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PM visit to Oz
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The British Prime Minister Tony Blair has just commenced a four day visit to Australia (4 days too many) and is scheduled to visit the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. While he is there I hope he bows his head in shame at the way his government is treating Borneo/Malay veterans regarding the formal wearing of the PJM medal. At the same time he may want to reflect on the different attitude that the Australian and New Zealand governments have shown in regards to the accepting and wearing of the medal. What are you going to talk about here in Australia Tony Blair; the war in Iraq, the Europoean Union or other monumental stuff ups you are so good at engineering. I intend writing to the national papers here with the hope that they will publish my letter and embarrass Tony Blair during his visit here. Also thanks to the many contributors to this site for the wealth of excellent material they have provided which will help construct an appropriate letter to the media.

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Good on yer, Ivor!

Let me encourage all of our Australian brothers to emulate your example...any way we can find to embarrass Mr Blair, and/or his government can only help the cause.


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...................'Jock'
Paroi...Rasah...Batu Signals Troop.
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IvorJ wrote:
... the wealth of excellent material they have provided which will help construct an appropriate letter to the media.


I'll second that, Jock. Great stuff, Ivor. I'm just abvout to post my March submission which raises a few (about 50) questions. I'll let you know when it's there.


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BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia
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Thanks Ivor, I hope the Aussie newspapers take the opportunity to take a swipe at Blair.....I am sure we will once again see the prime minister with his head bowed wringing his hands at some military memorial talking about the sacrifices our servicemen and women make......wave you PJM's at him and shout "What about the Brits!!"

Cheers mate,
Bob Bryant

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Any chance Ivor that you can clank the PJM and the GSM in unison somewhere in ear shot of Blurr, it would be nice to see you in the background of one of those 'photo opportunities' that Blurr loves especially shaking hands with The Governor General of Oz sporting his PJM & GSM
Rolling Eyes


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This is a copy of the letter I have sent to major national papers as well as the Courier Mail in Brisbane.

Dear Editor

This week the British Prime Minister Tony Blair is on an official visit to Australia and is scheduled to visit the Australian War Memorial. During this visit he may well hang his head in shame at the way his government is treating the 35000 British Borneo and Malay veterans regarding the wearing of the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal.
In 2005 the Malaysian Government awarded this commemorative medal to commonwealth servicemen who served in the Malay emergency and the confrontation between 1958 and 1966 in which many commonwealth servicemen made the ultimate sacrifice. Known as the forgotten war it was successful in stopping the spread of communism through the Malay Peninsula.
The Australian and New Zealand governments accepted this generous offer from the Malaysians with no restrictions on the wearing of the medal. The British government at first refused the offer but after much lobbying agreed to accept the offer but placed a restriction that it cannot be worn ‘formally’. This reduces the medal to little more than a trinket and is a major insult to both the Malaysian people and to the 35000 British Malay/Borneo veterans. It is no surprise that Australia has removed itself from the British honours system that reflects an outdated and colonist approach.
If you don’t learn anything else from your trip down under Prime Minister Blair at least learn from Australia how to honour and respect your veterans.

Ivor Rich

Malay/Borneo veteran
Ph. 07 54788712 Mb. 0416530700

Thanks for some of the suggestions on how to gain publicity but unfortunately I am also waiting for the MOD or whoever to send me my PJM. The tyranny of distance also precludes me from following the official visits of Blair but there were some great ideas put forward.

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