Wednesday, February 10, 2010

MAJ NOR IBRAHIM RMAF – A PERSISTANT FIGHTER

I would like to congratulate Maj Nor Ibrahim bin Sulaiman RMAF (Retired) for being persistent in his effort to get the government to acknowledge that the Pingat Tentera Udara (PTU), Jasa Perkasa Persekutuan (JPP) and Kepujian Perutusan Keberanian (KPK) are gallantry decorations that deserve some form of cash allowance, on a similar basis as recipients of the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (SP) and Panglima Gagah Berani (PGB) that receives a monthly allowance of RM2000 and RM1500 respectively.

Apparently, an appeal letter by Maj Nor Ibrahim to the Prime Minister’s wife Puan Seri Rosmah Mansor seeking her intervention into the matter finally got an acknowledgment by the PM’s Office, for onward action by the Defence Ministry. (Refer to http://xnuripilot.blogspot.com). It is most unfortunate that earlier letters send to the Defence Ministry by Maj Nor Ibrahim received only a cursory treatment, or no treatment at all.

The government offers freely cash incentive of RM10 million to footballers recently, a RM2000 monthly cash reward to the national Koran reading champion, a RM 5000, RM3000, RM1500 to winners of the Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals respectively, but nothing to recipients of the PTU, JPP and KPK.

Is the government implying that recipients of the PTU, JPP and KPK are worthless gallantry decorations, not worthy of any cash rewards? And mind you, these recipients did not collect their decorations from the Quartermaster; rather they were graciously presented their decorations at the Istana Negara by none other than the King.

And can someone tell me how did the recipients obtain their gallantry decorations? Was it not through some gallant efforts in the face of enemy opposition, where lives were at stake? And have the government forgotten that some of the recipients of gallantry decorations were awarded posthumously? Now compare this with the cash rewards made by the government to sportsmen and sportswomen? Is there any comparison? Certainly not, but yet sportsmen and sportswomen are acclaimed heroes and given a grand welcome at the airport upon winning an international event. To me they should not be called heroes, but rather a champion of a sporting event. Heroes are accorded to those who sacrifice their lives against an enemy, in defence of the country.

I hope the Defence Ministry will be considerate enough to consider the appeal by Maj Nor Ibrahim, who is himself a recipient of a gallantry decoration. I have personally flown on many occasions in an RMAF helicopter on jungle operations, and I know the dangers and challenges faced by the ‘chopper pilots’.

For the government to consider giving cash rewards to recipients of the PTU, JPP and KPK for their gallant achievement is to acknowledge their worthy contribution to King and country; and is this too much a request for the 1 MALAYSIA government?


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION

17 comments:

Mej. Dr. Nor Ibrahim bin Sulaiman PTU TUDM (B) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mej. Dr. Nor Ibrahim bin Sulaiman PTU TUDM (B) said...

Assalamualaikum Dato',

All I can say is THANK YOU & may Allah bless you.

Arunzab said...

Dato'
I have been following Major Nor's
blog for some time.I would rate him as a persistant peddler, once he has got his foot in the door there is no way to get rid of him. He has put forward a very compelling case and left no stone unturned. If we are to believe the Govt's slogan 'Rakyat di duhulukan' Then this small group
unsung heros deserve to be at the front of the Q. Thank you Dato' for your support you have indeed put forward your exellent writing skills to good use.

xpara87 said...

mej Brahim , didoakan usaha tuan diberkati ALLAH.
" can someone tell me how did the receipientts obtain their gallantry decoration?

Hard work, sweat and blood......

john karim said...

Well done Mej Nor Ibrahim. Persistance is not easy with the many continuos obstacles thrown your way by those in power. I salute you for your focus and your unrelenting persistance. Well done to you too Dato for bringing it to our attention. I thought your arguments in the blog were spot on. We do have many unsung heroes like Mej Nor Ibrahim in our midst and I thank God for that!

komando said...

Wow,

Thomas Cup winners gets better treatment than WAR veterans and heroes, that is a fact of life!
Footballers are feasted!

Soldiers coming home from missions and ops are only happily received by wives, kids and parents.

They say I did not ask you to be a soldier, you volunteered, period.

So, if you die, so what?

We pay you your pension for life!

Ask the OCM and MSN how many sports person are drawing pensions and monthly allowances bigger and much more better than Ex-Servicemen!

OCM and MSN can List the down all the names for all to see!

They also become Datuk's !
Luckily the great badminton player by the name of NG BOON BEE lived long enough to get a decoration!
BTW he got his decorations just recently, his age 70+ !

He was forgotten, why?
Others of his era were well rewarded and decorated

1 Malaysia, this is really one Malaya....!

The government gave away land to Thomas Cup winners, they become overnight millionaires, the poor ex - servicemen gets not even an acre of land for a house to be built on retirement.

They are damn lucky to get six feet under ground for free, luckily!

So folks "tepuk dada & tanya selera", will you encourage your kids, your kin folks and friends to become a soldier?

To serve the KING & COUNTRY !

Capt's Longhouse said...

komando,

,,,i shall still serve the country. Its our tanah tumpah darah ku.
,,,but its o.k. to at times meludah di-langgit tinggi tinggi.
,,,then just pergi mandi and gusuk gigi. hehehe.
,,,and can you please also take it easy ?. hihihi !.

samsaimon said...

It shows how powerful rosmah is!

Capt's Longhouse said...

,,,indeed, the drama queen !. what a big pain ?.
"what's in me@moneyqueen.com"

Malaysian said...

We're a resource rich country and it's sad that no financial reward given to folks that work hard to defend this country. What if we use the millions of ringgit from PKFZ, Tol Money (North South highway), Smart Tunnel, Monsoon Cup, etc to reward our servicemen/women?

Sometimes I'm amazed that we've billion of ringgit spend on stupid projects yet we don't reward people that sacrifice for this country. And now the government suggest GST (Additional tax)! Didn't they have high (I think 100%) tax on foreign cars, right?

I don't mind being tax if the money is to give or help people that needed it. Hell No! I'm not going to fund someone's bungalow at Selangor .... I rather give my money to Mej(B) Nor Ibrahim Bin Sulaiman.

Unknown said...

Dear Dato',
It is the soldier's lot not to ask why but to do and die..
This adage is as applicable today as it was in 1918. So where do we go from here.
I really feel sorry for those involved, but have your cases been considered by the ministry. I am sure they have and, thus far, the relevant authorities have decided that the receipients of PTU and KPK as undeserving of cash payments whereas PGB and SP holders do. So where do we go from here?
Sure appeal, write in the blog or flash banners.
As a former soldier I do feel for you. However, please do not go beyond the norm in your quest. You must remember that many among us have also given personal sacrifices that have gone unrewarded. Like the saying goes, for every celebrated fighter there are usually two unsung heroes.
Jangan lah samopai orang kata kita ni pelahap pulak...
I am sure the people in the Personnel Division of Mindef are at this moment studying your case.
Keep on fighting but don't forget, do it with dignity.

Unknown said...

Is that money belongs to RAKYAT? Not enough money now and for the next RMK bro. Why want to take some more? Enoughlah bro. The allowances that all of you mentioned in the discussion are better give to RAKYAT... TERIMA KASIH is good enough... and you must reply with ALHAMDULILLAH... syukran... syukran...

Capt's Longhouse said...

dear guys,

,,,the issue you/we are facing here is that the present rakyat plus the existing government only wants to acknowledge that the country in the late 1950s, Malaya/Malaysia fought against the communist insurgency and that the MCP insurgents had taken to the hills/jungles in 1948 after their attempt to overthrow both the colonial British and post-colonial Malayan governments, but they were not successful.
,,,perhaps the malaysian authorities were fortunately more successful during the 1948-60 period where-by the government's use of force and tactic in caging of people in new villages against the MCP guerrillas and their supporters among the rural peasantry during that emergency period.
,,,the hostilities between Malaysia and Indonesia increased during the early 60s, climaxing to KONFRONTASI in 1966, were more important historical events.
,,,BUT in the 70s, when Siagon fell and during the Vietnam war period, many active and murderous events in our country with the numerous challenging battles with the CTs were blanked off by the authorities as well as the Armed Forces, perhaps not to frighten foreign investors away from our shores ?. The communist party finally signed off a peace treaty to lay down their Armed struggles only in 1989 with the malaysian government.
,,,in fact, the battles and jungle fightings that we were involved were never disclosed properly or even recorded/filmed/documented for the rakyat to fully appreciate its importance !. As such, your present struggle even to get the recognition to the various awards ?.
,,,suggest that we gather more write-ups on the various frightening killing plus combats events against the CTs during the 70s till 1989 ?.
The hundreds of bobby trap victims that we flew out plus the dead askars/polis hutan and civilian surveyers/East West highways workers, kpg Temengong evacuations etc etc...not forgeting ops. bamboo/doyai musnah/gubir/..plus a few dozens of others operationas on both side of the country i.e East and Peninsula Malaysia. It was a terrible time for us at the front line then, I was there !!.
,,,In the 70s, indeed by golly we flew day and night for King and country then ! A few of aircarfts were shot at pretty badly and we lost some aircrew at the front line as well as during training flights in preparing for combats.
,,,in fact, many while serving then, were not fully aware of the 'contacts' and running battles with the CTS but as chopper pilots many of us were directly involved at the various frightening killing events.
,,,its not so much for the special allowances but i guess just for the proper recognisation that some of us are asking for perhaps ?.
,,,Indeed, must be done with dignity too-lah !. Agreed 100%

G.Jeyaganesh said...

Sir,

I have written a piece on RMAF helicopter pilot in support of their cause in my blog http://rivetjoint.blogspot.com/. send it to the newspaper but didn't get it published.

Regards,
G.Jeyaganesh

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dear Jeya,

Thanks for the support. We need to marshal all the support we can to back up the cause that Mej Nor Ibrahim is fighting for.

True worriers that had sacrificed their lives so that this nation of ours is safe, gets a third class treatment. Sportsmen/women gets be heroes, given cash rewards, land. houses and even titles.

This, I suppose is partly the reason why members of the Armed Forces upon their retirement have little to say in support of the government. I may be wrong in saying this, but just ask those recipients of the PTU, JPP and KPK.

Unknown said...

Salam Dato'

Major Nor Ibrahim writes about patriotisme in PERAJURIT magazine the February issue.

I write about LT ADNAN HERO DUA NEGARA.

It seems Singapore is more concerned about Lt Adnan and Askar Melayu history at Bukit Chandu than us Malaysians.

Care to browse http://rarwrites.blogspot.com

Major Ramli Ab Rahim (retired) RMAF
016-6220603

Mej. Dr. Nor Ibrahim bin Sulaiman PTU TUDM (B) said...

Assalamualaikum dato',

May I have your permission to 'paste' this article for my blog? Thank you.