Rela Bill will only make us better, says DG

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz Dec 7, 07 7:19pm

The concerns raised by human rights groups and other quarters regarding people's volunteer corps Rela provided the impetus for the proposed 'Rela bill', said its director-general Zaidon Asmuni.Whether they be fears about arbitrary searches, arrests and detentions, physical or sexual abuse, or the lack of a selection process to weed out the 'bad hats', the Rela bill is the only logical solution to such issues, he said.

"The proposed Act is so that we have our own legislation which will standardise and gazette what we do and the powers that we have currently. We will not have any powers beyond what we have already," he said when contacted today.

"The way I look at it, we are already doing work equal to that of existing government departments. People have actually expressed surprise that we're not yet a department! If we have our own department, it would improve our work. They need not fear us at all," he added.

Zaidon was responding to a memorandum submitted yesterday to various ministries and political leaders by civil society organisations who fear that the Rela bill would see more human rights violations and abuse of power by the corps' members.The human rights groups who submitted the memorandum - Suaram, Tenaganita, Hakam and the Civil Rights Committee of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall - also called for the disbanding of Rela.

90 percent positive work

Zaidon, however, chided them for calling for the disbanding of a volunteer body that he said has done a lot of good for the country since it was created, under the Home Ministry, by the Essential (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat) Regulations 1972.

"Rela has ensured security and public order at sports games, we have helped traffic police carry out their duties, we have done our part to prevent some crimes, we have helped out during natural disasters such as floods, and we provided food at evacuation centers.

"Which government agency has all these things under their portfolio? Perhaps 90 percent of what we do is positive, while only 10 percent of our members commit mischief. Those who are calling for the total disbandment of Rela have no sense of patriotism at all," he said.

Zaidon assured rights groups that while Rela would prefer having prosecution and investigation powers, these or other expanded powers are not provided for in the proposed Rela legislation.

"The current standard operating procedures will be the standard operating procedure under the Rela Act," he said.

Zaidon, who was formerly the Pahang Immigration Department director, clarified that much of what Rela does currently is to bolster the tremendous human resource demands placed on the police force and the Immigration Department's enforcement division.

Thus, a large number of Rela's 450,000 members have acted as security personnel for the immigration depots at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport as well as at Pasir Gudang in Johor.

"This has allowed the police to concentrate more on preventing crime, for example, while we have helped to bolster Immigration's 6,000 enforcement officers. The department is burdened with having to enforce, investigate and prosecute, among its other functions," said Zaidon.

Under control now

On the many allegations of human rights violations and abuses reported against Rela - especially against migrants and refugees - Zaidon admitted Rela struggled initially to come to terms with the powers it had been given almost three years ago.

Since then, however, Rela has 'matured' and the cases of abuse and violations - while not completely gone - have decreased to a controllable level, he said.

"In the first six months since March 2005, Rela was struggling and grasping, fumbling around the regulations and trying to determine how best to do things with regards to illegal immigrants.
"But after three years, we have matured. I don't deny the few cases where Rela members have committed assault or stole the possessions of people here and there. But such cases are not many and they are under our control," said Zaidon.

He also said the problems of abuse usually arise during the 'unofficial' operations conducted by Rela members which have not been sanctioned by senior Rela officers. These, he said, will decrease once Rela procedures and powers are streamlined by the Rela Act.

Zaidon also said Rela welcomes the set up of a commission or other mechanism to register, channel, investigate and act on complaints raised against any of its personnel or volunteers.
"We welcome the set up of a commission that would address complaints raised against any of the enforcement agencies, including Rela," he added.

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