NST 26/06/07

RELA, or the People’s Volunteer Corps, is pushing for a separate law to govern its operations. Home Affairs Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Paduka Abdul Rahman Ibrahim said Rela would then function as a department with greater authority.

http://www. malaysiakini.com/news/67858
Q&A: We act within the law
Andrew Ong
May 29, 07 12:26pm

Ever since the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) was granted the power to arrest illegal immigrants in 2005, there have been a slew of accusations that some personnel have abused their powers – in some cases, through allegedly violent means.

In an interview, Rela director-general Zaidon Asmuni insisted that personnel “strictly adhere to” standard operating procedures (SOP) and act according to the law.

Malaysiakini: What are the requirements to join Rela?

Zaidon Asmuni: Ordinary Malaysian citizens above the age of 16 who hold an identity card are eligible to enrol as volunteers. We can use our powers to recruit personnel, but this only happens during a period of emergency.

Malaysiakini: What is the screening process for recruits?

Zaidon Asmuni: Nowadays we don’t have to screen. Anyone can join and become a Rela member. If we were to conduct a screening exercise, it would take the police some time (to do so), because they have their own priorities. Those who join will receive a membership card within two weeks. It’s as simple as that.

Malaysiakini: Is there a need for the district Rela officer to get permission from you to conduct a raid on illegal immigrants?

Zaidon Asmuni: No need. We give them a blanket approval since our core business now is against illegal immigrants. It is stated in our regulations that operations can be conducted without police or immigration (supervision).

Malaysiakini: How are the personnel trained?

Zaidon Asmuni: The most important training is the Kursus Asas Rela (Basic Training Course) that lasts 10 days.

Malaysiakini: Does this cover legal matters?

Zaidon Asmuni: Yes. We invite the police to talk on related matters. We invite the immigration (department) to explain how to deal with illegal immigrants. We have a special lesson on how to carry out operations based on our SOP… The purpose is to expose members to government departments especially in relation to enforcement matters.

Malaysiakini: What about human rights training?

Zaidon Asmuni: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) provides training for district Rela officers, their deputies and officers at the headquarters – if we have money and time, we would extend this to all members. It’s good to have (training) under Suhakam. At least our officers get basic (knowledge) about human rights. Otherwise, it would be difficult for them to perform their duties.

Malaysiakini: In view of the amount of complaints about Rela personnel being unprofessional, do you think a 10-day course is enough?

Zaidon Asmuni: Even though the immigration department has an induction course of two to three months, it doesn’t mean that all three months are spent on dealing with operations. Perhaps one or two days (are spent on) that topic. Ten days is enough for us. We know how to conduct raids and the normal procedures involved. Within a few courses or (field) experience, they become well versed. Our operations are the sam as how the police and immigration conduct raids. Normally the public says Rela has no authority or experience. To them, when the police conduct raids, it’s OK. But when we do so, it is not. The reality is, we have SOP which we strictly adhere to… we just do our duties according to the law.

Malaysiakini: When are personnel allowed to carry arms?

Zaidon Asmuni: Not in all situations. They are not allowed to carry guns unless we receive prior knowledge of a protest or riot at the targeted area. Ordinary members just carry a stick solely for self protection. (Those carrying guns), like myself, have a license issued by a district police chief.

Malaysiakini: What is the status on gazetting of Rela uniforms?

Zaidon Asmuni: At the moment is is still not gazetted. (There have been cases of robbers posing as Rela members. The uniforms are easily available as they are not gazetted unlike those worn by the armed forces and police.) If the (home) ministry orders us to do it, we’ll do it. The ministry normally decides on policy matters.

Malaysiakini: There is a claim that Rela is paying members RM80 per illegal immigrant detained…

Zaidon Asmuni: This does not exist. We have an allowance. People who join Rela aren’t looking for monetary gain. They want to serve the country voluntarily and serve the government.

Malaysiakini: What has been the main difference in Rela since its inception up to now?

Zaidon Asmuni: The difference is in the powers given. All this while, only the police and immigration could go against illegal immigrants. But since March 2005 (see chart), Rela has been given the power to do so. These three agencies can now work together or separately. The unique part about Rela (as an enforcement agency) is in our numbers. I was from the immigration department (as Pahang Immigration director). Whenever I conducted a raid, the most I could bring was about 20 officers. For 20 people to cordon off a big kongsi (housing for construction workers) which may contain 100 illegal immigrants, the number of arrests would be low. Rela can call up 300 members. I think not even one (illegal immigrant) can run (away from the raid). The uniqueness of Rela lies in our large numbers. Perhaps if we combine the number of police and armed forces members, it is still smaller compared to Rela membership which stands at 475,000.

Malaysiakini: When Rela personnel detain someone, what rules are invoked?

Zaidon Asmuni: We use the Emergency (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat) Regulations 1972. After that, we surrender the illegal immigrants to the immigration department. We are given the powers to check travel documents. If someone does not possess any travel document, we will lodge a police report before sending the person to the immigration depot. After an operation, we would lodge a cover report with the police noting the place, time and other details.

Malaysiakini: So every time Rela conducts an operation, a police report has to be lodged?

Zaidon Asmuni: Every time, even if no one is arrested. The police know (about our activities). The cover report is just to protect ourselves.

Malaysiakini: Does the Rela headquarters have a unit to receive complaints?

Zaidon Asmuni: Yes. The public relations officer handles complaints. Normally, if I receive a complaint from the public, even if it is anonymous, I will go down (to the ground to) investigate.

Malaysiakini: What kind of disciplinary action can Rela take against members?

Zaidon Asmuni: The obvious one is that we revoke membership. It’s as simple as that. We cannot take members to court. We don’t have that kind of mechanism. If the member has committed a crime, it is up to the police to investigate under the Penal Code. But as far is Rela concerned, if find out that anyone has misused their powers, we don’t take them along for the next operation. If the person continues to abuse his power, our final decision is to terminate his membership. Normally, district Rela officers would make recommendations to the state director who would make recommendations to me. Only the director-general has the authority to terminate the membership of a member.

Malaysiakini: Some quarters are calling for the abolition of Emergency laws, the disbanding of Rela and the revocation of the 2005 amendments.

Zaidon Asmuni: Who am I to comment on the regulations? These laws are formulated by the attorney-general. I’m here to implement (the law). If they want to make such recommendations, they should take it to the top. If they take away our powers, we’ll accept it. We’ll fulfil our social obligations like helping with community projects like gotong-royong and kenduri (feasts) and donate blood, as we have always done.

Malaysiakini: Do you feel that Rela need more specific powers?

Zaidon Asmuni: We want not only the power to check passports and travel documents. If you ask me, we want more than that. We want the power to investigate and prosecute in court. But who am I to ask for this? For now, we will follow whatever is stated in the law.

Visit: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/67975

Published August 20, 2007 by Kaowao News

Mon refugees in Malaysia are seeking protection following the recent raids on refugees and migrants in Kuala Lumpur .

According to Piung Chan, a social worker from Mon Refugee Organization (MRO) based in Kuala Lumpur , 33 Burmese nationals were arrested in the early morning hours on August 17, 2007. Those arrested included a group of 9 Mon nationals and Chin and Burmese asylum seekers as well.

Among those arrested is an eight-month pregnant woman, Ms. Mei Korn Thaw, who is recognized by the UNHCR office as a refugee and who is reportedly unwell. “Her unborn baby and the girl both are in poor health, she has an appointment to see the doctor on August 23,” said Piung Chan.

As with all forced migrants who have left due to extreme poverty and refugees fleeing human rights abuses in Burma, 24-year-old Ms. Mei Korn Thaw and her husband fled from Sam Hlea village in Karen State to escape military suppression.

The Malaysian authorities and RELA (Peoples’ Volunteer Corps or Ikatan Relawan Rakyat) armed with sticks and batons raided their makeshift shelters in the morning about 6:30 a.m. The refugees were arrested for illegal entry or for lacking proper documentation papers. After the raids, they were sent to Semenyih Detention Camp, an hour and a half east of KL. They are not allowed visitors and most will spend from one to six months in jail or a camp with the men being lashed or caned.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office recently registered about 90 Mon refugees after an officer paid a rare visit to the MRO office earlier this month on August 14.

Only a handful of Mon asylum seekers have been recognized as refugees in Malaysia despite increasing numbers there. Over 9000 Mon asylum seekers have registered with the MRO offices in KL and Penang and about 250 people have been able to register with the UNHCR in the past two years. According to unofficial estimates there are approximately 100,000 Burmese refugees in Malaysia with most working in the construction and restaurant industries.

Since human rights violations continue in southern Burma , many Mon have fled to Malaysia where they are classified as illegal immigrants by the government and are labeled as criminals by Malaysian society and who live under miserable conditions.

A recent report by Project Maje titled “We Built This City” documents the terrible working and living conditions of the Burmese people and the violations committed against them by the Malaysian authorities, while the refugees have contributed significantly to the development of the country. Burmese labour has built the many luxury hotels, condos and roads, which has brought prosperity for the Malaysian people.

Burmese refugees, even those with work permits or who have been recognized as refugees by the UNHCR, have been arrested, caned, and tortured by the RELA. The Malaysian NGOs have condemned the actions of RELA and called on the Malaysian government to abolish it because it reportedly commits brutal and violent acts by attacking, assaulting, kicking and beating refugees, including woman and children, with batons and sticks while conducting their search and seizure raids.

For more information on Burmese workers in Malaysia , visit the Project Maje’s report http://www.projectmaje.org/malaysia.htm

Kaowao Newsgroup is committed to social justice, peace, and democracy in Burma. We hope to be able to provide more of an in-depth analysis that will help to promote lasting peace and change within Burma. Editors, reporters, writers, and overseas volunteers are dedicated members of the Mon activist community based in Thailand.

Our motto is working together for change and lasting peace.

By John Burton in Kuala Lumpur

Published at FT.com: August 6 2007 17:31

In the early hours of a recent Monday morning, trucks belonging to Malaysia’s People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) suddenly surrounded a neighbourhood in the shadow of Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Bintang area, home to some of the city’s glitziest hotels and shopping malls.

The Rela members, dressed in green uniforms and tan berets, banged on doors and ordered the occupants outside, many of them foreigners working in menial jobs at nearby hotels and restaurants.

The workers were ordered to produce documents proving that they were living legally in Malaysia and those who failed to do so were arrested and taken to a detention camp. More than 200 people were rounded up in the sweep and another one in Kuala Lumpur that night.

The raid was one of many that Malaysia has conducted against undocumented migrant workers since 2005 in a campaign criticised by human rights groups for illegal detentions, extortion, and excessive use of force against Malaysia’s estimated 3m foreign workers, a third of whom are considered illegal.

The campaign has become the focus of concern from diplomats who see in it the emergence of a potentially dangerous trend. “The crackdown has elements of xenophobia,” says one foreign diplomat in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia, one of south-east Asia’s richest countries, has in recent years become a magnet for illegal workers as it has suffered from a labour shortage and Malaysians have been unwilling to take on low-paid jobs working on palm oil plantations or construction sites.

The crackdown enjoys public support. Foreigners are blamed for rising crime rates, although police statistics show that foreigners account for only a small percentage of the crime committed in Malaysia. The crime issue is expected to be a main issue in a general election expected this year.

“The government needs to be seen to be doing something about the problem and foreigners are a convenient scapegoat,” says Kua Kia Soong, a sociologist who is also a director for local human rights group Suaram.

At the centre of the controversy is Rela, a territorial militia started in the 1960s when Malaysia and Indonesia were locked in armed confrontation. For many years, Rela had the benign reputation of a bumbling Malaysian “Dad’s Army”, whose primary role seemed to be helping with neighbourhood functions.

But in 2005, Rela was given new powers as Malaysia launched a campaign to expel illegal foreign workers. Rela’s 500,000 members were given the right to make arrests, conduct house searches and be armed in some cases.

“Most Rela members receive little training or vetting. It appears to attract some recruits who like the idea of the enhanced power that a uniform gives them,” says Yap Swee Seng, the executive director of Suaram.

Some workers detained claim that their residence papers were confiscated by Rela members. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Malaysia has protested that others arrested have been people it recognises as refugees, fleeing persecution in Burma. Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN refugee treaty, although it has provided temporary asylum to some who are scheduled to be resettled in other countries.

Those detained face up to five years in jail and six strokes of the cane before being deported. Human rights groups describe conditions in the detention camps as deplorable, with poor food and housing.

Suaram says it has received complaints about people under arrest being robbed of money, mobile phones and other possessions by Rela members or being forced to pay bribes to be released. New York-based Human Rights Watch recently described Rela as “a vigilante force” since its members are paid M$80 ($23, €17, £11) for each arrest, a system the government recently agreed to stop.

The government’s Human Rights Commission says its investigation into the complaints found that the problems have been exaggerated, although it concedes there have been isolated cases of abuses.

The government has also defended its use of Rela, which it says provides crucial support to an immigration department that would otherwise be overwhelmed by the illegal worker problem. In addition, Rela is seen as an important part of Malaysia’s national defence force.

But critics charge the campaign has been driven by political exigencies and is loaded with nationalist and racial undertones in spite of the fact that most migrant workers in Malaysia are Indonesians, who are culturally similar to ethnic Malays.

From the International Herald Tribune

Published: August 6, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Some 150 U.N.-certified Myanmar refugees have been detained during weekend raids on illegal immigrants in Malaysia, a rights group said Monday, as it called for a a halt to the indiscriminate arrest of refugees.

The Myanmar refugees were among 550 immigrants hauled up in separate crackdowns by immigration officials and the volunteer security corps RELA in central Selangor state, said the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization in Malaysia.

Children and pregnant women were among the 150 detained, all of whom were recognized by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the group’s president, Zafar Ahmad, said in a statement.

He said an increasing number of Myanmar refugees have been detained in raids this year.

“We urge the Malaysian government to immediately stop the crackdown on refugees and give us a chance to live. Every moment we live in fear. We had gone through enough pain and suffering in our life and we had nobody to turn to,” Zafar said.

Malaysia is not a member to a U.N. convention on refugees, and classifies refugees as illegal immigrants who can be detained and deported. However, the government lets the UNHCR operate in the country.

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Khairi Mohamad Alwee, RELA director in Selangor, confirmed the raids but couldn’t say whether Myanmar refugees were among those detained. All of them have been handed over to the immigration department, which will decide whether to release or deport them, he said.

Immigration officials could not be reached for comments.

Yante Ismail, a UNHCR spokeswoman, said the agency is trying to verify the number of Myanmar refugees being detained but could not give further details.

Some 36,000 mostly Myanmar refugees, who are registered with the UNHCR, are currently living in Malaysia, according to the U.N. agency. This included 12,000 ethnic Rohingyas from Myanmar, it said.

The UNHCR earlier this year voiced concerns over the arrests of asylum-seekers and refugees, in particular women and children, saying it marked a “departure from normal practice” and has urged Malaysia to uphold its humanitarian commitment to refugees.

A new report, “We Built this City: Refugees from Burma at Risk in Malaysia” has been released by Project Maje. The report reveals the plight of refugees from Burma who have worked on Malaysia’s massive infrastructure projects but gained no gratitude for their labor. “We Built this City” highlights the persecution currently being inflicted on the refugees by a highly controversial government-sanctioned anti-immigrant vigilante force called Rela, which has been hunting down, beating, robbing and imprisoning foreigners in Malaysia. “We Built this City” includes background on the refugees in Malaysia, interviews with refugee construction workers from Burma’s Chin State, and links to articles on the Rela raids, as well as a letter writing action campaign.
“We Built this City: Refugees from Burma at Risk in Malaysia” can be found at www.projectmaje.org

Project Maje is an independent information project which has distributed information on Burma’s human rights and environmental issues since 1986.

Malaysian bloggers on RELA:

Mob’s Crib: Rela wants moar powar

Perkhidmatan Awam: Rela members just a bunch of ‘little Napoleans’

KTemoc Konsiders: Malaysia – Rise of the Warlords

MERHROM: Still no protection for Rohingya refugees in Malaysia

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RELA appears to be on track for becoming an official government department with paid volunteers enforcing the law. The article reports there are 350,000 RELA members throughout the country. 350,000 members given powers of search, seizure, and arrest, without any background checks and no training to speak of. How many police officers are there in Malaysia, and what exactly are they for?

Rela members to receive RM9 million in allowances
Published 2007/07/11 in The New Straits Times

BERNAMA

IPOH, Wed.:

The People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) has received an initial allocation of RM9 million as allowances for some 100,000 members.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Home Affairs Ministry, Datuk Paduka Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, said the allocation received yesterday was part of the RM32 requested by Rela this year for its members who were involved in operations.

“The operational allowance is at the rate of RM4 per hour for ordinary members and RM5.80 per hour for officers to a maximum of eight hours per day, as approved by the government in March,” he said.

Abdul Rahman was speaking to reporters after meeting Perak Rela members at the ministry’s complex here last night. Also present were Rela director-general Datuk Zaidon Asmuni and Perak Rela director Mohd Khariri Abu Hassan.

On the blueprint for Rela’s short-term and long-term plans to strengthen the organisation, Abdul Rahman said it would be ready by the end of this month and would then be submitted to Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad.
He said the Rela director-general and other senior officers would be having a four-day brainstorming session beginning today at a hotel in Shah Alam, on the blueprint and the drawing up of a Rela Act to streamline its functions.

The outcome of the brainstorming session would provide the input for a policy paper by the minister to be presented to the Cabinet for a decision.

“Perhaps the time has come for Rela to be made a department,” said Abdul Rahman.

He also said that Rela had requested for an additional 3,000 posts of officers to the existing 664 to oversee 350,000 members throughout the country.

He disclosed that Rela also planned to build a new headquarters at a cost of RM50 million in Putrajaya.

Published 24 January, 2007 at Aliran

The volunteer corps’ crackdown on undocumented foreigners is not a war on terror; it is a war on defenceless migrants, observes Romany.

Like George W Bush’s ‘war on terror’ waged by the United States, an unseen, little-publicised ‘war on undocumented immigrants’ is being waged in Malaysia. This war, waged under cover of darkness, is hidden from public view and much information about it lands in the dead-news boxes of the editors of mainstream newspapers.

What exactly does the public know about these ongoing crackdowns on the migrant and refugee communities in our country? Who are these refugees and migrant workers? It is too easy to believe in our home grown xenophobic views of foreign people we actually know nothing about, given the kind of information the mainstream media dish out. Do we know or care about the reasons for their presence? We fail to ask the relevant and pertinent question – why are they here?

Home Affairs Minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad exhibited this indifference to the little understood plight of these people, in his call to undocumented immigrants to “return home the way they came and not come back”; just before the Deepa-Raya festivities and prior to next year’s “major nationwide crackdown” (The Star, 14 Oct 2006).

The Minister’s said, “I am sure if they know how to enter the country they will definitely know the way out.” In making such a dismissive statement, the Minister did not seem to realise the apparent extent of his ignorance concerning the root causes of mass migration to this country, nor was he admitting his ignorance.

The Malaysian government criminalises undocumented immigrants without justification apart from legally categorising them as “illegal immigrants” because they lack legally recognised documentation to define their immigration status. According to the Minister, the Immigration authorities have a biometric self-identification system, which identifies “illegal immigrants” whose thumbprints are taken when they are arrested. It seems that they are not given any second chance even if they return again with legally valid documentation after being deported the first time. Is this just?

Malaysians often grumble about the long wait and the high fees paid – apart from having to meet other requirements like having guarantors or sponsors to ensure they meet particular financial requirements – before getting a visa to study or to stay longer than what a tourist visa allows in a foreign country. Obtaining work permits for employment in foreign countries is also plagued with much bureaucracy, long waits and costs incurred in the preparation of documents for official processing and approval of  the host country’s government.

What if the tables were reversed? What if the economic situation in Malaysia was so bad that about 50-70 per cent of us were almost permanently unemployed and if there was political instability in the country and a majority of us lived below subsistence level – what would we do? Could we afford the high fees in sterling pounds, Australian dollars, US dollars or New Zealand dollars to pay foreign embassy immigration departments to get a visa to migrate? Could we give any guarantees of our financial security having no such sponsors or guarantors willing to put up the money to enable approval of our visa application? What if we were in a desperate situation without any means of livelihood and were forced to join the long immigration queue, waiting for months or years? Many of us would have no choice but to seek greener pastures but we would find no way out. We would be in the same boat as these “boat people”.

Not only do we remain unmoved by such difficulties experienced by others but we also seem to be encouraged by our limited and blinkered views of the world around us. We sneer at the political upheaval and turmoil in neighbouring Asean countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Burma but fail to understand why there is such political instability. Violent repression of people seeking basic human rights in these countries is of no concern to us. These victims, fleeing from political repression and poverty to our shores in the hope of finding temporary safety and perhaps a better life, are treated like criminals and subjected to further ill-treatment and violation of their basic human rights.
Hunted, hounded, harassed and detained

While most Malaysians are sleeping peacefully in the wee hours of the morning, it is a time of terror for the migrants. It does not matter if they are documented or undocumented migrants. These are the dark hours of fear and terror of raids conducted by Rela (the People’s Volunteer Corps). Reports of these night raids read like horror stories, about human beings brutalised and humiliated, robbed, dragged out of their beds, forced into trucks that take them away to certain detention centres, of which the general public know very little about. Is this something fabricated to sensationalise the predicament faced by this marginalized community? No, this is reality.

In their memorandum to Suhakam, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) provided details of raids carried out by Rela earlier this year.

At midnight on 11 February 2006, Rela carried out a raid on foreign workers in the Selayang open market. “According to eye-witnesses, those migrant workers caught were beaten up by the Rela personnel and treated like cattle.” Citing a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report, the memo continued: “…five died while fleeing the raid. Five bodies were found in a small lake near the open market in Selayang Baru.” Further, “Kuala Lumpur Hospital confirmed that four bodies had been taken from the lake in Selayang while another body…was said to be buried quickly.”

It is strange that after such a serious incident involving loss of life, the Immigration authorities and the government remained silent. The mainstream media were hushed, as if ignorant of what happened, except for theSun. A few days after the event, this daily published a small article on a report written by Ong Ju Lin, who had researched the case of one of the deceased foreign workers whose body had been dredged out of the lake. It was found that this particular individual was also a refugee. No inquiry by the government into the circumstances of this raid was made nor was any public statement on it forthcoming.

The siege on migrants by Rela has been going on. A day after the Selayang market raid, another raid took place in Shah Alam, the casualties of this raid were legitimate technicians and contract workers in a factory. They were “slapped, kicked and punched” and humiliated by Rela personnel without reason.

On 28 February, 61 Indian nationals, cheated and left in the lurch, penniless, by an unscrupulous employment agent, and reduced to sitting and waiting for assistance outside their embassy for a number of days, were also assaulted by Rela. Some of them were badly injured in the attack; but were not been given medical treatment. They were detained, unjustifiably.

Another raid on 13 May in Selayang market and Seri Kembangan at around 2.45 am, involving around 1,000 Rela personnel unaccompanied by police or immigration officers, was carried out in an “indecent and brutal manner”, according to Suaram.

In July, Rela conducted a raid on a refugee settlement in Putrajaya. The Achenese refugees were rudely awakened at 3.00 am and herded into lorries by Rela personnel. They were handcuffed with zip-ties and taken a distance to a partly constructed building in Sungai Merab. They were searched and nine of them detained because they did not have UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) cards on them. At 6.30 am, those not detained were sent back to the settlement to find Rela personnel carting away all their belongings after setting their houses on fire. They were left with nothing but “the clothes on their backs”. What was the reason for this inhumanity? None has been given by Rela or the government.

Raids have been more intensified this month (October) and will probably accelerate towards the end of the year into 2007. It was reported on 5 October that 2,000 residents in Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur were “ordered out of their homes” at 3.00 am by Rela (See accompanying story). Amongst them were Chin, Burmese and Karen migrants, who have been detained at the Lenggeng detention centre. They allegedly did not have UNHCR papers, which implies the possibility of their being refugees. There were also detainees of other nationalities: Nepalese, Bangladeshis and Indonesians.

Three more raids are known to have been carried out so far, two in Selangor and one in Penang. All invariably with violence, destruction of property and commission of theft, discovered after the raids by Rela. Pregnant women and children including babies are not spared in the raids and ill-treatment, lack of proper medical attention or degrading conditions in detention centres common features.

Rela, govt-backed vigilantes

On 5 August 2006, The Star reported that Rela was to undergo a “rebranding exercise”.  Home Affairs Minister Mohd. Radzi Ahmad said this was necessary as “many people were still in the dark about the movement’s role.” At this ceremony, the Minister conferred the Selangor Menteri Besar and State Assembly Speaker with the rank of honorary colonel and 53 Selangor state assembly members with the rank of lieutenant-colonel of Rela.

This voluntary force was set up by the government on 11 January 1972 under the Emergency (Essential Powers) Act 1964. According to Home Affairs Ministry information, Rela’s establishment was based on the philosophy  that  the “responsibility of defending the country is in the hands of its own citizens with all citizens playing their respective roles.” Its mission: “To mobilise a voluntary force to assist the security agencies in the maintenance of peace and security in the country.” Its objective: “To help maintain security in the country and the well-being of its people.”

Given that Rela was established by virtue of the government’s emergency powers, the question arises as to why Rela is activated now. Is Malaysia in a state of emergency?

The growing militarisation of our country is increasingly noticeable. Malaysia seems to be turning into a police state. The last time Malaysia was deemed to be under an alleged state of emergency was in 1987 when Operation Lalang was launched by the then premier, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. During Operation Lalang, key NGO activists, members of religious groups and opposition party leaders  were detained. None of these advocated armed insurrection in the country. Is Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi following in his predecessor’s footsteps by activating Rela, who are permitted to bear arms against unarmed migrants and civilians unable to defend themselves? What security threat as such does Malaysia face from economic migrants or refugees?

It is interesting to note that Khir Toyo, the Menteri Besar of Selangor, in his speech at the same event reported on 5 August said, “Rela would be able to function better if its members knew the law and the limits of their jurisdiction.” These words reveal the way in which Rela operates, disregarding the rule of law which should apply to every armed force and enforcement unit in the country as a deterrence against abuse of power and licence to use force, including the licence to kill.

Even more disturbing was Rela chief Khairi Mohd. Alwee’s statement in The Malay Mail on 19 October. Replying to complaints by residents of Taman Anggerik, Selangor that Rela members had broken their door locks and gates to gain entry to search their houses for undocumented immigrants at 5 am on 14 October, he said they had acted according to procedure.

He added, “Rela officers were authorised to enter and search premises without warrants and arrest and handcuff suspects.” Further, he confirmed, “ We are also authorised to carry firearms but we don’t flaunt it to avoid chaos.”

On 14 October, raids under Ops Tegas were carried out in other residential areas besides Taman Anggerik. These were Taman Sungai Sering, Bandar Alam Jaya, Taman Emas, Taman Orkid Phase 2, Taman Permai Jaya, Taman Pinggiran Delima and Bukit Raya.

The net of arbitrary search, arrest, detention and ensuing violence and invasion of privacy is becoming wider, more prevalent and indiscriminate.

Rela has become the government’s pet enforcement arm, being provided insurance cover, weapons, uniforms, status and a commission of RM80 per undocumented migrant (the bounty on the head of every alleged undocumented migrant they capture). In contrast, the government appears to be distancing itself from conventional enforcement units like the police by refusing to permit them a salary increase to cope with rising living costs, thus aggravating corruption within the force. Rela members apparently outnumber the police as well as the armed forces, numbering over 340,000 in contrast to less than 200,000 law enforcement and armed forces personnel put together, nationwide.

The peril within

Due to the shortage of labour within the country and the demand for low-wage labour, the government, in agreement with other Asean governments, maintains policies encouraging mobility of labour within Asean. Yet, Malaysia remains ill-prepared and ill-equipped to deal with the problems of mass migration. As usual, there has been no foresight, planning or structured approach to problems arising, and no realisation of the advantages of having readily available human resources to spur the economic development and progress of the country.

Instead, our government resorts to heavy-handed tactics and militarisation of the country. This is further worsened by the resulting human rights violations of migrants and citizens. The curtailment of freedom of information and expression, corruption, detention without trial, torture and other abuses in police lockups and immigration detention centres, the denial of prompt and proper medical treatment and more – the list is a long one.

Using Rela as a broom, with uncontrolled and unlimited powers, to sweep problems under the carpet in this inappropriate way only endangers Malaysia itself. Rela has also forsaken its objective to maintain security in the country and to ensure the well-being of its people. This is not a war on terror; it is a war on defenceless migrants and citizens of our country.

Published March 15th, 2006 at  Malaysia Media Monitors’ Diary

The senseless attack by RELA personnel on defenceless Indian migrant labourers waiting outside their own embassy for their problems to be sorted out by representatives of their home country is something that should be deeply embarrassing to Malaysians and the Malaysian government. It says so much about Malaysian attitudes towards foreigners, even those legally in the country. This is an announcement to the international community that we are ‘anti-foreigners’ – especially if they are not rich, professional, economically sound or from a G7 nation.

These downtrodden people had already been cheated out of their life-savings by unscrupulous conmen posing as employment agents, exploited by similarly conscienceless profiteering employers who feel no tinge of guilt at using what is little more than slave labour. And now, these honest but helpless workers have been further victimised by the authorities. Why have they been put into detention? What wrong have they done in seeking help from their High Commission officials?

At least, the Good Samaritans in our society (and there were a few of them) had earlier shown compassion and care for these foreigners, who were camping on the pavement outside the High Commission. This reflects well on the ability of the person-in-the-street to appreciate and empathise with the suffering of the poor, unconditionally. The press was happy to publicise these good works, but when it came to the even more serious issue of government-backed violence, all fell silent.

It was not a widely publicised incident, given some coverage in The Malay Mail on 8 March 2006. But the report was predictably one-sided. The paper made the migrants and Tenaganita, which helps migrant workers, out to be rumour mongers making a mountain out of a molehill over the claim by one of the Indian nationals that he had been beaten by RELA personnel. Mohd Aminuddin Mohd Yusoff, director of Federal Territory RELA, claimed “none of the officers had carried a baton, contrary to the claim by the Indian national Chandiran Adaikalam”. He added that Chandiran had given two different versions of how he had sustained his injuries when RELA rounded the migrants up on the night of 7 March. The Malay Mail made much of the FT RELA director’s version of the incident in which he stated amongst other things, “my men are human beings with compassion”.

Fished out

A similar unpublicised and disturbing incident in the early hours of 11 February at the Selayang market, also in the Federal Territory, contradicts the FT RELA director’s claim. In that incident, referred to by Ong Ju Lin in her excellent article in The Sun of 9 March, the bodies of five migrant workers were “fished out” of a disused mining pond after a RELA raid in the market. An eyewitness alleged that all the entrances to the market were blocked off before RELA personnel, armed with sticks, moved in to club the workers.

This sort of strong-arm tactics is reminiscent of the “brown-shirt” tactics used against unarmed civilians in fascist states. Such brutality knows no compassion nor has it any respect for international authority, in this case the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which had given refugee status to one of the migrant workers found dead in the mining pool.

The government predictably denied responsibility for these killings, saying that a post-mortem showed that this refugee and another migrant worker had been dead two or three days before the raid. The public cannot gauge the truth of this as there was no proof given. What is more believable is the eye-witness account (in Ong’s article) that this refugee was alive on the night before the raid, having dinner with his wife and a friend before going off to work the night shift as usual.

Mainstream media silent

There has been no hint of an inquiry into these alleged RELA killings. The Home Ministry remains silent. The mainstream media, who frequently allow themselves to become government mouth-pieces, are predictably silent as well. Where is the outrage?

If the Malaysian government was genuinely concerned with the problems of maltreatment, discrimination against and the deaths of foreign workers who are invited here to alleviate labour shortages, then it would, of its own volition, ensure that remedial measures are put in place. It would not only act when a foreign government decides that enough is enough. At present, it appears that the government will only act when its interests are ‘threatened’, thus turning basic human rights norms and fundamental freedoms into economic bargaining tools.

The viciousness exhibited by these RELA personnel, armed at the very least with truncheons, towards unarmed civilians does not speak of bravery or courage. These RELA personnel were not defending, king, country or even their fellow citizens; they were indulging in gratuitous violence. Is this what our government encourages? Its silence is deafening.

The public cannot be blamed for their ignorance of RELA’s brutality and their continued delusion that RELA are there to protect them. For equally deafening has been the silence from the mainstream media, which continue to shirk their responsibility of reporting the unvarnished truth to the public.

Published Friday, July 6, at Aliran

Rela’s reported move (New Straits Times, 26 June 2007) to push for a law to legitimise itself and its operations has triggered alarm bells for human rights in Malaysia.

Rela, which has become internationally notorious for its indiscipline and human rights abuse against defenceless migrants and refugees, is now seeking to legitimise itself by proposing new laws to enable it to operate as a lawful government department operating independently of the Home Affairs Ministry and the Immigration authorities.

The only law at present that pertains to Rela is the Emergency (Stipulated Powers) Act 1964. As there is currently no real or imagined emergency in Malaysia, Rela’s role as an auxiliary security force is, in fact, redundant. There are adequate professionally trained security forces in the country such as the police, Special Branch, Federal Reserve Unit (FRU), immigration enforcement officers, customs officers, municipal council enforcement officers, the armed forces and reserve units to handle any possible security problem that may arise.

Aliran contends that legitimising Rela to become a permanent feature of our security apparatus is superfluous and tantamount to condoning the continuing violations of human rights in the country, regardless of the status of the victims.

We deplore the fact that no steps have been taken to reassure Malaysians and the migrant and refugee communities in the country that Rela will respect the human rights and dignity of all people without discrimination. Court cases and complaints against Rela involving human rights violations seem to have been hidden from public knowledge after being exposed. The arrest of a few Rela personnel found to have engaged in criminal activities does not mitigate the other incidences where Rela has acted heavy-handedly and unjustifiably in violation of human rights.

It is ironical that Datuk Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, the parliamentary secretary for the Home Affairs Ministry, should complain that Rela has insufficient personnel. Yet, Rela boasts of greater numbers than all the police and armed forces in the country put together – although most of these Rela members can hardly claim to be trained security professionals. A 10-day course and a uniform does not transform anyone into a professional overnight. There appears to be a trend favouring the use of vigilantes in this country, which brings to mind the ludicrous suggestion by the Putera Umno chief to reward Mat Rempit with cash and motorcycles if they act as police informants and are successful in helping police detain snatch thieves.

If the government is reluctant to disband Rela, perhaps it could consider a more constructive role for the volunteer corp especially in times of national catastrophe and natural disaster. Its personnel should be trained for search and rescue operations and assist Fire Department and Rescue teams, especially in times of natural disaster. Moreover, if Rela personnel are allowed proper professional defence training, they could be deployed as Malaysia’s contribution to United Nations peacekeeping operations. They would have every opportunity to know and carry out defence functions professionally in conflict areas such as Africa, Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq.

Aliran strongly urges the government, especially the Home Affairs Ministry, to think twice before sanctioning Rela as a legitimate permanent auxiliary security force in peacetime. In the past, Rela seems to have only heightened the prevailing xenophobic perceptions and attitudes towards migrant workers and other foreigners in the country.

We will continue to remind the government of Malaysia’s obligation as a member of the UN Human Rights Council and under the UN Charter to uphold and promote human rights at home and abroad. The government is again reminded of its obligations to eliminate discrimination and violence against women and children under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,1989, which Malaysia has ratified.

Aliran also reminds the government that Malaysia has been blacklisted by the international community for human trafficking and human rights violations, making a mockery of our membership of the UN Human Rights Council. The government should therefore stop deluding itself that Malaysia is held in high esteem by the international community and immediately rectify the situation.

Aliran Executive Committee

6 July 2007