Letter to Editor
MALAYSIANS are a couple of days away from Hari Merdeka on Aug 31 and the local media will be featuring articles on those who fought for Malaya and Malaysia.
On March 3, 2004, Malaysia inaugurated the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) which was awarded, including posthumously to members of the Armed Forces, both citizens and non-citizens, recognising service during the Malayan Emergency, the Second Malayan Emergency and the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation.
As the PJM was also awarded to the Commonwealth forces from Australia, Fiji, India, Nepal, New Zealand and the UK who served in Malaya/Malaysia, the medal is more widely known than datukships.
Recently, I watched the Women of Valor, a 1986 movie about a group of US Army nurses who endured the Bataan Death March with their soldier colleagues.
After World War II, Colonel Margaret Ann Jessup appeared before a Congressional Subcommittee to testify against their Japanese captors and to lobby for awards of valour to be given to the women prisoners.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the lives of some frontliners who have answered the call of duty, relegating their own families to lesser priority.
Whilst more senior members of the medical personnel fighting the pandemic have been decorated by the Federal Government, there is skimpy information on how many nondescript nurses, medical assistants/attendants, ambulance drivers and police/military/RELA personnel who gave up their lives serving our country as frontliners.
In view of the above, I wish to respectfully suggest that the Penang State administration should decorate these frontliners.
If Penang cannot recognise them while they are still alive, at least immortalise their service with posthumous medals.
Better still, inaugurate new awards which underscore steadfastness in duty above their commitment to kith and kin.
Undoubtedly, their dedication till death are hitherto unnoticed acts of valour. – Aug 28, 2021
