PUTRAJAYA MAY21: Malaysian Armed Forces Veteran Association (PV ATM) with 173,000 members had celebrated its 100 years anniversary with the participation of 1,000 members in the static parade at Dataran Pahlawan Negara here today.
Senior Minister of Defence, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said, having reached 100 years of establishment, the Ministry, Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) and the Government have regarded the veterans of PV ATM as the heroes and heroines of the nation who have made big contributions that have to be remembered forever.
“Under the Veteran Affairs Department (JHEV), there are 122 registered Veteran Associations besides the PV ATM that are protected under them,” Hishammuddin said in his speech at the event held today.
Elaborating on it, the Senior Minister said, the efforts on taking care of the veterans’ welfares and to elevate their prosperity have been taken and will continue to give good attention by JHEV in line with their functions.
Hishammuddin added, in the housing aspect, Ministry of Defence (MINDEF has introduced the MAF Veteran Housing Initiative Programme aimed at elevating and building new houses for the veterans.
“Last year 225 houses have been repaired and new houses have been built incurring RM4.86 million while till May this year, 46 houses have been repaired while 182 houses are in the process of repairing and building.
“The MAF Veteran Housing Initiative has been included as a main programme under the Ministry of Defence Strategic Plan, Housing Blueprint 3.0, 2022. Meanwhile 900 unit affordable houses at Residensi Sateria have been allocated for the MAF veterans and 13 shop units in the housing complex will be given to the veteran entrepreneurs,” Hishammuddin said.
With regards to the second career opportunities, Hishammuddin said, MINDEF is always finding ways to increase the cooperation with various agencies to enable MAF veterans to get their second career with suitable income after retirement.
“MINDEF has also formed MyVeteran Mall initiative to help broadens the MAF veterans’ opportunities to market their business products. MINDEF has also formed the “Guarantee Food Programme” to give veterans the second career opportunities in the agricultural sectors.
“Under the Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning or RPEL the MAF veterans from the B40 category have been given recognition via their experiences, knowledge and skill that they acquired.
“The training programme for future retirees and MAF veterans via PERHEBAT courses until to date has trained 211,350 trainees and subsequently become entrepreneurs, employees and self-employed,” Hishmmuddin added.
In the health contexts, the Senior Minister said, five new polyclinics are in the process of building where more than 60,000 MAF veterans could enjoy the basic facilities, dental treatment, observation wards, hemodialasis expert treatment, minor surgeries and others.
The New Dialysis Centre will be built at 13 camps and 17 outside selected premises.The MAF veterans could receive free hemodialisis treatment at four Military Hospitals. The Medical Payment Scheme for MAF veterans will be implemented continuously and will be improved from time to time.
“Until today, RM33.4 million has been allocated to accommodate the purchase of medicines, urology treatment costs, cardiology and respiratory and the costs of laboratory testing. Meanwhile 500 National Health Empowerment Community Centres (KONSPEN) have been built in the MAF camps nationwide,” Hishammuddin reiterated.
Hishammuddin also said, efforts have also been focused on elevating the benefits of the MAF veteran welfare programmes and one of it is the Natural Disaster Aid that has been increased from RM5, 000 to RM10, 000. –Malaysia World News
