Since the late 1980s Halim's ability with Arabic languages had been of value to the Department of Defence and he had on occasion been deployed as an interpreter.

Between 21 August 1990 and 14 December 1990 he worked as an interpreter aboard HMAS Darwin in the Persian Gulf

From 13 Jan 1992 to 30 Nov 1994 and again from 15 May 1995 to 14 May 1997 he was granted Leave Without Pay (LWOP) from the RAAF to work as a consultant at the Joint Technical Language School, Fiddlers Lane, Cheltenham in the United Kingdom where he was a linguist and a consultant on Middle East culture.  This organisation is part of the British Communications Headquarters which is part of the British Intelligence community. And is described here:

 BCHQ Cheltenham

BCHQ is a Civil Service Department under the Ministerial responsibility of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. BCHQ provides Government Departments and Military Commands with signals intelligence (Sigint) in accordance with requirements laid upon it by the JIC (as for SIS) in support of HMG's security, defence, foreign and economic policies.                               

From 24 February 1998 to 10 April 1998 he worked as an interpreter  for an Army Major on a liaison mission to Kuwait, as support staff for the Australian Embassy Office Kuwait.

During the Kosovo refugee crisis in 1999 Halim was used as an interpreter to assist refugees to settle into temporary accommodation at Puckapunyal in Victoria. Note in the following newspaper article it mentions "As one of the few Defence Force Arabic speakers he is asked to put aside clerical duties and help out in exotic places"   That sentence defines Halim's RAAF duties he was a Clerk who was deployed as an Arabic speaking interpreter from time to time.

Halim claims 23 years RAAF service, and mentions in his various "blurbs" and flyers only his interpreting deployments and hints that this was all "spook" oriented, however, his service really looks like this:

1.  Four years secondment on Leave Without Pay from the RAAF to the Joint Technical

2.  Four months deployment aboard HMAS Darwin as an interpreter during the Gulf War.

3.  Seven weeks deployment as interpreter for an Army Major in Kuwait.

4.  A short deployment in Victoria helping Kosovo refugees to settle in at Puckapunyal.

5.  Eighteen years as an RAAF Clerk.

In total his clerical duties would have involved eighteen of his twenty three years service, then four years as a language and cultural instructor at JTLS in the United Kingdom and six to seven months deployed as an interpreter  

Halim advertises his illustrious career as being in the murky world of espionage and intelligence. Here are some of his efforts:

RSL Committee nomination 

 Local election

                                                    How to vote:                                                      

One of his claims  is  true - he did serve in the Gulf War in 1990 - but all the others are sly innuendo designed to enhance his public profile and gain benefit from being elected to important community positions. Halim infers in his "blurbs" that he was a highly decorated intelligence operative who worked with - in - or at :

ASIO

British Intelligence

High Commission London

British Intelligence General Headquarters

Persian Gulf

Bosnia

Kosovo

East Timor

Kuwait with SAS

Iraq

Was a soldier and Officer

Diplomat

Worked with United Nations

Was recommended to work with Richard Butler in Iraq.

Now have a look at the photo below and see the medals that reflect the above service:

Until ANZAC day 2007 Halim claimed he had no medals, but he is entitled to some because of his service as an interpreter on the Royal Australian Naval Ship HMAS Darwin whilst on service in the Persian Gulf during August to December 1990. Several members decided that as Club President he should wear his medals on ANZAC Day 2007 and after reading his "blurbs" and considerable discussion with him, decided to purchase from the local medal shop his "entitlement" of the rack shown in the photo.

The invoice for the medals is shown below:

 The workings of the RSL are none of our business, however it is relevant to this case to say that Halim was the President of the Healesville, Victoria, R&SL Club and at that establishment chaos reigned.

A report to the R&SL State Headquarters was put together by a member of that sub branch, the gist of the report is shown below

Halim had been questioned by several RSL members about not wearing medals. He claimed various reasons like "they represent killing" and "he moved about so much he and the medals were never at the same place at the same time".

Halim was challenged for wearing the East Timor medal and was reminded that he claimed "involvement " in East Timor on several documents and flyers, his response was "involved does not mean I was there". This prompted an RSL member to do an analysis of the terms he used on the various documents and flyers. A report was then forwarded to the RSL State Branch. The report refers to other matters outside our wannabe charter so only extracts of the analysis are shown below.

Extracts from report
"Involved. His nomination for committee states " involved in: Gulf war, Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor crises. My interpretation of the manner he has presented these "involved" areas is in the same context as we know without doubt, the Gulf war. It was reasonable then to conclude he was involved in other areas in the same manner. The inference is there.

The last paragraph of the local paper profile when a candidate for shire council refers to "and served in the Gulf War, Bosnia/Kosovo, East Timor, Kuwait and Iraq"

It is reasonable so far to be of the view his use of involved and served mean the same.

His how to vote card for shire elections states "I was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait" and again uses the term involved, " and was involved in Bosnia/Kosovo and East Timor" The term deployed can be rightly interpreted that he was in position.

It is now reasonable to conclude the words involved, served with and deployed are used in the same context.

His nomination for president profile advises the reader " I was involved in the Gulf War, Iraq, Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor" and "I was deployed with the Australian Navy, Army, SAS, Police, ASIO and British Intelligence"

It is now quite obvious the use of the terms involved, deployed, served with are used in the same context. To that end I advised four medals but probably entitled to more. The Sub-Branch xxxxxxx, Mr. xxxxxxxxxxx then made the arrangements for the duplicate set be made up.

I would remind the Tribunal that the only military forces deployed into Iraq was immediately on cessation of hostilities of the Gulf War. That deployment was to the Kurdish northern Iraq areas as a United Nations deployment known as Operation Habitat. The DVA nominal roll lists by name and service 72 army personnel and 3 RAAF. Mr. Halims name is not on that roll."


xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx Signed

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Recently he was brought before an R&SL State Tribunal where he was found guilty on three charges with penalties awarded as shown below

There are numerous accusations, reports and counter reports not included in this report that led to the decisions made by the R&SL Tribunals findings. We have not included these because they are not wannabe material - suffice to say that chaos did indeed reign at Healesville.

Sorting out the "wheat from the chaff" in relation to Halim's service and medals was an intricate affair, but all wannabes leave trails and we were able to sort out Halim's spore.

As stated in the letter from a member of the Healesville R&SL to their Headquarters, Halim's statements of his service history ranges between "drawing a very long bow" to downright lies and as previously stated he is a master of innuendo - probably in two languages. His statements are sorted out as follows.

ASIO - Never worked for ASIO except perhaps as an interpreter and is not known to them as an employee.

British Intelligence General Headquarters - He worked at the JTLS Languages School as a Linguist.  During this time he was on Leave Without Pay from the RAAF and was acting as a consultant. He also produced some written briefs on the Middle East culture for the School and the Head of the Language School commended his work.

High Commission London - We believe that this was in relation to his work at the Languages School.

Persian Gulf - Halim served as an interpreter on HMAS Darwin between the 21 August 1990 and 14 Dec 1990.   HMAS Darwin's Captain commended his work.

Bosnia - Halim never served in Bosnia.

Kosovo - Halim never served in Kosovo, the extent of his involvement in Kosovo was as an interpreter in settling Kosovo temporary refugees into accommodation at Puckapunyal Army camp in Victoria.

East Timor - Never served in East Timor

Kuwait with SAS - Because of his interpreting skills Halim was detached to work with an Australian Officer to facilitate the involvement of Australian troops in Kuwait as part of a United States led coalition. The detachment was from the 24 February 1998 to 10 April 1998.  The Australian Officer happened to be an SAS Officer. Halim was not posted to the SAS in Kuwait. See more about this detachment further down.

Iraq - Never served in Iraq.

Was a soldier and Officer - Halim was never a soldier or a commissioned officer in the Australian Defence Force. Whilst he was working as an interpreter in Kuwait, to increase the prestige of the Australian presence in Kuwait, sometimes it was necessary to "Dress Up" Halim as an RAAF Officer so that he would be more presentable than a RAAF Sergeant when interpreting during meetings between Kuwait officials and the Australian officer - The Australian Embassy office even went as far as issuing an official document to say he was a Flight Lieutenant (See below). That is what Halim refers to when he says he was an "Officer".  The SAS officer commended Halim for his interpreting skills during this detachment. In one of his electoral posters he also says   "British Intelligence as a soldier, an Officer". He was never a soldier and never an officer with British Intelligence. 

Diplomat - This again refers to his duties as a Sergeant interpreter in Kuwait - he was never a diplomat he was an interpreter for an Australian Army Major who was attached to the Kuwait Embassy Office. The office was established as an adjunct to the Australian Embassy in Riyadh

Worked with the United Nations - Never worked with the United Nations.

Was recommended to work with Richard Butler in Iraq - We asked Richard Butler and he said he had never heard of Halim, however there is truth in this statement, because whilst he was at the JTLS School in the United Kingdom the Head of the Language School recommended him as "suitable for employment on United Nations Inspection Missions to Baghdad"

As an RAAF Sergeant, Halim had two roles, he was a Clerk and an interpreter.  When Arabic interpreting skills were needed he was detached for short periods of time from his everyday job as a clerk. His time at JTLS was at his own request, but it also suited the RAAF to release him on Leave Without Pay. He does not mention in his "blurbs" about being a clerk, which was his role for most of his Twenty-Three years service. Below is a copy of a RAAF document that explains his secondment to JTLS and clearly shows he was employed as a clerk.  

We had previously looked at Asim Halim, but at that stage he had not worn medals to which he was not entitled. We decided not to publish then, because it was noted as iterated here that wherever Halim carried out interpreting work he was commended for his excellent work, however, he was not "a highly decorated soldier for the first UN sanctioned Gulf War in 1991" as is stated in one of his election posters.  He was an RAAF Sergeant clerk who was used by the Department of Defence from time to time as an interpreter because of his Egyptian heritage. In addition at that stage he had not worn a rack of medals to which he is not entitled.

Asim Halim rewrote his service history and by innuendo and lies gilded the lily to the extent that any reasonable veteran would see through the smoke screen he had created. Perhaps he started to believe his own lies because, he was running the R&SL club as if he owned it, his actions and behaviour at that venue caused people to look into his amazing resume where very little truth prevails.

As an ex RAAF Sergeant with twenty-three years service Halim could not be so dumb as to not know exactly what his medal entitlements were. Members of the R&SL Club wanted their President to look the part on ANZAC Day so they in good faith arranged medals for him in accordance with his stated service, because his service was a sham he was not entitled to wear the medals provided and he has been exposed as a wannabe.

A reputation built on lies and innuendo is a "House of cards", Halim built a "House of Cards" which eventually all came tumbling down. His stupidity has seen him expelled from the R&SL club and made to be a fool in his hometown.

This is published in the public interest, particularly that of the Vietnam Veteran Community. All information presented here is fact and the truth. Reports from private citizens are supported by statements of fact and statutory declarations.