PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has questioned the government's commitment to address the needs of army veterans, citing delay in gratuity payments and the lack of other forms of support.

In a blog post, Nik Nazmi questioned whether there were administrative problems within the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) and the Armed Forces Wages Affairs (Ugat) which had led to months-long delay in payments of gratuity for retired army personnel last year.

"I take note of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s statement that the government will not forget the deeds and sacrifices of retired army personnel.

"But I would like to ask why, in 2016, were there problems of delays in gratuity payments for veterans for several months? What was the real problem that the government faced?" he asked.

Whatever the problems may be, the Seri Setia assemblyperson said that all payments should be made according to its schedule, bearing in mind the high salary paid to the LTAT chairperson.

As such, he called on both Najib and Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein to step-in and resolve any problems involving LTAT or Ugat which had resulted in the delayed payments.

"Najib and Hishamuddin, having came from privileged families, may not understand the difficulties faced by army veterans," he said.

Nik Nazmi further pointed out there are many other problems faced by retired army personnel which the government should look into, cautioning that a failure to do so would also deter others from serving in the armed forces.

"Members of the armed forces who can see these problems will fear that they, too, will face the same fate when they retire.

"This will definitely adversely affect their morale," he said in proposing for the government to introduce more training programmes for retired army veterans.

Najib had in his own blog post last week said the government had spent about RM3.28 billion last year for the welfare of the veterans in various aspects covering pension, gratuity, medical benefits, house repair and construction works, funeral management, welfare schemes and others.