KEPALA BATAS: As many as 35 per cent of the 41,000 non-pensionable veterans of the Malaysian Armed Forces have dropped out of receiving the Cost of Living Aid (BSH), as they have failed to update their data, said the armed forces Veteran Affairs Department director-general Major General Zambery Jefry Darus.

       Therefore, he advised those involved to immediately update information, including current income and active bank account details in the Veteran Integrated Benefit System (VIBES) 2.0, to enable payments to be channelled to them.

       He said that, thus far, only 29,000 non-pensionable armed forces veterans, aged 60 and above, have received assistance, amounting to RM300 given monthly, since last September, by targeting those classified as hardcore poor or below the Poverty Line Income (PGK).

       "All their data is in our system (VIBES 2.0), where the data needs to be updated, and it is important to make sure the bank account given is active, as many among the veterans with inactive accounts cause the aid money to be returned to us.

       "This BSH is for non-pensionable veterans aged 60 and above, earning RM1,198 a month (or less), and we are waiting to see if the government will grant an exception to any of the PGK conditions,” he said.

       He said this to reporters after attending the presentation of the 2024 Aidilfitri contribution, for 200 Penang Armed Forces Non-Pensionable Veterans Association (PVTTB) members and widows, at the Sekolah Menegah Kebangsaan (SMK) Datuk Haji Abdul Kadir, here on Monday (April 8).

       Commenting further, Zambery requested that any veteran facing a problem regarding the aid inform the association, instead of complaining by uploading a post on social media.

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       Regarding the proposed restructuring by merging all ATM associations, he said that he would meet with all association representatives to discuss the constitution and other related matters, before presenting it to the top management.

       He said that the proposal to create a parent association was approved at the National Veterans Council, and presented to the Working Committee last year, to combine the organisations into one entity.

       "In the meeting with all the representatives of the associations, we will also discuss what changes will be made to the association if there is a parent association later. When everything is harmonised, I believe that at the end of this year or early next year, we will have a new association, known as the Malaysian Armed Forces Veterans Association (PVATM)," he said.- Bernama