Malayan service may win forces a further medal
VETERANS of the Malayan Emergency, 1948-60, and of “confrontation” with Indonesia, 1963-66, will be encouraged by news that the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals is at last giving consideration to the award of the Malaysian Service Medal (Pingat Jasa Khidmat) to all British servicemen and women who served in the campaigns, between 1957 and 1966.
Other Commonwealth countries’ forces have accepted the Malaysian Government gesture, but the convention in the UK is that only one medal may be awarded for each campaign. British troops who served in the Malayan Emergency received the clasp “Malaya” on the General Service Medal, 1918-62, and those who served during “confrontation” received the clasp “Borneo” or “Malay Peninsula” or both on the General Service Medal 1962.
There have been exceptions, of course. One closely comparable case was the award of the Khedive’s Star by the ruler of Egypt to British troops for the campaign to relieve General Gordon in Khartoum in 1884; the troops had qualified for the clasp “The Nile 1984-85” on the Egypt Medal. The Soviet medal for the 40th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, in addition to the Atlantic Star, was awarded to officers and ratings of the Royal and Merchant navies who had sailed in the Arctic convoys.
There is always a chance that some compromise may be considered: those entitled may be permitted to receive the medal but not to wear it, as often applies to foreign decorations. But as those entitled will now have left the Service it would be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce such a rule.
While the outcome is awaited, those who may be entitled to the medal might usefully find documentary evidence to prove it.
The Times December 31, 2005
Clarification
The special medal of service being offered to Commonwealth personnel who served in Malaysia between 1957 and 1966 is the Pingat Jasa Malaysia and not the Pingat Jasa Khidmat as we reported (The Register, December 27).