KUCHING: About 500 army veterans gathered at the Warriors’ Monument at the old Sarawak Museum grounds here on Sunday seeking improved pension as well as reinstatement of personnel dismissed from the army on disciplinary grounds as retired army veterans.
The gathering was organised by Sarawak Veteran Bangkit and its chairman Dr Deshon Kaman told reporters that these were among three requests the protem NGO wants to bring to court.
“We want more pension be given to our veterans like those who served in the 60s and retired in the 90s and who are mostly merely getting a sum of between RM300 and RM 400 pension monthly.
“We also want those dismissed from the army to be pardoned and be given their veteran army status so that they can also get their pension monthly,” Dashon said.
He said any army personnel who made a mistake would be dismissed from the service immediately and their pensions considered nullified, hence, they will also not be entitled to be known as army retirees.
“We also want to demand that pension be given to those serving more than 10 years because they are also not entitled to pension.
“Only those serving for more than 20 years are eligible for pension.
“Instead, they were given their own money which they had been contributing to their own welfare fund during their service with the army,” he added.
Dashon also disclosed that they have been making the demands under the Armed Forces Act 1972 since 2013 but till today these been under study or under review by the government.
Stressing that they are not into politics and are not fighting against the government, he added that the matter will be brought to the attention of the court so that the veterans can also benefit from their years of serving the nation.
