1M Privilege Card: ‘Sounds good but not beneficial’

The current list of merchants listed under the 1Malaysia Privilege Card will make no difference to the lives of uniformed personnel in Sarawak.

KUCHING: The much hyped 1Malaysia Privilege Card (1MPC) launched by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in August under his National Blue Ocean Strategy to help lessen the financial burden of police and armed forces personnel, and now veterans, is “not beneficial” to lives in Sarawak.

Dismissing the effectiveness of the card, the Sarawak Rangers Veterans Association (SRVA) Capt Mohd Johari Ibrahim (retired) said: “It sounds great but not in reality… it’s not beneficial to our daily lives.”

According to Johari the current list of merchants offer nothing “for us to really enjoy”.

The 1MPC launched in August for police and armed forces personnel was last week extended to veterans.

The card allows holders to enjoy discounts when shopping at a specified list of merchants. The card offers 5% to 25% discounts on purchases.

The deal with merchants is that they must offer card holders below market prices on products.

Among the 20 merchants listed are BHP Petrol, Resort World Genting, Proton, AirAsia, KFC, Mydin and Tune.

Najib had said that the card was to recognise the sacrifices and commitment by the police and army personnel and help enlarge their disposable income.

But Johari felt otherwise.

“Looking at the present list of participating merchants, there is nothing for us to really enjoy.

“It would be appreciated if the government includes those (outlets that) directly affect the lives of the general people, particularly us veterans. The government should include the 1Malaysia shops and others. If the 1MPC’s coverage remains the same, it would not be beneficial to us.”

Seven initiatives
The extension of the 1MPC perks to veterans was announced last week when Najib launched the 1Malaysia Veterans Recognition Programme (1MVRP).

The programme outlined seven initiatives to look after the welfare and socio-economic condition of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) veterans.

The seven initiatives were the Work Location Programme for Veterans; Entrepreneur Guidance Programme for Veterans; Programme for the Enhancement of Acceptance of Training for Armed Forces Veteran Affairs Corporation (Perhebat) by the industry; 1Malaysia Privilege Card; 1Malaysia Veterans One-Stop-Centre; 1Malaysia Veterans Family Development Programme; and Repairing and Building Homes for 1Malaysia Veterans Programme.

Najib said the programme was expected to benefit all armed forces veterans including 243,500 former soldiers who were without pension.

Commenting on the initiaves, Johari said: “Five of the seven initiatives outlined to look into the welfare and socio-economic condition of the veterans were actually what we have been fighting for in the past several months.

“So now we can’t say that the government is not sensitive to the needs of its people.”

Stores needed

Meanwhile Sarawak Veterans Affairs Department (JHEV) director Lt Col Monday Juhid called for the setting up of a 1Malaysia Veterans One-stop Centre for Sarawak.

While thankful that Najib was open to the suggestion, Monday said Sarawak in particular needed at least four such centres because of the logistical challeges involved.

“As far as Sarawak is concerned, we hope that the government will set up at least four such one-stop centres, namely for Sri Aman, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.

“With these one-stop centres, the department would be able to serve veterans and their families more efficiently.

“With the resources that we have at the moment it is very difficult to reach out to those (veterans) who are living deep in the interior parts of the state,” he was quoted as saying by the BorneoPost.