The military welfare NGO Pahlawan today proposed to the federal government and Defence Ministry to increase the pensions of all retired army personnel, including officers up to the rank of general, in coordination with the recent salary hikes of the current army personnel.

On Feb 15, the Malay Mail Online reported Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein as saying that RM58.89 million has been allocated as part of a salary hike for Malaysian Armed Forces personnel from July 1 onwards.

The minister also said that armed forces veterans, whose service has ended or will end from Jan 1, 2013 to June 30, 2016, will get a one-off payment, totalling RM56.62 million.

“Just like today’s soldiers, we sacrificed time away from our beloved families to protect the country,” said Pahlawan president Asri Buang ( photo ) in a press conference today.

Other proposals mooted at the press conference are for the Defence Ministry to provide up to RM6,000 as yearly compensation to retired personnel who did not opt for the pension scheme.

According to current laws, a retiree’s widow can only claim her spouse's monthly pension, starting from the day of her husband’s first pension release, for a duration of 20 years. To improve these widows' welfare, the NGO hopes the government will ensure that the spouses of deceased retirees continue to receive pensions for the rest of their lives.

Pahlawan also hopes that army retirees who were disabled in action would be able to claim their well-deserved ex-gratia payments, regardless of their years of service.

In addition, the veterans NGO also petitioned the government to provide retired army personnel with land or home.

“Under the Malaysian Armed Forces Council orders of 1973, it is said that every army retiree may claim up to eight hectares of government land. We are just claiming what is entitled to us,” said Asri.

“We have never been aligned with any political entities. We are championing the rights of the country’s army veterans, as well as retirees from the police and firefighting forces," Asri continued.

After years of dodging savage enemy bullets in the jungles and defending Malaysia from foreign insurgences, that’s all he and his fellow veterans want; to spend their remaining years in peace and comfort with their loved ones, he added.