Military veterans feel left out in budget proposals

 

Some of the 500 military veterans who received the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal last week for their service to the nation. (Mindef pic)

PETALING JAYA: The majority of military veterans will not benefit from the 2023 budget proposals, says the Veterans’ Association of the Malaysian Armed Forces.

The association’s president, Shahruddin Omar, said the government’s proposals will cover only those who have just retired or will retire from military service this year.

He said that most of the association’s 178,000 members are those aged 50 and above, with a meagre pension, and who are struggling with health problems.

Most of them receive a pension of between RM500 and RM2,000 a month, he said. Their pension has not been increased over the years, causing many members, including those who served during the communist insurgency, to fall into poverty.

Shahruddin Omar.

Only those who served at least 21 years are eligible for a monthly pension while higher pensions are given to those who retired after changes were made to the Pensions Act in 2013, which provides annual increases of 2%.

The old scheme linked pensions to the prevailing salaries of civil servants.

In the 2023 budget announced today, some 5,000 veterans due to retire this year will be given jobs at government-linked companies or undergo training in various fields such as drone operations and cybersecurity.

RM36 billion for security services

The government has allocated about RM36 billion in security, comprising RM18.5 billion for the home ministry and RM17.7 billion for the defence ministry.

The allocation is hardly enough to bolster the nation’s defence sector, said Salawati Mat Basir, a lecturer at the National Defence Education Centre.

“We can only focus on purchasing assets that we need the most, such as small ships, rifles, and combat equipment. But we can only fulfil those purchases if there are no leaks,” she told FMT.

A criminologist, P Sundramoorthy of Universiti Sains Malaysia, said the home ministry’s allocation of RM18.5 billion is barely enough to empower the police force as the amount has to be divided among the various agencies under the home ministry.

This includes the National Anti-Drugs Agency as well as the immigration and prisons departments.

“It’s going to be difficult to improve the basic necessities for the rank-and-file officers such as extra housing allowances and providing better facilities for them,” he said. - FMT