AN Amanah delegate today urged party president Mohamad Sabu, in his capacity as defence minister, to appoint a special officer to look into the welfare of armed forces veterans.

Perlis Amanah representative Muhammad Yahya, who is a retired serviceman, said that veterans seem to have been forsaken even though most supported Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the last general election.

He said some veterans were working as security guards alongside foreign workers.

“The president, as the defence minister, needs to pay more attention to veterans. There are 375,000 veterans, and most of them in the 14^th general election voted for us.

“Out of that, there are 240,000 veterans without pensions.

“Now, living far away from their hometowns, their lives are the same as foreign workers from Nepal and Bangladesh, as they work as security guards,” Muhammad said during the debate on the president’s policy speech during the Amanah National Convention 2018 in Ipoh today.

He said that the special officer would be responsible for ensuring that the welfare of veterans would be protected, and would not interfere in other affairs of the Defence Ministry. – December 15, 2018.