Welcome to the Fight 4 the PJM Web Site.
The pages in this web site tell the story of a medal, the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (Malaysian Service Medal). It is a medal graciously offered to Commonwealth forces who served Malaysia in its fight to preserve its newly won independence against terror and aggression between 1957 and 1966. The medal has been awarded to both servicemen and women, and to civilians.
The Queen has accepted the medal for wear by all her other Commonwealth veterans, including her own Representative in Australia, but she has been instructed by the Honours and Decorations Committee (quoting the Imperial Honours System) to deny British citizens the right to wear their medal. That anomaly is clearly unjust and inappropriate in the modern world.
'Lobbying' is not our natural habitat. We are ex-servicemen who have an intrinsic and instinctive sense of discipline and loyalty. As we set out our case, we do so with humility, and with an enduring loyalty to our country and our Queen, but this shameful recommendation has brought us together again for one last battle against a very unpleasant form of discrimination and aggression. And we shall not fail. We didn't then, and we shall not now. We shall not let down Malaysia, the Commonwealth, or our supporters - or ourselves.
We feel a deep sense of humility when we see the support that is coming in from across society and from across the world. Here, three special people have given us their personal support. Two are winners of the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for gallantry, one from the Army and one from the Navy. Bill Speakman is entitled to the PJM.
"The PJM Medal is an honourable award, awarded to honourable men. They will be rightly honoured to display it."
Lt Cmdr Ian Fraser VC DSC RD and BarIt is with deep regret that we have to announce the death of Ian Fraser VC on the 1st September 2008. He has been a staunch supporter of our campaign from the very outset and we shall miss him.
"The award of the PJM Medal by the Malaysian government is a timely honour to those who served. We are privileged to receive it with good grace and respect and should wear it with the dignity it warrants."
Bill Speakman-Pitt VCYou will have heard the sad news that Bill Speakman died in June this year (2018). He was a staunch supporter of all things Malaya-Veteran, but especially those who fought for the Pingat Jasa Malaysia.
We are honoured that Dame Vera Lynn has given her wholehearted support to the PJM. She supported us last year when we were seeking acceptance of the medal, and she's supporting us now in our campaign for the right to wear it. Dame Vera, who will always be the "Forces' Sweetheart", has many interests in organisations that support ex-servicemen and women, including in her role as Patron of The National Ex-Prisoner of War Association.
"I was very pleased to learn that the Queen had given her consent to the PJM and I think that those who earned it should be able to wear it. You have my wholehearted support in your efforts to be given permission to wear your medal".
Dame Vera Lynn DBE LLD MMUS
We are also honoured that Leslie Thomas, author of "The Virgin Soldiers" set in Singapore/Malaya in 1950, ex-serviceman, historian and author, has added his support. His entry in "Who's Who" does it for us! He sums up his view of his National Service days as: "1949-51. Rose to Lance-Corporal".
"I wholeheartedly support the award of the PJM Medal and the right to wear it".
Mr Leslie Thomas OBE
We also have support from many other very special individuals - people whose loyalty and integrity is never in question. People like 'Spike' Drummond Window. He served in every arm of the services, and the police, and was for many years one of "The Queen's Body Guard of the Yeoman of the Guard". In 1994 Spike was awarded the Silver Medal of the Royal Victorian Order - an Order that is the personal gift of the Monarch.
When sending his unreserved support for PJM and our campaign, Spike said "You have my full permission - but any offers from 'Hammer Films' will be copyright".
Drummond Window MBE RVMIt is with deep regret that we have to announce the death of our good friend Spike on the 26th April 2011. He also has been a staunch supporter of our campaign from the very outset and we shall miss him.
Read here about a man who was larger than life itself. And the civil servants denied him the knowledge that he could wear his PJM, a medal of which he was so proud.
THE CASE FOR THE WEARING OF THE PINGAT JASA MALAYSIA
The Fight4thePJM campaign has proved its case.
It is incongruous that two spurious ‘rules’ should be first waived so that British veterans could receive the PJM and then immediately invoked to stop them wearing it - despite a London Gazette Notice stating private civilians can.
Irrespective of the inexplicable obduracy of the small number of British civil servants involved in the medal recommendation fiasco, we have received a legal opinion that the PJM can be worn on formal occasions.
Prior to receiving this advice, we had only ever requested a fair and even-handed hearing from the British Government regarding our case that British veterans should have the same right to wear their medal that The Queen has approved for their Commonwealth former comrades in arms.
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We have been rewarded only with obfuscation. We have been branded as “disaffected Veterans” by the Ministry of Defence Veterans Agency. The Cabinet Office say British veterans should be grateful for what the civil servants have done for them! The Foreign Office says nothing - we have been told that our requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act will not be answered. What are they hiding? |
We have support for our case from around the world – in 30 countries where the British PJM decision has been met with utter disbelief.
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The vast majority of MP’s across the parties support us including Lord Denis Healey who was the Defence Minister at the time of Confrontation. The Conservative Party is committed to a review of the inconsistent and incongruous Foreign Decorations Rules. |
The ex-Veteran’s Minister now supports us. The Rt Hon Don Touhig MP, Veterans Ministers at the time of the discredited PJM decision, now supports our case and is seeking a debate in the Commons.
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Crucially, the Rt Hon Ian Pearson MP, the Foreign Office Minister who filed the original PJM statement in January 2006 now admits that his Statement was flawed and incongruous (he calls the civil service case a “nonsense”) and has pledged his active support for our campaign. |
We have considerable support in the Scottish Parliament, and amongst the general public. Right-minded people simply cannot understand why civil servants should take such a discriminatory stance against British veterans - their antics have been likened to Brian Rix’s farces (staged, ironically, at the Whitehall theatre!).
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Resolutions calling for the PJM decision to be reversed and for their associations to actively campaign for the PJM to be worn were passed unanimously this year by the Royal British Legion, the Royal Naval Association and the Royal British Legion ( Scotland). |
A lot of talk has been made recently of the nation’s debt to its Veterans. If the charge of further spin and hyperbole is to be avoided, action must be seen to be forthcoming. And a good way to show to the nation that it is deeds and not words that count would be to grant unrestricted permission for the PJM to be worn.
What we at Fight4thePJM are For ... and what we are Against
FOR the Government’s acknowledgement that ex-servicemen and women, British private citizens, can wear their PJM along with the rest of the Commonwealth.
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Civil servants are trying to impose antiquated and conflicting ‘rules’, which they confirm have no legal standing, to try and prevent British veterans from formally displaying their medal. |
FOR Foreign Decorations rules to be reviewed so that never again will ‘rules’ such as the 5-year rule be applied so inconsistently and incongruously just to deny ordinary men and women the right to display a medal that The Queen has already approved.
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The 5-year rule cannot logically apply to prevent the PJM being worn. The PJM is not a British campaign medal to which the 5-year rule primarily applies. It is a Foreign commemorative service medal like the Malta and Russian medals that The Queen approved for formal wear 50 years after the events. |
FOR the end of the retrospective application of new and inappropriate ‘rules’, rules such as the double medal restriction which, having been re-written in secret, appeared in Foreign Decorations rules for the first time in November 2005 and then applied to deny the 2004 PJM.
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The PJM is not a double medal. It falls under Foreign medal rules (not British campaign medal rules to which the double medal rule primarily applies) and, in its scope and its eligibility terms and its service and its timescales, is quite different to any British medal and clearly cannot double any British medal (which, in any event, most PJMers do not have). |
FOR the even-handed application of Foreign Decorations and British Medals policy when the application of such policy protects the integrity of a British Medal bar.
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Unrestrained proliferation of medals should be challenged. But rules should be applied consistently – not just to deny ordinary men and women while the number of medals awarded to the privileged increases. |
AGAINST gratuitous medal chasing. We did not seek any acknowledgement. We did not ask for any medal. But it has been conferred on us by Malaysia with The Queen's approval, and we are honoured to receive it. We should therefore be able to display the PJM.
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We are campaigning solely for the right to display the medal – a right already given by The Queen to the rest of the Commonwealth. |
AGAINST ‘Bling’ (the wearing of unofficial medals). The Pingat Jasa Malaysia is not ‘Bling’. The Malaysian medal has been formally approved for acceptance by The Queen.
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Having been approved for acceptance by The Queen, the PJM is an official medal and there are no ‘bling’ implications –even when worn. |
FOR a cause that will not cost hard-pressed British taxpayers any money.
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Malaysia has graciously agreed to meet the full cost of this medal. |
The Fight4thePJM Association and Campaign
Fight4thePJM is an organisation run by veterans for veterans. It was established to promote the campaign fighting to reverse the decision that, alone in the Commonwealth, British citizens have been forbidden to wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia.
We are non-political and have no connections with any other organisation.
Membership of the association is free - we do not seek or raise funds.
Ours is a single issue campaign. Lobbying is not our natural habitat. When we are successful we’ll pack our kitbags and go home.
Our support is growing at an amazing pace. Men and women from across the world have 'signed up' to support the Pingat Jasa Malaysia:
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We have supporters in 31 countries, from many thousands of ordinary men and women, including widows and next of kin of men and women who died in the service of Malaysia. We're fighting for them all, and for Malaysia's right to offer a medal without it being denigrated by the British Government hiding behind the 'Imperial' Honours System - and doing so erroneously.
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We have support form all ranks of the armed forces from the humblest private soldier up to and including Field Marshal. The medal is worn on formal occcasions, and in the presence of Royalty, by four star officers who lead the way in demonstrating that it is etiquette to wear the PJM.
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Parliament supports our case and has stated that the civil servants' actions have brought shame on our country.
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Over 1,000 people visit this web site each day.
We hope you will join them and us.
"A Thank You
Your 'Fight4' team wishes to thank and congratulate all members for their continuing support and determined lobbying in the pursuit of our collective rights....The 'Fight4' team are, to a man, proud to have been permitted to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in this honourable campaign."
['Jock' Fenton, 1936-2008, who was Chairman of the Fight4thePJM Association]
And finally ...
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... meet Koyah (born October 2006) and her mum Ibu (about 20 years old) ... click on a thumbnail to enlarge an image.
Like Koyah, PJMers are an endangered species! Did you know that we numbered then about the same as the number of currently surviving Orang-Utans?
Both species are fast disappearing and so we have decided to do something about it and contribute on an ongoing basis to the World Wildlife Fund's efforts in Borneo.
Our contribution has been dedicated to all Malaya-Borneo veterans and is symbolised through the adoption (in the name of PJMers worldwide) of Koyah - a young "Orang-Utan" ... a "person of the jungle", something we can all relate to having been during those days in the Far East!
We'll post more piccies and information as soon as we receive them from the WWF.
Before you leave ...
Whatever your views, please visit our Discussion Forum, register (it is private) and leave a message for us.
Thank you for your time and for your interest in our struggle. We hope you will return and visit these pages again. You will always be welcome.
