The Campaign for Permission to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia

Greetings ...

By now you will have become aware of the unacceptable response from the Cabinet Office in answer to our Rebuttal. This 'final decision' (Mr Brennan's words, not mine!) reaffirmation of the 31 January recommendation demonstrates determined effort by Whitehall to further perpetuate their already discredited myths of the 'Double Medalling' and '5 Year' rules. It has also become perfectly apparent that they intend to persistently reiterate misinformation to the effect that British veterans could wear their PJM if they wanted, on the basis that such wear is not policed. You and I know, in our hearts and minds, that this is simply not the case - and it's a worrying development that civil servants should entice British veterans into an action that suits the civil servants' purpose on the basis that it is 'not policed'!

When the HD Committee placed their recommendations for approval before the Queen, we are told that they asked Her to approve only acceptance of the PJM...they did not ask Her to approve the right for wear...In Her role as a constitutional monarch, Her Majesty consequently approved the recommended acceptance of the PJM. In that context, a London Gazette Notice becomes very relevant indeed!
London Gazette, 3rd May 1968

After more than a year's work including much researching of files, some of which became inexplicably unavailable to us for nearly a year (they had been borrowed from the National Archives by the FCO), we uncovered the London Gazette notice below.

The purpose of this 1968 Notice was to cut down on administration and bureaucracy within an overloaded and confused Honours system. Civil servants today wish to put the clock back to before that Notice so that they can continue their stranglehold on the System. To achieve that they claim this Notice does not apply to PJMers ... only their own discredited decree must apply. We do not agree with them because the 1968 papers are clear - if you are a private citizen when a medal is conferred on you with The Queen's permission, then you have Her permission to wear it.

The text of this notice is clear, concise and incontrovertible - I urge you to read it carefully and ask yourself...Am I eligible under this notice? If the answer to that question is 'Yes' then you can wear your PJM with honour on formal occasions.

Those of us in the Fight4the PJM Team who previously felt unable to wear their PJM, will now do so in the light of the Gazette Notice. We remain loyal to The Queen and will abide by her known decrees. Until the Gazette Notice is rescinded or amended by Her we shall wear our PJMs with honour.

And so our job is done.

Or is it? ...
The Future

... as for the future, we intend to continue the fight until all recipients can wear their PJM - not just those eligible under the London Gazette notice.

Furthermore, we shall continue to campaign until permission to wear the PJM is publicly proclaimed, and British Malaya-Borneo veterans do not have to rely upon their interpretation of formal Notices.
THE CASE FOR THE WEARING OF THE PINGAT JASA MALAYSIA
The Fight4thePJM campaign has proved its case.

It is incongruous that two spurious ‘rules’ should be first waived so that British veterans could receive the PJM and then immediately invoked to stop them wearing it - despite a London Gazette Notice stating private civilians can.

We have only ever requested a fair and even-handed hearing from the British Government regarding our case that British veterans should have the same right to wear their medal that The Queen has approved for their Commonwealth former comrades in arms.



We have been rewarded only with obfuscation. We have been branded as “disaffected Veterans” by the Ministry of Defence Veterans Agency. The Cabinet Office say British veterans should be grateful for what the civil servants have done for them! The Foreign Office says nothing - we have been told that our requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act will not be answered. What are they hiding?

We have support for our case from around the world – in 30 countries where the British PJM decision has been met with utter disbelief.



The vast majority of MP’s across the parties support us including Lord Denis Healey who was the Defence Minister at the time of Confrontation. The Conservative Party is committed to a review of the inconsistent and incongruous Foreign Decorations Rules.

The ex-Veteran’s Minister now supports us. The Rt Hon Don Touhig MP, Veterans Ministers at the time of the discredited PJM decision, now supports our case and is seeking a debate in the Commons.



Crucially, the Rt Hon Ian Pearson MP, the Foreign Office Minister who filed the original PJM statement in January 2006 now admits that his Statement was flawed and incongruous (he calls the civil service case a “nonsense”) and has pledged his active support for our campaign.

We have considerable support in the Scottish Parliament, and amongst the general public. Right-minded people simply cannot understand why civil servants should take such a discriminatory stance against British veterans - their antics have been likened to Brian Rix’s farces (staged, ironically, at the Whitehall theatre!).



Resolutions calling for the PJM decision to be reversed and for their associations to actively campaign for the PJM to be worn were passed unanimously this year by the Royal British Legion, the Royal Naval Association and the Royal British Legion ( Scotland).

A lot of talk has been made recently of the nation’s debt to its Veterans. If the charge of further spin and hyperbole is to be avoided, action must be seen to be forthcoming. And a good way to show to the nation that it is deeds and not words that count would be to grant unrestricted permission for the PJM to be worn.
What we at Fight4thePJM are For ... and what we are Against

FOR the Government’s acknowledgement that ex-servicemen and women, British private citizens, can wear their PJM along with the rest of the Commonwealth.



Civil servants are trying to impose antiquated and conflicting ‘rules’, which they confirm have no legal standing, to try and prevent British veterans from formally displaying their medal.

FOR Foreign Decorations rules to be reviewed so that never again will ‘rules’ such as the 5-year rule be applied so inconsistently and incongruously just to deny ordinary men and women the right to display a medal that The Queen has already approved.



The 5-year rule cannot logically apply to prevent the PJM being worn. The PJM is not a British campaign medal to which the 5-year rule primarily applies. It is a Foreign commemorative service medal like the Malta and Russian medals that The Queen approved for formal wear 50 years after the events.

FOR the end of the retrospective application of new and inappropriate ‘rules’, rules such as the double medal restriction which, having been re-written in secret, appeared in Foreign Decorations rules for the first time in November 2005 and then applied to deny the 2004 PJM.



The PJM is not a double medal. It falls under Foreign medal rules (not British campaign medal rules to which the double medal rule primarily applies) and, in its scope and its eligibility terms and its service and its timescales, is quite different to any British medal and clearly cannot double any British medal (which, in any event, most PJMers do not have).

FOR the even-handed application of Foreign Decorations and British Medals policy when the application of such policy protects the integrity of a British Medal bar.



Unrestrained proliferation of medals should be challenged. But rules should be applied consistently – not just to deny ordinary men and women while the number of medals awarded to the privileged increases.

AGAINST gratuitous medal chasing. We did not seek any acknowledgement. We did not ask for any medal. But it has been conferred on us by Malaysia with The Queen's approval, and we are honoured to receive it. We should therefore be able to display the PJM.



We are campaigning solely for the right to display the medal – a right already given by The Queen to the rest of the Commonwealth.

AGAINST ‘Bling’ (the wearing of unofficial medals). The Pingat Jasa Malaysia is not ‘Bling’. The Malaysian medal has been formally approved for acceptance by The Queen.



Having been approved for acceptance by The Queen, the PJM is an official medal and there are no ‘bling’ implications –even when worn.

FOR a cause that will not cost hard-pressed British taxpayers any money.



Malaysia has graciously agreed to meet the full cost of this medal.

The Fight4thePJM Association and Campaign

Fight4thePJM is an organisation run by veterans for veterans. It was established to promote the campaign fighting to reverse the decision that, alone in the Commonwealth, British citizens have been forbidden to wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia.

We are non-political and have no connections with any other organisation.

Membership of the association is free - we do not seek or raise funds.

Ours is a single issue campaign. Lobbying is not our natural habitat. When we are successful we’ll pack our kitbags and go home.
A Thank You

Your 'Fight4' team wishes to thank and congratulate all members for their continuing support and determined lobbying in the pursuit of our collective rights....The 'Fight4' team are, to a man, proud to have been permitted to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in this honourable campaign.

Sincerely,

'Jock' Fenton
Chairman: Fight4thePJM Association