After fifteen months in Malaya, and a three-and-a-half-week voyage home, the Notts & Jocks 5717 National Service Intake finally docked at Southampton. With wallets bulging with demob leave pay, we found ourselves aboard a ‘dry’ ship. The Duty Free bar was closed because we were in port. Right to the very end, the Army had saved one last exquisite form of torment for our final night aboard—a bar with no beer!
‘Such a non-event’: collecting our Malayan campaign medals
Next morning saw us board a train bound for the home of the Regimental Depot. We dumped all but our personal kit and headed home on travel warrants miraculously ready and waiting. Ten days later we returned to the Depot. Here we underwent our final medical examination, collected our ‘Certificate of National Service’, and were issued with our campaign medals.
This was such a non-event, I can no longer recall whether they were formally presented to us on a parade, or just handed out with our discharge documents like baubles from a corn flakes packet. Probably the latter. The medals came in utilitarian cardboard boxes with a crown printed on the lid. Our personal details (service number, rank, name, and unit) were typed on a label affixed to the bottom of the box.
A stark contrast to the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) medal
The cheapskate packaging was a stark contrast to the packaging of the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM). This medal was later awarded by the King of Malaysia in 2004 to all Malaysian and Commonwealth military personnel who had served in the Malayan Emergency and ‘Kinfrontasi’ in Borneo.
This medal came in a rich blue lined presentation box. The Malaysian coat of arms is embossed in gold on the lid, with an inscription inside. Not only that, but the medal came with a miniature for formal dress occasions.
Permission denied to wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) medal
The Malaysian Government approached the British Government regarding the award of the medal to British citizens. However, permission was refused. The British Medals Policy prohibited the acceptance of medals from foreign nations. After intensive lobbying, the matter was referred to the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals. Lobbyists requested the Committee review its policy in respect of foreign awards and, specifically, the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal.
Seven years for veterans to get permission to wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal
Evidently not wishing to offend the King of Malaysia, the Committee’s impeccably nuanced recommendation was that British citizens could accept the medal. However, recipients were not permitted to wear it. Deeply embarrassed that both Australian and New Zealand veterans of the Emergency and Konfrontasi were permitted to both accept and wear the PJM, this decision was eventually rescinded. This process took seven years, taking effect from Remembrance Day 2011.
Thanks for your service indeed! When, after an initial refusal, it took seven years for the British Government to permit eligible veterans to accept and wear a medal from the country which they had defended.
