What's cooking with Perhebat: Sewing and brewing as soldiers return to civilian life

KLUANG - With her military career – including a stint with the Malaysian Battalion Team in Lebanon – having come to a close, one woman wishes to exchange her gun for needle and thread once she returns to civilian life, to continue the legacy started by her mother.

Senior warrant officer (retired) P. Maygala, 41, who served in the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) until her retirement last year, studied business management during her time in the transition training programme organised by the Ex-Servicemen Affairs Corporation (Perhebat).

“Many people ask me why tailoring and not other fields such as security? My answer is simply that I am a woman, a mother, so my feminine spirit prevails despite the military discipline,” she told Bernama, adding that before joining the army, she would help her seamstress mother at her tailoring shop.

She was speaking at the Perhebat presentation ceremony here recently, having received her certificate from RMN reserve force commander Azhar Adam.

Maygala served for 21 years, including time with the United Nations peacekeeping force. Thanking the Malaysian Armed Forces and Perhebat, she said she would join her mother’s clothing business in Johor Bahru by the end of the year.

Another Perhebat graduate, Cpl Helmi Balawi, shared that he would open a café, combining his love for coffee with the knowledge he had gained from the transition training.

The 43-year-old served in the Johor Military Force for 26 years.

Meanwhile, Azhar said the armed forces and Perhebat would increase their cooperation with the private sector to provide more job opportunities to those who return to civilian life.

“Besides equipping future entrepreneurs with business skills and knowledge, we will focus on maintenance, repair and overhaul of military assets with specialised training,” he said, adding that the transition training has thus fair helped some 3,473 armed-forces retirees. - BERNAMA