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Letter by John Rushton
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Post Letter by John Rushton 
Herewith a letter recently written by John Rushton...posted here with his permission...

Dear Sir / Madam,

I have been subject to a decision made by the Honours and Decorations Committee in respect of the Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal, awarded by the Agong and Government of Malaysia to those Commonwealth personnel who served in that country during the "Emergency" and "Confrontation".
This decision led to a written Ministerial Statement by the then Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, Mr Ian Pearson MP, on the 31st of January 2006.
In essence, I am allowed to accept this medal for my service in Malaysia but lack any formal permission to wear it following the HD Committees recommendation to Her Majesty the Queen..

I find this a decision that is unfair and unjust, and an insult to our Malaysian friends.particularly in light of the fact that other Commonwealth personnel (Australian, New Zealand) have been given that permission to accept and wear this award, also by Her Majesty.

I note that in the FCO booklet for staff, namely "Getting it Right", any release of information is subject to the "In the Public Interest" test (page 24 section 37). On page 19 of the booklet, this suggests a criteria of contributing to public understanding.

Other Veterans have asked for sight of the minutes of the HD Committee meeting that made these decision and been refused under the Section 37 quoted above.

I do not understand how these decisions have been made, neither do many thousands of Veterans and others involved. However, in this instance I speak for myself. I believe these decisions to be unfair and unjust . Surely, if the decisions taken by the HD Committee have been made with sound evidence and argument, as one would hope, and can explain on what basis British Veterans are being treated so differently to others, then the HD Committee have nothing to fear from the release of these minutes where they appertain to the PJM discussions.


Yours faithfully,

John Rushton.

...personal details provided...deleted by request...


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...................'Jock'
Paroi...Rasah...Batu Signals Troop.
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