Surat Terbuka Kepada YAB Perdana Menteri Daripada Ali Abdullah Veteran TLDM 802140

Assalamualaikum Tuan Syed,

Saya sangat berharap kalau Tuan boleh muat naik tulisan saya bertajuk "Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Malaysia".  Saya adalah pengikut tegar blog tuan. Pernah sekali sekala membuat komen.  Kesudian tuan membantu saya dahului dengan ribuan terima kasih.  

Wassalam.  Ali Abdullah.

Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Malaysia 

Mr Prime Minister, Sir

My apology for addressing you as Mr Prime Minister instead of My Dear Tun and what not. Please personally read and understand the plight of an ailing Malaysian Armed Forces Veteran deprived of his right by the very department established to cater for the welfare of Malaysian Armed Forces veterans.

Whether this will be my last or first of many open letter will depend on you, Mr Prime Minister and Jabatan Hal Ehwal Veteran (JHEV) ATM. If JHEV continue treating me like a beggar, this washing dirty linen in public may not end soon.

I have tried to resolve this impasse by communicating direct with JHEV but sadly those little napoleons warming the chairs at JHEV are only interested in covering one another’s mistake instead of admitting that they have erred.

Mr Prime Minister, Sir,

My name is Ali bin Abdullah and my Malaysian Armed Forces official number is 802140.

I enlisted with the Royal Malaysian Navy which was then based in Woodlands, Singapore on May 25, 1965 - during the peak period of the Malaysia-Indonesia Confrontation. After completing 13 years of compulsory service and the confrontation was well and truly over, I called a day and promised that “I will again return” if and when this beloved country of ours is again threatened.

That was my two cents worth of contribution to this country of ours.

On 14 September 2018, I had a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) operation at Institute Jantung Negara (IJN). A day later, on 15 September 2018, while still under Intensive Care, post-ops complications, i.e. STROKE got the better of me whereby I lost the use of my left upper and lower limbs. And from then on, I become an OKU.

Prior to my discharge which was on 29 September 2018, and on doctor’s recommendation, I acquired relevant facilities such as electric hospital bed, wheelchair, quad cane and commode chair.

In February 2019, a reimbursement claim was submitted to JHEV.

A few days later JHEV called asking for supporting letter or memo from a Government doctor.

Three months later received payment less than half the amount.

When enquired the reason for not reimbursing as per claim, JHEV gave an EXCUSE that they only follow government doctor’s letter in that I am only entitled to claim manual-cranked hospital bed.

Since the government doctor’s hand written letter was in English and suspecting that JHEV personnel may not understand English I emailed a reply with brief translation highlighting the word “electric bed”.

Perhaps, realizing their mistake, JHEV came up with another EXCUSE in that for claim exceeding RM2,000 I have to submit full medical report.

August 6, 2019, a full medical report handwritten by the surgeon that operated on me was submitted to JHEV.

August 22, 2019, received a letter dispatched via POS Laju from JHEV rejecting the claim with yet another absurd EXCUSE. Instead of trying to grasp the meaning and implications of “Permanent Stroke” that was written in the medical report, JHEV opted to highlight an irrelevant phrase in the report “postoperatively, he was noted to have left limb weakness (power 3/5).”

Why is it irrelevant?

Left limb weakness (power 3/5) was an assessment done on August 6, 2019 approximately 11 (eleven) months or 325 days after the stroke and hundreds of hours of rehabilitation work-out and not on the day I was discharged from IJN, still unable to move my left upper and lower limbs that necessitates the acquisition of electric hospital bed.

I understand that one of the decision makers at JHEV is a practicing doctor. But, if the said doctor is worth his medical degree, he does not need first-hand experience to grasp the meaning of “permanent stroke” that disabled the nerve and muscle tissues causing foot drop, shoulder subluxation and winged scapula.

Mr Prime Minister, Sir

When a certain tycoon painted a negative picture of our Armed Forces, virtually the whole country was offended not less the ‘microphone throwing’ Defence Minister who made it known, quote “Tindakan pihak yang menghina Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) disifatkan perbuatan jijik dan tidak boleh diterima sama sekali.” Tegas Menteri Pertahanan Mohamad Sabu.

Yet, when a 74 years old ailing veteran who spent thirteen years of his prime life defending the independence of this country is treated like a beggar by JHEV, and two emails were sent to the Defense Minister highlighting my plight, he chooses to adopt the three monkeys stance – buta, tuli dan bisu. Why?

Mr Prime Minister, Sir,

When I joined the navy, our British Instructor seconded from the Royal Navy instilled in us, which I still treasure dearly, that “never give up and keep fighting even after we have expended our last ammo” and hence this open letter hoping against hope that you could knock some wisdom into the brains of decision makers at JHEV, and stop giving excuses to cover their mistakes.

To err is human, but to persist in error (out of pride) is diabolical.

Ali Abdullah (802140)
Rank & File Veteran 1965 - 1978
Royal Malaysian Navy (Woodlands)