Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal

 

Malayan Emergency 1957 - 1966.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

The Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal - also known as the Malaysian Service Medal - was a campaign medal presented for service during the Malayan Emergency, Second Malayan Emergency, and the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation.

 

The medal was instituted in March 2005 and awarded by the King and Government of Malaysia in recognition of ‘distinguished chivalry, gallantry, sacrifice, or loyalty’ in contributing to the freedom and independence of Malaysia to members of the Malaysian Armed Forces as well as Commonwealth forces from Australia, Fiji, India, Nepal, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom including Gurkhas, who served in Malaysia for a minimum of 90 days, between 31 August 1957 and 31 December 1966, or, 31 August 1957 and 9 August 1965 in Singapore.

 

The cut-off date for service in Singapore is shorter due to Singapore's independence from the Federation of Malaysia on 9 August 1965.

 

Additionally, the medal was awarded to those personnel who served in an indirect or support role as long as they served at least six months during the qualifying periods. The medal was also awarded if service was cut short as a result of death or injury.

 

 

The medal is circular, 38mm in diameter and is struck in brass and then nickel plated. The obverse of the medal depicts the coat of arms of Malaysia with the inscription; ‘JASA MALAYSIA’ beneath it.

 

The reverse depicts a map of Malaysia and the initials; ‘P.J.M’ underneath.

 

The ribbon suspender is two crossed palas palm fronds which are attached to a straight suspension bar covered in a decorative pattern.

 

The medal was issued un-named.

 

 

 

The ribbon is a 35mm wide and is made up of yellow, blue and red vertical stripes depicting the colours of the Malaysian flag.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- The Malayan Emergency.

- The Indonesian–Malaysian Confrontation

- The Second Malayan Emergency.

- Further History Of The Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal.

 

The Malayan Emergency - The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), from 1948 to 1960.

 

The Malayan Emergency was the colonial government's term for the conflict. The MNLA termed it the Anti-British National Liberation War. The rubber plantations and tin mining industries had pushed for the use of the term 'emergency' since their losses would not have been covered by Lloyd's insurers if it had been termed a ‘war’.

 

Despite the communists' defeat in 1960, communist leader Chin Peng renewed the insurgency in 1967; it lasted until 1989, and became known as the Communist Insurgency War. Although Australian and British armed forces had fully withdrawn from Malaysia years earlier, the insurgency still failed.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Indonesian–Malaysian Confrontation - The Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation during 1963–1966 was Indonesia's political and armed opposition to the creation of Malaysia. It is also known by its Indonesian/Malay name Konfrontasi. The creation of Malaysia was the amalgamation of the Federation of Malaya (now West Malaysia), Singapore and the crown colony/British protectorates of Sabah and Sarawak (collectively known as British Borneo, now East Malaysia) in September 1963.

 

The confrontation was an undeclared war with most of the action occurring in the border area between Indonesia and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo (known as Kalimantan in Indonesia). The conflict was characterized by restrained and isolated ground combat, set within tactics of low-level brinkmanship. Combat was usually conducted by company or platoon sized operations on either side of the border. The conflict is sometimes informally referred to as the 'Platoon Commander's War', at least before the start of Claret operations. Indonesia's campaign of infiltrations into Borneo sought to exploit the ethnic and religious diversity in Sabah and Sarawak compared to that of Malaya and Singapore, with the intent of unravelling the proposed state of Malaysia.

 

The challenging jungle terrain of Borneo and lack of roads straddling the Malaysia/Indonesia border forced both Indonesian and Commonwealth forces to conduct long foot patrols. Both sides relied on light infantry operations and air transport, although Commonwealth forces enjoyed the advantage of better helicopter deployment and resupply to forward operating bases. Rivers were also used as a method of transport and infiltration.

 

Although combat operations were primarily conducted by ground forces, aerial forces played a vital support role and naval forces ensured the security of the sea flanks. The British provided most of the defensive effort, although Malaysian forces steadily increased their contributions, and there were periodic contributions from Australian and New Zealander forces within the combined Far East Strategic Reserve stationed then in West Malaysia and Singapore.

 

Initial Indonesian attacks into East Malaysia relied heavily on local volunteers trained by the Indonesian Army. With the passage of time infiltration forces became more organised with the inclusion of a larger component of Indonesian forces. To deter and disrupt Indonesia's growing campaign of infiltrations, the British responded in 1964 by launching their own covert operations into Indonesian Kalimantan under the code name Operation Claret. Coinciding with Sukarno announcing a 'year of dangerous living' and 1964 race riots in Singapore, Indonesia launched on 17 August 1964 an expanded campaign of operations into West Malaysia, albeit without military success.

 

A build-up of Indonesian forces on the Kalimantan border in December 1964 saw the UK commit significant forces from the UK based Army Strategic Command and Australia and New Zealand deployed roulement combat forces from West Malaysia to Borneo in 1965-6. The intensity of the conflict began to subside following the events of the 30 September Movement and Suharto's rise to power. A new round of peace negotiations between Indonesia and Malaysia began in May 1966 and a final peace agreement was signed on 11 August 1966 with Indonesia formally recognising Malaysia.

 

Important precursors to the conflict included Indonesia's campaign of infiltrations into Netherlands New Guinea from March–August 1962 and the Brunei Revolt in December 1962.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Second Malayan Emergency - The Communist Insurgency War, also known as the Second Malayan Emergency, occurred in Malaysia from 1968 to 1989, involving the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and Malaysian Government security forces. Following the end of the Malayan Emergency in 1960, the predominantly ethnic Chinese Malayan Races Liberation Army, the armed wing of the MCP, had retreated to the Malaysian-Thailand border where it had regrouped and retrained for future offensives against the Malaysian government.

 

The Communist Insurgency War officially began when the MCP ambushed security forces in Kroh–Betong, in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia, on June 17, 1968. The conflict also coincided with renewed tensions between ethnic Malays and Chinese in peninsular Malaysia and the Vietnam War.

 

While the Malayan Communist Party received some limited support from the People's Republic of China, this support ended when Kuala Lumpur and Beijing established diplomatic relations in June 1974.

 

In 1970, the MCP experienced a schism which led to the emergence of two breakaway factions: the Communist Party of Malaya–Marxist-Leninist (CPM–ML) and the Revolutionary Faction (CPM–RF).[17] Despite efforts to make the MCP appeal to Malays, the organization was predominantly dominated by ethnic Chinese throughout the duration of the Communist Insurgency War. Instead of declaring a "state of emergency" as the British had done previously, the Malaysian government responded to the insurgency by introducing several policy initiatives including the Security and Development Program (KESBAN), Rukun Tetangga (Neighbourhood Watch), and the RELA Corps (People’s Volunteer Group).

 

The Communist Insurgency War came to an end on 2 December 1989 when the MCP signed a peace accord with the Malaysian government at Hatyai in southern Thailand. This coincided with the collapse of the Eastern Bloc Communist regimes. Besides the Communist Insurgency War, another Communist insurgency also occurred in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in the island of Borneo, which had been incorporated into the Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

Further History Of The Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal - In 2005, the Malaysian Government approached the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to seek approval to present the Pingat Jasa Malaysia. The British Government, however, announced in the House of Lords that they would refuse the Malaysian medal for British citizens on the basis that the award was contrary to British Medals Policy.

 

The policy states that non-British medals will not be approved for events or service that took place more than five years before initial consideration, or in connection with events that took place in the distant past (e.g., commemorative medals); or if the recipient has received a British award for the same service.

 

Intensive lobbying then commenced to try and reverse that decision. After a few months, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced that it had submitted a paper to the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals requesting the Committee to review their policy in respect of foreign awards and the Pingat Jasa Malaysia. The Committee met on 7 December 2005 to carry out the review, but their recommendation was not announced until a written Ministerial Statement was made in the House of Commons on 31 January 2006.

 

The Committee's recommendation was that British citizens could accept the medal but they would not be allowed to wear it. The Ministerial Statement on 31 January 2006 states that the recommendation, which the Queen has approved, stipulates that ‘Permission to wear the PJM will not, however, formally be given’.

 

The initial presentations of the Pingat Jasa Malaysia took at the Malaysian High Commission in London on 19 July 2006. The medal was presented to 34 ex-servicemen and women by the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. A second ceremony for another 74 former servicemen who will receive the same medal will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

 

Further lobbying by veterans resulted in the Ministry of Defence publishing a notice on 6 November 2011, announcing that British Veterans would be able to wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia, for the first time, starting with Remembrance Day events on 11 November 2011. It was explained that historically the acceptance of foreign medals was not permitted if a British medal was awarded for a campaign. The previous restriction of acceptance but not wear had been lifted, and all entitled veterans could both accept and wear the medal.