Capt (Rtd) Mukhtiar Singh, 77, will receive his well deserved pension within the month.A few calls from Malay Mail to the Public Service Department (JPA) and the Records and Pension Department of the Defence Ministry revealed only one detail remains standing between Mukhtiar and his pension - a letter of recognition from the JPA.

Upon learning about this detail, JPA Post Service Division director Datuk Yeow Chin Kiong immediately issuedthe letter - which was received by the Records and Pension Department on Thursday morning.Major Norhayati Md Noor, an officer with the Records and Pension Department in charge of Mukhtiar's case, said that she would be compiling Mukhtiar's past payment documents from both the army and police - which dates back to 1978.

The payment documents are required to calculate how much is owed to Mukhtiar."Once the documents are compiled, I will send the information to the Veteran Affairs Department, where they will sort out the information before issuing payment. If everything goes well, Mukhtiar will be able to receive his pension within this month," said Norhayati.

Malay Mail had front-paged Mukhtiar's plight on Oct 20 last year as he had been denied his pension by the Defence Ministry. It was due to his failure to attend Platoon Weapons and the Young Officers Tactics Course during his 30 years of service, which incidentally was no fault of his.

It was also ironic that Mukhtiar, who had already been a weapons instructor, had to attend the two courses - which were held close to his date of retirement in 1978. Mukhtiar enlisted in the army in 1948 at the age of 16 and had fought valiantly against the communists. He had been honoured for gallantry by Queen Elizabeth II and was also awarded the Pingat Jasa Kebaktian by the Sultan of Selangor.

The public had expressed concern about his plight since it was highlighted in the Malay Mail. By Ng Suzhen Monday, August 17th, 2009 05:43:00 in the The Malay Mail.

For those who do not know about this case go here:
1. Captain Courageous
2. 7th Rangers in the mainstream media.

I will post 'the long fight for his pension' which is being compiled by the tenacious, loyal and faithful friend of Mukhtiar, the indomitable Lt Col (Rtd) Idris Hassan.