SIBU, Oct 24: Sarawak’s military veterans may not be able to pass the hat around this year, as they were not able to secure a letter of authorisation from the Armed Forces Veteran’s Welfare Department.
The traditional Warrior’s Day donation campaign was launched in Kuala Lumpur in September and the campaign to seek public funds is from Oct 1 till Dec 31 only.
According to the president of the Sarawak Malaysian Armed Forces Veteran’s Association, Francis Yeo, the veteran’s welfare body was not able to issue the authorisation letter because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As of today, we are yet to garner a single sen as we need the letter to apply for a permit from the State Secretary’s office in order to seek donations from the public,” he explained.
However, he said the association may seek alternative ways to gather donations. “We might resort to other means to source for donations and that includes writing to people’s representatives and businesses,” he disclosed.
According to him, based on previous experiences writing to people’s representatives and businesses yielded a lukewarm response.
He also stressed that the fund is important to provide welfare services to its members, especially those who are physically handicapped.
“The money helps to ease their financial burden especially for those with school going children.
“There are quite a number of former servicemen who after retiring from the military are without a job. There are those who cannot work due to old age or are physically handicapped from injuries sustained during active service,” Yeo added.
“But we are still contemplating other alternatives, we will not give up yet,” he vowed. — DayakDaily
