Rt. Hon Gordon Brown MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Road
London SW1A 2HQ
UNITED KINGDOM


17th February 2006


Dear Chancellor

The Malaysian Service Medal 'Pingat Jasa Malaysia' (PJM)

I think your idea to have a day to honour UK veterans is a good way in which the people of Great Britain can show their appreciation for the service and sacrifice of former members of HM forces. I am though very disappointed at the recent Ministerial Statement by Mr Ian Pearson accepting the award of the PJM medal but denying the recipients the right to wear the medal. The medal is to be awarded to British and Commonwealth service personnel for their service in Malaysia between 1957 and 1966 and is graciously given to us by the King and Government of Malaysia. The Queen of Australia and New Zealand has accepted the wearing of this medal without restriction.

The Ministerial Statement was made following the advice of the Committee of the Grants of Honours , Decorations and Medals. I believe they made a grave error of judgement in placing a restriction on the wearing of a medal from a fellow Commonwealth country which we fought alongside in a protracted counter insurgency campaign over many years. As a fellow Scot who served in Borneo you may be interested to know that veterans from the following Scottish regiments are amongst the 35,000 eligible recipients for the PJM medal:

4th Royal Tank regiment
1st Bn Scots Guards
1st Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers
1st Bn Queen's Own Highlanders
1st Bn Gordon Highlanders
1st Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
1st Bn Black Watch

Sadly most of the above regiments no longer exist. Further information as to why the Honours Directorate made an incorrect decision to restrict the wearing of the medal can be obtained from the following web site:

http://www.fight4thepjm.org

This site has been established by veterans to lobby for the lifting of restrictions on wearing this medal. The Honours Directorate is an unelected body of men. Any veterans I know will be ignoring their directive and will wear the medal with pride on appropriate occasions. The Government is left with egg on their face over an issue which has been handled badly from the start and has been handled in such a way as to insult the King and Government of Malaysia. Veterans from this period may be a bunch of old men and women but we will fight on with resolve and tenacity until restrictions on wearing the medal are lifted. I urge you Chancellor to use your influence as a senior member of Government to rectify this matter, otherwise this issue will be a thorn in the side of government for many years to come.

Enclosed please find a letter I have recently written to HRH The Prince of Wales which more fully explains my position on this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you on this issue.


Yours sincerely





Hamish Waters
Borneo Veteran

Great letter Hamish. I tried to contact Gordon Brown with exactly the same sentiments, however my email was rejected several times. I cannot but feel that the dark forces in government are protecting the priciples.

I did send my M.P. (Gary Streeter) a copy with additional comments..as of yet, no reply.

I was working in Malaysia at the end of last year training their police and military personel. Whenever I was introduced to a class the fact that I served in Borneo during the confrontation was mentioned and every time, the class stood up and applauded. I have to admitt it was all a bit emotional (and this comming from a bootneck)
The Malaysians are truely thankfull, that is why they want us to have the PJM......our government..."Its Tommy this and Tommy that and chuck him out the brute,
but he's the saviour of the nation when the guns begin to shoot" Rudyard Kiplin was right then and he is right now.

Bob Bryant
Ex 40 Commando R.M.

bob_bryant wrote:

Whenever I was introduced to a class the fact that I served in Borneo during the confrontation was mentioned and every time, the class stood up and applauded. I have to admitt it was all a bit emotional (and this comming from a bootneck). The Malaysians are truely thankfull, that is why they want us to have the PJM......our government..."Its Tommy this and Tommy that and chuck him out the brute, but he's the saviour of the nation when the guns begin to shoot" Rudyard Kiplin was right then and he is right now.

Bob, Welcome to the web site - and thanks for your support.

Yes, Hamish's letter is a belter. I'm going to place it on the "What We Say" page.

My Malaysian friends react rather like that - they have been very upset by HMG's attitude. We've got to get this decision amended so that the PJM is wearable ... for them as much as for us.

Kipling's poem does say it all so I shall place that in "Memories".


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

I have sent an email, which at the time of writing has gone through, to Alex Salmond MP, Scottish National Party, inviting him to join us in our fight for unrestricted acceptance of the PJM, and I have given him this site address in the hope that he views it, or gets his people to view it, so that the other numpties and chinless wonders in Whitehall, who have been throwing their toys out of their prams, find out what the real world thinks of them, and what a 'band of brothers' we are. Liked very much the letter on the nmbva site which said he will wear the medal regardless, even if he ends up in a cell with an elderly community tax non-payer. They have pushed us all too far and now they will see how useless they and their rubbish rules are.