PE991 is on the pingat jasa Malaysia medal campaign. Sandra White MSP is here for this item.The briefing paper is self-explanatory. The petition is on behalf of the fight for the pingat jasa Malaysia medal campaign and calls on the Parliament to support the right of Scottish veterans to wear and display it. The committee last considered the petition at its meeting in March 2007. As the committee had received responses from the petitioner and the Cabinet Office only shortly before that meeting, it agreed to consider them in more detail before deciding on further action. I have also circulated the comments that Don Touhig MP made in the House of Commons in support of his early-day motion calling on the Government to make representations to the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals to overturn the decision.Sandra, as you have taken the time to come to the meeting, do you wish to say anything at this juncture?
Official Report · Committee
Current Petitions
Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal (PE991)
Speakers
Choose an MSP to read only their contributions- Frank McAveety Lab 6
- Sandra White SNP 3
- Tricia Marwick SNP 2
- Bashir Ahmad SNP 1
- Rhoda Grant Lab 1
The record
13 contributionsIf committee members want to go first, I am happy to wait.
Given that you have made the effort to come to the committee, it would be helpful if you showed us your medals.
As long as I have permission to wear them.
I am sure that you have a few medals from Paisley and the west end.
Thank you. I congratulate you on your appointment as convener of the Public Petitions Committee. I also congratulate everyone who is a member of the committee, new and old; I am sure that they will enjoy the committee as much as I did when I was a member of it. It is a very interesting committee.The chap who gave evidence about the bingo clubs used the word "mandarins", and that word is apt in this case, too. It is the mandarins who seem to be saying that a medal can be awarded to someone but that if they wear it, they will be being rude to the Queen.Members will have read the papers and seen that the situation is convoluted. The fact is that 150 Scottish soldiers died during the Malaysia campaign of 50 years ago, the Malaysian Government thought that it would be right to award medals to the servicemen who served there, and they were proud to accept that medal.The anomaly arises because other Commonwealth countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, have allowed their servicemen the honour of wearing the medal but a British veteran serviceman cannot wear it because doing so would cause offence to the Queen. The issue is convoluted because, as it says in the papers, the veterans can wear the medal if they wish but they are not legally entitled to because of the offence that it could cause to the Queen. The veterans have written to the Queen and various mandarins, as we might call the Whitehall civil servants, and have been told that the letters were passed on but have not seen a response.We are seeking permission for the servicemen to wear the medal. As the convener said, representations have also been made in the House of Commons and to the Queen. Jack Straw changed the rules slightly because, before 1968, they would have been able to wear the medal. There are mandarins at work in the civil service and someone has—to use a certain expression—taken the hump and decided that although the servicemen fought and 130-odd soldiers died, the rules are not going to be changed just to suit them. Other people, such as Queen's counsels, can wear the medal, so it is unfair that people who fought so valiantly that the Malaysian Government sought to present them with a medal—some laid down their lives—are not allowed by the British Government to wear it without causing offence to the Queen. I am here to back the servicemen and say that they should be allowed to wear their medal.
Thanks very much. Do members have any questions or comments?
Given the amount of nonsense that surrounds the issue, the petition makes me glad that I am unlikely ever to get an honour or a medal. The fact that the very brave people who have been awarded the medal are not allowed to wear it brings the system into disrepute, especially when we consider that the Governments of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji have obtained the Queen's consent that the medal can be accepted for unrestricted wear. I just do not get why people in this country are not allowed to wear the medal.The difficulty I have is that I do not know where we can go from here. We have probably done everything that we can do about the situation, which is disgraceful. Our predecessor committee wrote to the relevant bodies about it. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to support the right of Scottish veterans to wear the pingat jasa Malaysia medal. Individual members have done that, but I suggest that, in addition to closing the petition—as we must do—Sandra White, with the support of one or two other members, could lodge a motion, which as many members as possible should sign. If a majority of members of the Parliament sign the motion, it might be accepted that our view is that the veterans should be able to wear the medal, regardless of what Westminster might say on the issue.
Why are the veterans not allowed to wear the medal?
My understanding of the correspondence is that a series of formal requirements must be met, but the position is not clear.As Tricia Marwick has mentioned, the difficulty for the committee is that we have taken the issue as far as our remit allows us to. Essentially, the matter is one for the body that makes decisions about the granting of honours, decorations and medals.Among the papers, there is a page and a half on"why eligible British recipients may exceptionally receive, but not wear, the medal."The additional information in the papers might be helpful.
This is a hugely emotive subject, which highlights what I said earlier about our consideration of petitions that are not within our remit. People petition us in the hope that we will sort matters out. The petition that we are discussing relates to a reserved matter and should not have been considered by the Public Petitions Committee in the first place; it should have been referred on to the Westminster Parliament to deal with. If that had been done, the petition would have been given a wee bit more strength. I suggest that we do that now, somewhat belatedly, and close the petition.
We should close the petition regardless of the issue that you have raised, which we can explore at our away day and on which I expect that members might have differing strong views. Given the nature of the situation that we are in, it would be advisable to close the petition and to acknowledge Tricia Marwick's recommendation.I should have declared an interest—I received deputy lieutenant recognition from Her Majesty.
I am saying nothing.
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