Mr Touhig expresses his sorrow...
My anticipated letter arrived today...and as expected, it is a virtual carbon copy of the one George rec'd earlier...saying that he regrets that the letter contained 'disappointing news'.
ergo.....the following...
Don Touhig MP:
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence And Minister for Veterans
Ministry of Defence
Floor 5 Zone B Main Building
Whitehall, London. SW1A 2H
April 11, 2006
Pingat Jasa Malaysia
Dear Mr Touhig,
Thank you for your letter of the 5th inst, of which I am recently in receipt.
As your closing paragraph suggests, I am indeed disappointed with your response.
Let me say that I am even more disappointed by the apparent fact that you, an elected official, have overtly committed yourself to the defence of the indefensible. Presumably, affected veterans within your constituency, will in due course, mobilise to tangibly express their disappointment with that stance, at the ballot box.
Additionally, my personal disappointment is that, as a Canadian citizen, not completely ‘au courant’ with UK political dynamics, I have obviously misconstrued the title ‘Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence And Minister for Veterans ’. My naïve assumption was that this title might designate an individual dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights of veterans. It is apparent from your letter that the primary function is, in fact, protection of the privileged posteriors of the HD Committee, by slavish parroting of their arbitrary, discriminatory and disingenuous pronouncements.
· FCO ‘Restricted Wear’ legislation applies only to military personnel in uniform or civilian individuals employed in some capacity by HMG. It is erroneous to imply that retired civilians are subject to this ‘rule’.
· ‘Double Medalling’ is a spurious issue, since the scope of the PJM covers both service and timescales outwith the eligibility rules for the General Service Medal with clasp(s) “Malaya”, “Malay Peninsula”, and/or “Borneo.
· Multiple requests for a definition of ‘Formal Permission’ and the identity of the individual(s) who elected to coin that phrase, have received no response. I reject, categorically, any oblique inference that my Sovereign is responsible for this uninformed and discriminatory language.
· The trivialisation of this honour gratuitously insults all of the following:
The Veterans: The Fallen: The Agong, Government & Peoples of Malaysia: The Governments & Peoples of Australia & New Zealand, (by the implication that their HD standards are somehow inferior to those of the UK HD).
The fact that, in this day and age, such decisions are exclusively within the purview of a clandestine and non-elected body simply boggles the democratic mind! The actions and statements of the HD Committee appear to borrow infinitely more from prejudice and mendacity, than they do from honour and integrity.
Being repeatedly disappointed by the vague and ambiguous responses of several of your parliamentary contemporaries on this topic, I am reluctantly forced to form the opinion that none of them chooses to provide an honest answer to a simple question. One would almost think that the subject is one that creates embarrassment for them (you?) and from which they cannot, quickly enough, distance themselves.
Given the circumstances, let me speculate that there is compelling reason for such guilty embarrassment and in addition, an abundance of justifiable shame, to stigmatise all who continue to assist in perpetuating this petty minded charade.
You may rely Sir; on hearing a great deal more of this matter.
It is my hope that this will not prove to be a disappointment to you.
Sincerely,
John 'Jock' Fenton
(Ex Royal Corps of Signals & 17th Gurkha Division)
http://www.fight4thepjm.org
_________________
...................'Jock'
Paroi...Rasah...Batu Signals Troop.
