to buy an indeed linked pension for 75,000 per annum

Hamish

[quote="hamishw"]Read the following in the Telegraph today:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/06/npensions06.xml

It seems that senior civil servants in the UK can look forwrd to index linked pensions of 75,000.

The gang of three who refuse to correspond with some veterans about the PJM don't need medals for a job well done. They can afford a standard of living in retirement most could only dream of. Is anyone good at Maths. How much capital would you need to buy an indeed linked pension for 75,000 per annum

Hamish[/quote]
MY GUESS HAMISH IS ALONG THE LINES OF IF THEY LIVE FOR 20YRS AFTER RETIREMENT,ENTIRELY POSSIBLY CONSIDERING THEY HAVN'T PHYSICALLY EXERTED THEMSELVES,AND CAN AFFORD HOUSEKEEPERS,IS THE FORMULA OF,A SOLDIER COSTS £18K
,GIVE OR TAKE A R.P.G. OR TWO,SO IF YOU GET RID OF EIGHTY SOLDIERS.LET THE REST STRUGGLE ON,WITH A LACK OF BODY ARMOUR,PISS POOR RADIOS,LAND ROVERS ,INSTEAD OF ARMOURED VEHICLES,YOUR RETIREMENT POT IS ASSURRED,THEN YOU CAN SIT ON A QUANGO,AND GET PAID SOME MORE FOR BEING UP YOUR OWN ARSE.DOE'S THIS HELP

ro5=6372 wrote:

hamishw wrote:

How much capital would you need to buy an indeed linked pension for 75,000 per annum

Hamish

... SO IF YOU GET RID OF EIGHTY SOLDIERS.LET THE REST STRUGGLE ON,WITH A LACK OF BODY ARMOUR,PISS POOR RADIOS,LAND ROVERS ,INSTEAD OF ARMOURED VEHICLES,YOUR RETIREMENT POT IS ASSURRED,THEN YOU CAN SIT ON A QUANGO,AND GET PAID SOME MORE FOR BEING UP YOUR OWN ARSE.DOE'S THIS HELP

Well, Pete 'n' Hamish, I don't want to divert attention at this critical hour for the F4, and my Maths don't add up so apreciate Pete's understandable equation, but the answer is about £34,835,511 give or take the odd Chancellor cocking up (cooking up?) the books ... but that's only if the poor s*ds have to work right through to age 55.

Barry


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BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia