Please read it and add your support - there is a form that you can download at the end of this post.
Thank you.
SUMMARY (Attached to the Petition)
This Petition addresses in the first instance, the rule that the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal can be accepted but NOT WORN by eligible Scottish veterans who saw service in Malaya/Malaysia/Borneo during action labelled as ‘The Emergency’ and ‘The Konfrontasi’.
It is accepted that the Scottish Parliament cannot consider matters which fall under the heading ‘UK Foreign Policy’ and although the PJM medal is a foreign award and is dealt with by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the matter under dispute is a ruling made by the British establishment and on British soil and it restricts British Citizens, so it cannot be classed as UK Foreign Policy.
Her Majesty the Queen as the Head of the Commonwealth authorised the governments of Australia and New Zealand to permit eligible veterans to accept and wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal but refused permission for British Citizens to wear it. In doing so, Her Majesty was advised by the Honours and Decorations Committee to ignore our present politically correct, multicultural society where all should be equal in the eyes of the law.
Discrimination solely of British Citizens together with injustice and a breach of democracy play a part in this disgraceful decision to withhold permission to wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal.
BREACH OF DEMOCRACY
The Honours and Decorations Committee is reported to act in secret and are accountable to no-one but Her Majesty the Queen. They are appointed by the government but as was reported by the Cabinet Office they are ‘not accountable to anyone but Her Majesty the Queen’.
Her Majesty the Queen is the Constitutional Head of our country and takes advice from Her Ministers of the Crown.
In its present form the Honours and Decorations Committee by placing rules on British Citizens before Her Majesty the Queen and obtaining the Royal Prerogative for these rules to be imposed upon British Citizens without Parliament being involved until afterwards and even then only being told that such rules or Royal Prerogative have taken place, is an abuse of British Constitutional Democracy and the rights to such by its citizens.
There is no appeal to this decision by this unelected quango and although aimed at all eligible British Citizens is does involve those Scottish Citizens whose served their country and who have their own Parliament which should take into cognizance rules of this nature which affects it citizens.
INJUSTICE
The Honours and Decorations Committee have no legal brief upon British Citizens and there is no law in the British Constitution that prevents British Civilians from wearing a medal, or medals, which they have earned and been given in good faith, especially when Her Majesty the Queen rules that the medal can be accepted from a foreign state.
The ‘non-wearing’ of the PJM formally is not a law of our country as it has never been properly promulgated through Parliament. Ministers of the Crown have publicly agreed that they cannot police the non-wearing of the PJM and that no law is available to enforce this rule so an injustice or abuse of office has been levelled against British Citizens in this case.
This is an infringement of Protocol 1 Article of the Human Rights Act - whereby the state has interfered with the right to wear the PJM medal after having allowed it to be accepted. Apparently the only two reasons which make this lawful are a). it is in the general interests of the public, and b). that a law exists to allow them to do it. Neither of these two reasons apply to the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal.
DISCRIMINATION
This non-wearing rule of the PJM discriminates against British Citizens for the following reasons:
a. Australian and New Zealand veterans can accept and wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia by Royal Command and can wear the medal when attending parades in Britain but their British Comrades in Arms are prevented from doing so.
b. British Citizens with dual nationality (who are also British Taxpayers) have been given permission to wear the PJM when in their adopted country.
This is a breach of Article 14 of the Human Rights Act, 1998, which prohibits discrimination. It must be shown that you have been treated differently from someone else in a similar situation and Blackstones Guide to the Human Rights Act states ‘where it is established that people in factually similar circumstances are treated dissimilarly, a case of Prima Facie discrimination arises’.
THE PJM MEDAL
The Citation which accompanies the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal reads:-
‘this medal is awarded to the peacekeeping groups amongst Communion countries for distinguished chivalry, gallantry, sacrifice or loyalty in upholding Peninsula of Malaya or Malaysia sovereignty during the period of Emergency and Confrontation’.
The medal was awarded to Australian and New Zealand and all other Commonwealth troops in November, 2004. On 11th. January, 2005, in the House of Lords, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean stated that British Citizens would not be permitted to accept this foreign award as rules prevented it. Later, the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, was liberal with the truth when he told the house that the British Government had not refused this award from Malaysia.
Her Majesty the Queen recognised and authorised the PJM by giving Royal Assent to Australia and New Zealand to accept and wear it.
Almost a year later, on 31st. January, 2006, the Foreign and Commonwealth office (Ian Pearson MP) issued a Written Ministerial Statement which stated that Her Majesty the Queen graciously agreed to the recommendations of the Honours and Decorations Committee that two long standing rules on the acceptance and wear of foreign awards be exempt so that the government could accept the offer of the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal on behalf of British Citizens.
It went on to say ‘permission to wear the PJM will not, however, formally be given’.
British Citizens who are eligible, can accept the PJM but they cannot wear it as the British Establishment (unelected) have interfered with this foreign award and placed upon it their own interpretation and rules which have no legal standing whatsoever.
The FCO in the form of Ian Pearson MP, and Ian McCartney MP, the Cabinet Office and members of the Honours and Decorations Committee have all agreed that the non-wearing rule is not a legislated rule and there is no law available in our country which forbids British Civilians from wearing any medal they are qualified to wear. Also, they stated that the wearing of the PJM will not be policed and individuals may wear it if they like without authority.
No-one, except the Civil Servants in the MOD, will clarify who made the order that the PJM will not be worn and repeated requests for this information have been met with political double-talk.
The PJM is an honourable medal issued by the King and Government of Malaysia to Commonwealth Troops (including British Troops) for service in their country.
Scottish Citizens who are eligible, and the next of kin of those who are eligible, have a legal right to accept and wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal with honour and pride and no unelected quango has the lawful right to refuse this.
The Scottish Parliament is requested to assist Scottish Citizens to obtain their basic human rights to justice and freedom from discrimination by making provision for them through the Scottish Parliament to wear with pride their Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal in Scotland.
END OF SUMMARY
Here is the Petition:
If you wish to support us, please download and sign this form and send it to us at Fight4thePJM c/o Barry Fleming & Partners, Trafalgar House, 110 Manchester Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 1NU.
Alternatively, send us an email using the text in that form - send your email to ScottishPetition@Fight4thePJM.org.
http://www.fight4thepjm.org/documents/Scottish_Petition_signatures.doc
Thank you for your support.
The Fight4thePJM Team
Pingat Kami - Hak Kami
_________________
BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia
