Kuala Lumpur: The Court of Appeal today allowed the appeal by the government and three others to overturn a High Court's ruling that had previously favoured 50 retired Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) personnel in a pension adjustment dispute. In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel chaired by Justice Datuk Hashim Hamzah ruled that the military personnel failed to prove that the Malaysian Government, the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the Malaysian Armed Forces Council had breached the provisions under the Federal Constitution.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Justice Hashim stated, 'We find there is merit in the defendants' appeal that warranted appellate intervention,' who sat with Justices Datuk Wong Kian Kheong and Datuk Ismail Brahim. The judge said the defendants cannot be said to be breaching Article 147 of the Federal Constitution as they have not placed the plaintiffs in a less favourable position. The court allowed the appeal with no orders as to legal costs.
Wong, who authored a supporting judgment, clarified that two documents, Garis Panduan Pelaksanaan Pindaan Syarat-Syarat Perkhidmatan ATM dated Jan 17, 2013, and Surat Pelaksanaan Kesetaraan Pangkat dan Penambahbaikan Jadual Gaji Minimum Maksimum bagi Perkhidmatan ATM di bawah SSM dated March 14, 2013, were amendments to the terms of service for serving members of the MAF rather than salary adjustments. He emphasized that the aim was to enhance the salary scheme for active members, not to discriminate against retirees who retired before January 1, 2013.
Wong further noted that there was no unequal treatment between pensioners who retired before and after January 1, 2013, as no pension adjustments were made for retirees after that date. On February 5 of the previous year, the High Court had determined that all military personnel who retired before January 1, 2013, were entitled to pension adjustments in line with those who retired after that date.
The 50 military personnel of various ranks had filed an originating summons in the High Court on November 17, 2022, seeking a declaration that the government had violated the provisions in the Federal Constitution, in conjunction with Section 187 of the MAF Act 1972, by failing to implement new pension adjustments for MAF retirees who retired before January 1, 2013. They argued that this failure led to a significant pension gap between retirees who retired before and after January 1, 2013.
During today's proceedings, Federal Counsel M. Kogilambigai represented the government, while lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla represented the retired personnel. Following the court proceeding, Haniff Khatri informed reporters of his intention to review the court's grounds of judgment before deciding whether to escalate the matter to the Federal Court.