The march edition of this magazine carries a long article on the early days of the Emergency and stresses the success of the Commonwealth compared to failures elsewhere. I have just emailed the editor.
Dear Mr Musgrove
Your March edition of History magazine contains a timely article on the conflict in Malaya. The Emergency that followed WWII lasted beyond the independence of Malaya and ran on into the Borneo Confrontation. Hostilities only ceased when the Communist backed Indonesian regime sued for peace in 1966. The two campaigns, against terrorist incursions, still remains the sole success of Western-backed democracies.
Last year the Malaysian Government announced that it wished to award a newly struck medal, the Pingat Jasa Malaysia, to all Commonwealth ex service personnel who served in the actions between Malaysian Independence and the end of the Confrontation. The Australian and New Zealand governments immediately accepted the offer without reservation and they so advised Her Majesty. They have begun to receive their medals.
The British Government initially rejected the offer out of hand but following intense lobbying reviewed the situation at the end of 2005. Their revised decision, made earlier this month, was to advise Her Majesty that British veterans could accept the award, but would not be allowed to wear it. This is a blatant insult to all veterans, and a most heinous snub to the Agong, Government and people of Malaysia.
The decision comes at a time when Gordon Brown has declared a National Veteran's Day at which "medals will be awarded". Clearly he intends that the PJM will be dished out at photo calls up and down the land, but the medals are then to be hastily hidden from view. There is now a very active lobbying campaign to reverse this ludicrous state of affairs. Interested parties may access a web site where the history of the conflict, written by those who were there, can be read. www.fight4thepjm.org.
Regards
Gerry


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Gerald Law (ex RAF Borneo Veteran)