Restaurant Owner Sues RELA
From the International Herald Tribune comes this report on the continuing exploits of these officially sanctioned, nefarious, bribe-taking vigilantes.A restaurant operator has sued Malaysia's volunteer security force for alleged abuse of power, a lawyer said Tuesday of the latest in a series of criticisms of the corps.***** Do you think that after so many adverse reports the government would do something about this despicable lot who have very successfully dragged our reputation through the mud? No way! They are vested interests and vote banks for the ruling party and RELA allows these misfits to enjoy power which otherwise would never come their way. Dictatorships and illegitimate regimes have goon squads, 'people's armies' and citizen troops. We have RELA! Malaysia Boleh!!
Chen Yau Choy claims that members of the force, known by the Malay-language acronym RELA, demanded bribes in exchange for the release of suspected Indonesian illegal immigrants who were taken into custody after being found working at Chen's suburban Kuala Lumpur food court.
Chen's lawyer Haresh Mahadevan said the migrants, detained in February 2006, had valid travel and working permits.
The lawyer said Chen claims that RELA personnel also wrongfully detained him in police lockup for 11 hours.
He said Chen is seeking unspecified damages from RELA and the government for "wrongful detention and the loss of reputation."
The suit was only filed last week because Chen's lawyers have been gathering documents to back their case.
RELA Director General Zaidon Asmuni did not immediately answer calls to his mobile phone seeking comment.
The law allows RELA to make arrests or enter and search any premises without a warrant.
Earlier this month, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch urged Malaysia's government to disband the corps, following local activists' repeated claims that its members use unnecessary force against suspected illegal immigrants.
Government authorities and RELA officials have rejected the criticism, saying the force is needed to catch illegal immigrants, and the actions of a few errant members should not taint the entire corps.
Malaysia, which relies heavily on foreign laborers for menial work, regularly deports illegal immigrants, who are widely blamed for crime and social problems.
Image - Source
Labels: Legal Matters., Thugs
posted by The Malaysian. at 5/30/2007 10:52:00 AM
3 Comments:
Its becoming very clear that the problem of abuse of power by Rela is a total system failure, not some isolated incident.
A paralegal force with powers of detention, but no training, no entry vetting, uniforms widely available to anybody, no proper rules of engagement, no accountability. What on earth was this sleepy government thinking when it unleashed this monster ?
Have you heard of those Brown Shirt/Jacket during the 40s in Germany?
Firstly: If the Malaysian-Malays would not be too lazy to work, Malaysia would not need to employ that many foreign workers, to begin with.
Secondly: It is a given fact, that there are hardly any human rights in any country whose government is based on Islamic doctrines and indoctrination.
Thirdly: We pity all the other races in Malaysia, because they are being discriminated.
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