KEPALA BATAS, April 8 – As many as 35 per cent of the 41,000 non-pensionable veterans of the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) have dropped out of receiving the Cost of Living Aid (BSH), as they have failed to update their data, said the ATM Veteran Affairs Department (JHEV) 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 ATM 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.
