A Brief Background Mukhtiar Singh started his career in the Malayan Police Force at the beginning of the Emergency and rose to the rank of Temporary Inspector (1). All Tls, until such time they were confirmed in their permanent ranks, were placed under the Employment Provident Fund scheme (EPF). As the Emergency drew to an end in mid-1961, the TI's had their service extended on a month-to-month basis. Mukhtiar, fearing that the TIs would be soon be made redundant and be discharged from service, opted to join the Malaysian Territorial Army as a Permanent Staff Instructor (PSI) in July 1961. He was given the rank of Sergeant (Sgt). By then, he had clocked 12 years service as a TT in the police force. (From hindsight, this was not a good decision as his TI colleagues who had stayed on were all absorbed into the regular police force with their temporary service being recognised. They later retired with full pension.) For the record, Mukthiar had a letter by his police superior officer that he was being released to take up appointment in the army. There was no certification by the police that he had fulfilled 12 years of service, temporary or otherwise. It was a requirement by the army that if one had served as a civil servant or in any uniformed body and later joined the army, an official letter was needed as a record of the period of recognised service. Permanent Staff Officers (PSOs)/ Permanent Staff Instructors (PSIs) in the Territorial Army To understand Mukthiar's case better, one has to be enlightened as to the terms and conditions in the Territorial Army under which the PSIs and PSOs were employed. As their designations suggest, PSOs played the administrative role while the PSIs. were instructors. When the paramilitary Home Guards were disbanded in the mid-1960s as a result of the end of the Emergency, the government decided to raise the Territorial Army (TA) to train ‘weekend’ soldiers in every state as a backup to the regular army. A TA Branch was set up in the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) under the command of Colonel to administer the set-up. PSis and PSOs mainly from the disbanded Home Guards/Ex Army/and ex police were recruited as training instructors. Depending on their former ranks and experience, they placed on different grades. Alarge number were commissioned in their former ranks they held in the Home Guards ie. Captains and Majors. Many younger ones recruited directly as PSOs, were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant after attending a short (8-week) TA potential officers course at the Malaysian Military Training School (MMTS) in Port Dickson. Ithas to be noted that the PSOs and PSIs were different from the regular army. They were actually civilians in uniform. They had their own terms of service and were governed by civilian General Orders. The PSOs were exempted from promotion exams and courses at regular army's schools of instruction .Their promotions was time-based and they attended mandatory courses at the Pusat Latihan Askar Wataniah (PLAW) (T.A Training School) Absorption exercise of all TA PSOs into the Regular ArmyThe Government later decided to do away with this two tier service for officers and all qualified PSOs were absorbed into the regular army and granted Short Service Commission (SSC). Here, they were allowed to keep their present ranks. As SSC officers, they would now be subjected to the same regulation as officers of the regular army. The PSOs who chose not to join the regular army could remain as such until their phasing out. There was however no problem with PST's as all those who qualified were absorbed into the regular army. Mukhtiar was commissioned as a PSO on 1st July 1966 and subsequently rose to the rank of Capt. In Jan 1970 at the age of 37, he was granted a Short Service Commission (SSC) in the regular army (Military Police Corps). He retired on 21 July 1978 at the age of 46 after being given a one-year extension of service. By then officially, Mukhtiar had 16 years 11 months and 10 days of recognised service in the army. When Mukhtiar applied for regular commission, his application was strongly supported by all his superior officers. Sadly, it was turned down by the regular commission board on 5th October 1976 with the reason that Mukhtiar had not attended the mandatory ‘career courses’ (Tidak menpunyai kursus yang di tetapkan) referring to the Platoon Weapons and Tactic courses which are a prerequisite for young officers of the regular army. (At that point of time, nothing ‘was mentioned about his lack of years of recognised service.) Mukhtiar’s reasons for not attending these courses was that he was never nominated to attend them and also that his commanding officer had told him that as a Military Police officer it was not necessary. Mukhtiar ironically was after all a ‘weapons trainer too. Also by then he was due to attend the army re-settlement course and was to be discharged from service after that. ‘So, Mukhtiar was discharged from the service in July 1978 — but without been granted a pension. In January 1982, he forwarded an appeal to Mindef. The reply, in part, was that at the point of his discharge he was still a SSC officer. His service in the police as “Temporary Inspector’, as pointed out the Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) and also the Royal Malaysian Police, was not recognised and hence, it did not qualify him for pension. "Berkenaan dengan perkhidmatan tuan semasa di dalam pasukan polis sebagai seorang ‘Temporary Inspector’, ini telah dinyatakan oleh Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam dan juga Polis DiRajah Malaysia bawah perkhidmatan kebelakang tuan di dalam polis tidak boleh diiktirafkan untuk pencen dan ganjaran". Mukhtiar first came to see me 21 years later about his predicament, sometime in May 2001. I studied his case thoroughrly. Being well versed on TA matters having started iny own career in the army as a'TA army volunteer, I knew from the onset that this was going to be an uphill battle as there was no real legal recourse with the provisions required for pension unfulfilled.Then, suffering from a crippling back injury which occurred while in service and having just had the first of eight spinal operations since, the task was all the more daunting. Nevertheless I decided it still worth a try as there was nothing to lose. I started by writing a long and passionate plea to the Lt. Col Abdul Hamid Ibrahim (Retired) then President of the Malaysian Armed Forces Veterans Council, who is now a Datuk and president of the World Veterans Federation. I requested that this be treated as a special case as Mukhtiar was an exemplary serviceman who had a track record that not many could rival. His bravery in personally killing five communist terrorists merits recognition. The letter was strongly supported by Hamid and forwarded to Mindef which promptly ‘threw the book’ at me. I then decided that perhaps I should raise public awareness to jolt the faceless bureaucrats who inhabit the corridors of power in Mindef. Thus I started a campaign by writing to the print media, spoke to retired generals, appealed to politicians and just about to anyone who would listen to the case — but to no avail. In the process I had to take injury time off to attend to my ailing back. Tn October 2008, one of the letters I have written on Mukhtiar’s case was posted by a wonderfully supportive ex-Royal Ranger officer by the name of Major Swami on his blog (zrangers.blogspot.com). Things really began to move when Ms Sheila Rahman of the Malay Mail spotted the blog posting, For more than eight months, the Malay Mail and the 7 Rangers blog splashed this story and raised much public awareness which began to have the desired effect. The IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan dispatched two senior police officers to my house to. get further details with an offer to help all he can, This further lead to several meetings with Director of the Post Services Division Dato’ Yeow Chin Kiong with Mindef officers attending. Dato’ Yeow was magnanimous in tirelessly tracking Mukhtiar’s career history, and eventually got his police service of 12 years to be recognised. Hopes were high that at last Mukhtiar would be getting his pension and this was highlighted in the Malay Mail (19thAugust, 2009 — Mukhtiar's Long wait ends: Ex- soldier to get his pension this month). Howe ever, this was not to be and Mukhtiar was instead compensated for his 12 years service in the police with a sum of RM36,855. The army argued that Mukhtiar served in three different sectors; the police force, the volunteer force and the regular force. Each of these sectors is governed by different set of regulations. So it was not possible to accumulate the service years he clocked in these three sectors to be eligible for pension. My contention remains that Mukthiar while serving in the volunteer forces was a PSI/PSO and his combined service is 16 years 11 months and 10 days of recognised service in the army. He was a permanent staff serving in the volunteer forces he was never a volunteer!!! I would now argue that, since his service (22 years) in the police is finally recognized, he should by right qualify for full pension. Alas the army is adamant and will not bulge.