LETTER | Military vets want 'Now or Never' march to the polls

LETTER | We the veterans of the security forces have served the country with our hearts, minds, and souls and many had even given their lives to defend our beloved nation. We religiously followed the maxim “Yours is not to question, but to do and die!”

It was also a favourite maxim of my squadmate Jagjit Singh who was commissioned in Sandhurst in the UK and the only one who had the honour to play hockey for Sandhurst from a foreign country at that time.

For those who say soldiers do nothing but waste taxpayers’ money, they must be corrected.

Undisputedly, if not for the sacrifices that we have made, you will not be living in the peace that is the hallmark of Malaysia today, since independence.

History teaches us that Sadam Hussein’s military advance into Kuwait was an easy-as-pie walkover simply because the Kuwaitis were not prepared. The price paid was the women folk were also raped.

Likewise, if our Malaysian military today is not well equipped and ready for war, it is only because you keep voting in a corrupted regime.

In the language of the veterans, they are traitors, and traitors deserve only one sentence.

The substandard equipment purchased under the leadership of the various defence ministers and their delegated staff has in no uncertain terms compromised the defence of our country. Yet, Malaysians keep voting them into power.

As a veteran, it is very painful to see the corruption - sins of commission, omission, and dereliction - of responsibilities that have infiltrated the defence forces or marred its image.

My first colleague died on duty just shortly after we were commissioned upon graduating from the Royal Military College in May 1977.

Thereafter, I had a few of my squadmates (cadets who were trained together in the same batch) who also lost their lives, got maimed, suffered the loss of their legs, and two of them crashed.

One of my cadet students perished in the chopper that crashed in Sarawak with 16 other officers and ORs. They lost their lives protecting Sarawak and Malaysia.

These are just to name a few.

Today, we still have an officer who was blinded in a booby trap incident. There are likewise many other veterans who were injured while on active duty but miserably rewarded with a pension based on the 1960s scheme - a pre-war scheme.

Same promises time and again

If the government of today and those of previous decades are not embarrassed, voters marching to the polls this GE15 should at least take to heart the injustices veterans have suffered and still suffer owing to misplaced priorities, negligence, and, above all, systemic corruption that we all know is rocking our nation.

We have been promised, time and again, endlessly, at each round of national polling.

But nothing materialises after being elected into government with regard to our entitlements - mind you, not demands. It is the same answer dished out, namely “dalam kajian” (being studied).

The worst was when a two-time minister of defence beamed “Kajian telah pun selesai” (Studies have been completed) but we veterans were still left out in the cold.

Therefore voters and especially all veterans need to wake up.

As the minister of defence affirmed, in one of his many speeches, the veterans in Malaysia total about 300,000 and if you multiply that with one spouse each, it makes 600,000.

Now multiple that by about four (an average number of children per couple) and you get a whopping 2.4 million citizens affected by failed policies, negligent leadership, corruption, omissions, and dereliction of duties from the ranks of leadership.

Conservatively we can add at least another million sympathisers who understand the sacrifices we veterans have made; the peace we secured with our limbs and lives.

In a nutshell, we actually have almost more numbers than all of Umno’s members. So why should it not be easy to dump and bin the corrupted regime and failed leaders once and for all?

Vote wisely

As a veteran who rose up the ranks to Lieutenant Colonel in nearly four decades of dedicated service to my nation, citizens, and king, I appeal to all Malaysians and veterans to vote wisely this time around.

The future of your children and the generations to come after you is in your hands on polling day.

The reality is even with 50 percent of our veterans voting right, the nation can successfully get rid of all the corrupted candidates and the regime and free us all from the perineal “dalam kajian” empty promises that only enrich the elite.

We do not need a handful of billionaires. What we need is shared prosperity for all Malaysians.

Please protect the peace we veterans earned for every Malaysian. Help restore a clean, good, and truly caring government and leaders this time around come polling day.

Truly GE15 has to be the now-or-never call to national duty.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.