Scottish Veterans Return

One of the first events I attended when I arrived in Malaysia in 2006 was a ceremony, at which over thirty veterans from the King’s Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) were awarded the Pinggat Jaya Malaysia (PJM) medal by the Malaysian Government for services during the Emergency.  I was delighted to be invited back to meet another group of KOSB veterans this week at the Shangri-La Hotel.  Waiting in the foyer was a kilted warrior with the bagpipes, waiting to play me into the hall with a Scottish reel.

This time there were sixty veterans and thirty-seven wives and supporters, all celebrating the 55th anniversary of the KOSB’s arrival in Malaya in 1955. Major General Dato’ Zulkiflee bin Mazlan, head of Director General for Veterans’ Affairs in the Malaysian Ministry of National Defence (who was one of the many Malaysians who attended Sandhurst Military Academy in the UK) was there to present a beautiful enamel badge to commemorate the occasion.  The badge, designed by tour organiser Ogilvie Dickson, proudly bears the arms of the KOSB and also the hibiscus.

I was pleased to say a few words to welcome the veterans.  For some it was their first visit back to Malaysia.  Then they had come out in their teens and twenties to a country of jungles and rivers 8,000 miles from home, which faced a Communist insurgency.  Most of them were national servicemen rather than professional soldiers.  For many the experience had been life-changing.   Returning now, in their seventies and eighties, they found a modern, bustling city which was scarcely recognisable as the Kuala Lumpur they had known.  The only things they said they could recognise were the Royal Selangor Club and the Sultan Abdul Samad Building down on Dataran Merdeka.   The Twin Towers were a complete revelation!

It was wonderful chatting to the veterans and their families.  They told lovely stories of Batu Pahat and Kluang , where they were stationed, and Kota Tinggi, where they trained.  They were off to Cameron Highlands the next day to savour something of Malaysia’s tourist pleasures.   I doubt if there will be another tour in five years time, as many will simply be too old to travel.  But it was lovely to meet them and hear them say how their contribution to defeating the Insurgency all those years ago had been worthwhile.