Whitehall ‘insult’ claim as Malaya veterans miss out on medals

Tens of thousands of British veterans are likely to have an offer of campaign medals withdrawn by the Malaysian government because it feels insulted by Whitehall red tape and diplomatic delays.
The medals were offered 11 months ago to British and Commonwealth soldiers – mostly national servicemen – who won a jungle war against communist insurgents in the 1950s and 1960s.
The withdrawal follows a decision by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that the veterans could accept the medals, but that they would not be allowed to wear them on Armistice parades because it contravened rules on "foreign medals awarded for events in the distant past".
As revealed by The Herald last month, a Cabinet Office committee had already made up its mind on the issue, but decided to delay an announcement until the new year.
About 30,000 surviving UK veterans are understood to have been eligible to receive the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal to commemorate their part in the Malayan "emergency".
The conflict was not elevated to the status of a war because that would have rendered insurance on British-owned rubber plantations and railways – both prime targets for the communist guerrillas – void.
A total of 519 British troops were killed in the conflict in more than a decade of ambushes and raids in some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth.
Scottish regiments suffered 95 of the fatalities.
The Malaysian government offered to supply the campaign medals at its own expense last year to honour the men who underwrote its existence and sovereignty.
No Malaysian government spokesman was available for comment yesterday.
However, senior British military sources say that the Malaysians feel insulted and are maintaining a low profile to avoid a diplomatic row.
Brigadier Allan Alstead, a former commander of 51st Highland Brigade who served as a 19-year-old second lieutenant in Malaya, said yesterday: "This is an insult not only to the Malaysians, who were kind enough to offer to supply and pay for the decorations, but to the many thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen who gave up two years of their young lives to fight a forgotten war.
"It's a travesty that while approval is given for Australian and New Zealand soldiers to accept and wear the medals, British veterans are denied the same right."
The Foreign Office said: "Her majesty's government rules preclude the wearing of foreign medals for events in the distant past or more than five years previously.
"Eligible veterans of the Malaya emergency should already have received the Malaya bar to be worn as a strip across the top of their general service medals.
"They cannot wear two medals for the same campaign."
Despite the rules, the government recently gave permission for the award of medals for the 1956 Suez campaign and allowed Russian medals to be pinned on UK survivors of the 1940s Murmansk convoys.

Tens of thousands of British veterans are likely to have an offer of campaign medals withdrawn by the Malaysian government because it feels insulted by Whitehall red tape and diplomatic delays.
The medals were offered 11 months ago to British and Commonwealth soldiers – mostly national servicemen – who won a jungle war against communist insurgents in the 1950s and 1960s.
The withdrawal follows a decision by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that the veterans could accept the medals, but that they would not be allowed to wear them on Armistice parades because it contravened rules on "foreign medals awarded for events in the distant past".
As revealed by The Herald last month, a Cabinet Office committee had already made up its mind on the issue, but decided to delay an announcement until the new year.
About 30,000 surviving UK veterans are understood to have been eligible to receive the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal to commemorate their part in the Malayan "emergency".
The conflict was not elevated to the status of a war because that would have rendered insurance on British-owned rubber plantations and railways – both prime targets for the communist guerrillas – void.
A total of 519 British troops were killed in the conflict in more than a decade of ambushes and raids in some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth.
Scottish regiments suffered 95 of the fatalities.
The Malaysian government offered to supply the campaign medals at its own expense last year to honour the men who underwrote its existence and sovereignty.
No Malaysian government spokesman was available for comment yesterday.
However, senior British military sources say that the Malaysians feel insulted and are maintaining a low profile to avoid a diplomatic row.
Brigadier Allan Alstead, a former commander of 51st Highland Brigade who served as a 19-year-old second lieutenant in Malaya, said yesterday: "This is an insult not only to the Malaysians, who were kind enough to offer to supply and pay for the decorations, but to the many thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen who gave up two years of their young lives to fight a forgotten war.
"It's a travesty that while approval is given for Australian and New Zealand soldiers to accept and wear the medals, British veterans are denied the same right."
The Foreign Office said: "Her majesty's government rules preclude the wearing of foreign medals for events in the distant past or more than five years previously.
"Eligible veterans of the Malaya emergency should already have received the Malaya bar to be worn as a strip across the top of their general service medals.
"They cannot wear two medals for the same campaign."
Despite the rules, the government recently gave permission for the award of medals for the 1956 Suez campaign and allowed Russian medals to be pinned on UK survivors of the 1940s Murmansk convoys.