While we have to await the official news regarding the PJM, I am writing this open letter because it's therapeutic to do so in the context that Santa might be bringing me a toy instead of something more meaningful and more lasting ... a wearable Pingat Jasa Malaysia.   And anyway I want to get a few things off my chest (to leave plenty of room for my PJM!).

Sir,

The Pingat Jasa Malaysia

If the news about the 'restricted' recommendation for a keepsake medal is correct then we and the King and Government of Malaysia are about to be insulted and treated like second class Commonwealth citizens.

How can The Queen, the head of the Commonwealth, be allowed to grant permission to her Australian and New Zealand Commonwealth citizens to wear a medal for Commonwealth service yet deny the same privileges to her British citizens?   It's no good the MOD and HD Committee keeping harking on about the Aussies and Kiwis having ducked out of the British Honours system - we know that.   And now we know why.   The British system is out of date and out of touch.

Why is it OK for Prince Edward (who, I acknowledge, had the courage to opt out of the RM) to wear medals on an ersatz uniform when those medals commemorate events that happened a long time ago, probably events that happened before he was entitled to wear the uniform they found for him in the Royal Wessex Yeomanry wardrobe, and events that probably happened before he was born.   Yet we who did the business are not allowed to do so.   Where is the logic?   Where is the justice?   The Monarchy, that needs all the support it can get, is being made to look a laughing stock by the MOD and others.

Ten questions (these are just for starters, by the way) for The Queen, the MOD, and those unelected civil servants who are deciding our fate:

1.   Did you know that Britain was the only country to serve continuously in every part of Malaysia, Singapore and Borneo between 1957 and 1966?   Tell us why you may proclaim that we shall not be allowed the acknowledgement already graciously accepted by The Queen on behalf of other countries whose citizens did not fulfil that same service.

2.   Did you know that the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade was only allowed to have a foothold in Malaysia (vital for its Thailand and Laos SEATO role as Malaysia was not in SEATO at the time) if those forces were first made available for service specifically for (I choose my words carefully) Malaysia?   Having agreed that deal with Malaysia, tell us why you are now apparently saying " Malaysia where? 28 who? Agreement about what? Service doing what?" when stating that those who served in that Brigade may not now receive the medal they earned doing the job you needed them to do in order that you could meet your SEATO obligations.

3.   Did you know that men and women, British citizens, served in Singapore for 5 1/2 years but did not get a medal from Britain?   Tell us on what grounds can you deprive them of the right to wear the PJM for which they are eligible.

4.   Did you know that men and women, British citizens, served on the Peninsula for 18 months but did not get a British medal?   Tell us on what grounds can you deprive them of the right to wear the PJM for which they are eligible.

5.   Did you know that the NZ Prime Minister had stated that the scope (by which we understand operations, service, and time scales) of the PJM was substantially broader than the existing NZ definition of operational service which includes the British GSM and the British CSM.   Tell us where the NZ definition is different to our own.

6.   Did you know that you have already agreed for two commemorative anniversary medals, from the same foreign country (as opposed to Malaysia, a Commonwealth country) in respect of the same event (not different events) 60 years ago (more than 5 years ago), to be both accepted and worn?   Tell us why Russia has so much more influence over you than Malaysia.

7.   Did you know that those British citizens who have become Australian citizens cannot wear the medal while standing next to Australian veterans who can?   Where's the logic in that?   They both salute The Queen as head of the Commonwealth.

8.   Did you know that the PJM is being offered for service in a fight against terrorism that was successful? Tell us why this example of success against terrorism should be brushed under the carpet when you should be rallying support for the fight you have recently got us into.

9.   Did you know that the Americans, despairing of success in Iraq using their current redneck tactics, have adopted “The Oil Spot Strategy” basing their future strategy on our successful formula for fighting terrorism in Malaysia?   Tell us why we, who developed and delivered that successful strategy, should be spurned today.

10.   Did you know that this would not be the first time this country had turned its back on those who served it?   Men died and their graves were left to rot in the merciless jungle, vandalised.   It took a Malaysian policeman, supported by Malaya/Borneo veterans, to restore those graves.   Do you know about God’s Little Acre?   You should.   Tell us why you left it to that wonderful man (decorated by the Australians for what he did) to ‘remember’ our dead.

Don’t try and make out that the PJM is not of sufficient standing to be worn in line with British medals.   Are you suggesting that the Australians and New Zealanders are somehow beneath your level because they wear what you regard to be a trinket fit only to be given away with a packet of breakfast cereals?

The men and women of this country did their bit.   If the King and Government of Malaysia want to acknowledge what we did, you should give us the right to wear what is justly ours.   If you do not, those same men and women will fight another campaign against another form of terrorism - and ultimately they will be just as successful.

Barry Fleming

PS   Before making your final decision, I suggest you ask what the “ Jasa” in Pingat Jasa Malaysia means in Malay and, more importantly, to the Malaysians.   I know.   I learned to speak the language while doing my bit out there.   (Hint:   It has nothing to do with toys or keepsakes. HTH.)

PPS   Oh yes.   Before anybody starts going on about knowing more about medals than anybody else, do bear in mind another Malay word … it’s “gong”.   The word is theirs - not ours.