KUCHING: Citizens should treasure the struggle by army veterans who fought the insurgency by rejecting the ‘secessionist’ movement to bring Sarawak out of Malaysia.
In pointing this out, Political Secretary to the Prime Minister Major (rtd) Peter Runin said a total of 1,865 members of the army were killed and more than 2,000 injured when fighting the communists during the insurgency.
“This struggle involved blood and tears and many of us lost family members during the era. So is it logical to undo what they fought, for our own gains?” said Peter.
Peter, who was representing Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot, was speaking at the launch of the Warriors Fund campaign and the presentation of ‘Pingat Jasa Malaysia’ (PJM) to 20 members of the branch organised by the Malaysian Ex Servicemen Association (PBTM) of Tasik Biru branch at Bau civic centre recently.
According to Peter, without the sacrifice from the veterans, Malaysia will not be where it is today and he urged the newer generations to respect what their forefathers had fought for.
“These people who want to get Sarawak out of Malaysia, they do not understand the patriotism we had felt before and think things come as easy as it gets. However, they should learn to understand that by campaigning for this, they only ruin the country,” he added.
He said any treacherous act by present-day dissidents only exposes the weakness of the country to outsiders who can undermine national security, and could ruin what took years to build in terms of economy, peace and unity.
On another matter, Peter urged the elected representatives from Sarawak in Parliament to raise the issue on why there were less Sarawakians recruited in the military service.
“Based on my findings, we get less veterans each year in Sarawak and that is an indication of lesser Sarawakians being recruited. This issue must be explained to the public,” he urged.
Peter also announced a grant worth RM15,000 from the Human Resource Ministry to the association, while announcing his personal contribution of RM10,000.
Mas Gading MP Anthony Nogeh also announced an additional grant worth RM10,000.
Also present at the event was PBTM Tasik Biru branch chairman Jossem Duweg.