New law refines Rela powers

The Star 
By P. ARUNA

THE powers of the People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) will be outlined in a new law which comes into effect next month. The new Act is aimed at preventing the abuse of power and impersonation of Rela members. Under the new law, which also sets the enrolment age for Rela members at 18 and limits their tenure to five years, they will no longer have the power to detain, arrest or carry firearms.

PETALING JAYA: A new law to refine the powers of the People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) comes into effect next month with strict measures to curb misuse of authority and impersonation of its members.

Under the Malaysia Volunteers Corps Bill 2012 passed in Parliament on April 20 and expected to be gazetted next month, Rela members would no longer have the power to make arrests or carry firearms.

Anyone found guilty of impersonating a Rela member can be jailed up to three years, fined a maximum of RM5,000 or both.

The law also requires those who are no longer members to return their uniforms and certificate of appointment within 14 days of leaving the corps.

Previously, it was not an offence for them to keep their uniforms even after resigning from the agency.

“Those who fail to return the uniforms and certificate after leaving can now be taken to court,” said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong, adding that the maximum penalty for doing so would also be a prison term of three years, a fine of RM5,000 or both.

The new law also limits the period of enrolment for Rela members to five years, after which, the status of membership has to be renewed by an authorised officer.

Those below the age of 18 would also have their membership revoked under the increased age requirement when the Malaysia Volunteers Corps Act 2012 comes into force from June 22. The existing enrolment age for Rela members is 16 for girls and 17 for boys.

As of March 31, the total number of volunteers in the corps stood at 2,924,065.

Lee said the new law was expected to curb crime cases involving the impersonation of Rela members.

In March last year, police arrested two men who robbed and raped a woman after claiming to be police officers.

Two of their accomplices, including a Rela member who had lent his handcuffs to the duo, were held.

In 2006, robbers masquerading as Rela members drove off with RM47mil worth of microchips from the air cargo complex in Penang.

MCA Public Complaints and Services Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong, who is also an honorary Rela member, welcomed the move to limit the membership to five years saying it would facilitate the management of members.

However, he said making Rela members return their uniforms would not be effective in addressing impersonation.

“If people want to misuse the uniform, they can easily buy it at shops or even online,” he said yesterday.

Chong said there were numerous shops selling uniforms and paraphernalia of all enforcement agencies, complete with their rank.

“This can only be addressed through strict enforcement on the sale of these uniforms,” he said.

Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said there was no reason for former members to hold on to their uniforms.

“We don't want to see people who are no longer Rela members misusing the uniforms to carry out or enforce laws,” he said.

Rela director-general Datuk Mustafa Ibrahim said the Home Minister would be making an official announcement on the Bill and several other laws passed recently.

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had earlier said in Parliament that the Government had taken the public's views into consideration when drafting the Bill.

Disband Rela, Bar Council urges

Malay Mail - by The Malay Mail Team

KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council has reiterated its stand that the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) be disbanded and its financial resources are allocated towards strengthening the police force.

Its president Lim Chee Wee said the government should reconsider Rela’s relevance following the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance in December last year.

“The Malaysian Bar has consistently been calling for Rela to be disbanded because its services are no longer needed in the modern era of professional policing and community-based policing, and its abuses arising from poor recruitment, screening and training — the problems of which are too difficult to overcome short of disbanding it,” he said.

Lim said there were currently three million Rela members out of 27 million Malaysians.

“This effectively means that one out of 10 Malaysians are involved in Rela. This number is too big to manage,” he said.


The Bar’s call came in light of the death of 32-year-old Nigerian student Onochie Martins Nwanko, who was allegedly beaten up at a condominium on Saturday morning in Kajang by several Rela men after he had allegedly molested a female cleaner.

Lim also questioned the new National Key Results Area initiative enabling Rela members to wear police uniforms on joint patrols with policemen.

He said there was no need to boost Rela’s power when they were not even a recognised enforcing body.

“It would be difficult for regular Malaysians to differentiate between a real policeman and another with a Police Volunteer Reserve (PVR) badge,” he said.

Lim stressed that if a new law governing Rela isn’t passed by June 30, the government should disband it.

Under Article 150 of the Federal Constitution, laws enacted under the Emergency Ordinance are deemed to cease six months after the ordinance is repealed.

Deputy Home Minister Lee Chee Leong was recently quoted as saying that a new law governing Rela would be tabled in the next parliament session.

The Malay Mail had last week highlighted concerns over the decision to allow Rela and JPAM officers to wear police uniforms as part of joint patrols with the police under the PVR scheme.

Under the scheme, the Rela and JPAM members would have to go through a threeweek standard operating procedure training before donning police uniforms while maintaining their badges.

The joint patrols, comprising a team of four, would be headed by at least one policeman.

Senior police officers, as well as community leaders had expressed worries over the decision, claiming that apart from “cheapening” the police uniform, it could lead to abuse of power as well as complicate enforcement work.

Among the critics were former IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan, who had said the move would devalue the police force and that a common uniform system would only confuse the public.

DAP slams ‘dangerous’ Perkasa-Rela brigade

Teresa Kok says the latest development proves Barisan Nasional's tacit support for Perkasa's brazen racism.

PETALING JAYA: The Rela subgroup for Perkasa members is alarming, dangerous and unaccetable, said DAP MP Teresa Kok today.

She added that the latest development proved Barisan Nasional’s tacit support for Perkasa’s “brazen racism”.

Kok was referring to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s approval of the establishment of a subgroup within the Rela volunteer corps called “Briged Setia Negara” which is exclusive to Perkasa members.

To add salt to the wound, she said, Hishammuddin was even helping Perkasa build its capacity by providing its members with Rela para-military training, uniforms, and presumably other entitlements such as allowance and personal accident insurance.

“All of which are funded by Malaysian taxpayers of all races,” she added.

Kok said the minister was turning a blind eye to the fact that Perkasa was a self-proclaimed Malay supremacist group and that Perkasa’s position was completely antithetical to the government’s 1Malaysia.

“Since its inception, Perkasa has issued numerous hot-headed, fear-mongering and seditious statements with impunity. Just last week, Perkasa announced it will spearhead the 1Melayu 1Bumi movement to take on the so-called Chinese challenge.

“Given Perkasa’s extremist, far-right leanings, Hishammuddin should have recognised the imprudence in allowing the formation of this Rela-Perkasa subgroup.

“There is the danger that Perkasa may be emboldened to abuse its government-sanctioned Rela power in which to further its racial supremacist goals,” she added.

Kok also said that Hishammuddin’s stand was not surprising based on his track-record of Perkasa-like tendencies.

“In 2006 and 2007, he brandished the keris at the Umno general assembly, and in 2009, he had the gall to defend the despicable Shah Alam cow-head protesters,” she added.

The Seputeh MP urged the minister to immediately withdraw the approval for the Rela subgroup to demonstrate that racial supremacist groups like Perkasa do not have a place in 1Malaysia.

Perkasa recruits Rela members, forms special unit

There is concern that members recruited by lobby groups will not reflect the broad membership envisioned by the People's Volunteer Corps, and may form its de facto para-military groups.

Perkasa has moved to take a wider role in its political struggle by forming a subgroup within the People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) that is exclusively for its members.

Perkasa coordinator, Zainuddin Salleh, revealed to Komunitikini that a Rela subgroup called 'Briged Setia Negara' had been established by Selangor Perkasa chief Abdullah Mansor in December last year.

“An approval was granted by the Home Ministry in December last year for the establishment of the brigade," claimed Zainuddin. "The brigade is formed exclusively for Selangor Perkasa members.”

He said those who join Perkasa will be offered the option to enrol in Briged Setia Negara.

A screenshot (right) of Selangor Perkasa's website shows that the brigade was announced to its members at a recent event.

The brigade, according to him, is no different from Rela's other units except in its membership condition.

“The uniform and duties given are still the same,” he added.

Asked if an Umno member who is not a Perkasa member is allowed to join the brigade, Zainuddin said such a person should join Rela directly.

A check on the Selangor Perkasa website confirmed that Perkasa has conducted a briefing on the said brigade during a recent event, with Perkasa's Abdullah dressed in Rela uniform.

For full story, please visit KomunitiKini.