Retired MAF Personnel File For Leave In Apex Court To Appeal Pension Adjustment Case

PUTRAJAYA, July 3 (Bernama) — Fifty retired Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) personnel have turned to the Federal Court to seek leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision regarding their pension adjustment claim.

Lawyer Mohamed Hanif Khatri Abdulla, representing the retirees, confirmed that the notice of motion was filed today and said the Federal Court has fixed Aug 4 for case management.

In their application, the applicants are seeking the Apex court’s determination on two questions of law concerning the pension adjustment issue.

On June 4,  the appellate court three-man bench overturned the High Court’s earlier ruling which held that MAF retirees who retired before Jan 1, 2013 were entitled to have their pensions adjusted to the rates and methods applied to the retirees who retired after Jan 1, 2013.

The Court of Appeal held that the MAF retirees failed to prove that the government, the Prime Minister, the Senior Defence Minister and the Malaysian Armed Forces Council had breached the provisions under the Federal Constitution.

Fifty MAF personnel of various ranks, including major, lieutenant, staff sergeant and private, filed an originating summons in the High Court on Nov 17, 2022, seeking a declaration that the government had violated the provisions in the Federal Constitution read together with Section 187 of the Malaysian Armed Forces Act 1972 for their respective failures to implement a new pension adjustment for the MAF retirees who retired before Jan 1, 2013.

They claimed the government had failed to implement new pension adjustments for all MAF retirees who retired before Jan 1, 2013, causing a significant pension gap between the MAF retirees who retired before Jan 1, 2013 and those who retired after Jan 1, 2013.

— BERNAMA