Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today reminded retired and ex-servicemen not to oppose Article 17 of the Veterans Bill 2011 which had been approved by Parliament, for their own personal

interest.

He said some of them had rejected the provision in the bill for fear that their freedom to speak out and form associations would be curtailed.

"I know, there are one or two groups and leaders who fear that their

position and rights will be under threat if Article 17 is implemented," he said after opening the Mesra Riang Riuh Carnival and Juara Rakyat Programme at  Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Puchong 2, near Kuala Lumpur, today.

He said this in response to calls made by a number of leaders of ex-servicemen's associations for the Defence Ministry to study again Article 17 of the bill which they claimed would result in the dissolution of the existing associations.

Ahmad Zahid said Article 17 would not cancel out these associations but instead, the power to register them would be transferred from the Registrar of Societies to the Registrar of Ex-Servicemen's Associations.

The Veterans Bill 2011 seeks, among others, the establishment of the Malaysian Veterans Council to supervise implementation of policies and action plans pertaining to the armed forces veterans' affairs, besides being a monitoring body for all the veterans' associations.

Asked to comment on the 2012 Budget, Ahmad Zahid said RM500 million out of the allocation for the Defence Ministry would go to building quarters for members of the armed forces and another RM50 million to providing training for the non-pensionable retirees, who now numbered about 130,000.

He said the ministry received an allocation of RM13.76 billion in the udget, the fourth highest among the ministries.

Territorial army year end target

All 222 parliamentary constituencies nationwide will have a Territorial Army company by year-end, said Ahmad Zahid.

   

He said so far, the Territorial Army had been set up in 207 parliamentary constituencies with a total strength of 87,000 members.

   

"We have yet to set it up in another 15 constituencies and we aim to achieve the target, which is also a Key Performance Indicator, before this Dec 31," he said after opening a carnival and Juara Rakyat programme at Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Puchong 2, here, today.

   

Ahmad Zahid said the ministry also hoped to achieve the target of having at least 300 Territorial Army members in each parliamentary constituency.

   

"Currently, the average number in the constituencies is 150 and we want to increase that," he added.

- Bernama