RM300 BSH For Non-Pensionable Veterans From Age 60 Starts In September
The financial aid will help many non-pensionable army veterans who do not have regular incomes or jobs due to their old age.
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The RM300 Cost of Living Aid (Bantuan Sara Hidup) will be extended to non-pensionable army veterans from the age of 60 effective September.
Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali said the proposal to extend the aid to non-pensionable veterans from the age of 60 was agreed at the cabinet committee on Public Service Reform (JKK-PPA) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday (7 August).
The BSH extension will benefit a total of 41,970 non-pensionable veterans with an additional financial implication of RM1.51 million per year.
President of the Malaysian Armed Forces Veterans Association (PVATM), Datuk Sharuddin Omar, said the initiative would help increase the monthly income of veterans devoted to serving their country to continue with their lives.
This is because many ATM veterans do not have regular income or jobs due to their advanced age and after leaving the service.
The Public Service Reform meeting discussed matters involving the improvement and welfare of civil servants, especially the status of the review of the remuneration scheme.
The last time the Public Service Remuneration Scheme was reviewed was in 2001, and the last review of the salary scheme took place in 2013.
The government previously announced special appreciation aid of RM300 for civil servants and RM200 for government pensioners, scheduled to be paid this Thursday.
This year, civil servants also received a special additional annual salary increment of RM100, Aidilfitri Special Financial Assistance of RM700 and the 2023 Special Financial Assistance of RM700.
What do “non-pensionable veterans” mean?
According to Free Malaysia Today, military personnel are allowed to leave the service after 12, 15 or 18 years of contract but will not be eligible for a pension.
In April 2021, the then-defence minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government was considering making it compulsory for members of the armed forces to serve for 21 years to qualify for a pension.
Ismail also advised non-pensionable army veterans who have not registered themselves with the veterans’ affairs department to do so to receive a special one-off aid of RM350 that year.
On 6 June 2022, about 2,000 army veterans held a peaceful demonstration at Tugu Negara to call for better treatment of army veterans in the nation.
Among the things they asked included a review of the pension rate and pension payments for those who served in the armed forces for fewer than 21 years.
READ MORE: Armed Forces Veterans Say They Received Approval For Demonstration & Question Police Probe
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