The People's Volunteer Corps ( ms, Jabatan Sukarelawan Malaysia), abbreviated RELA, officially the Malaysia Volunteers Corps Department, is a
paramilitary
A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
civil volunteer corps formed by the
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
n government. Their roles include: Helping to spread awareness of the government policies to the public; To assist other government agencies in carrying out duties upon request; To conduct socio-economical as well as community-based activities and; To develop oneself as a role model for the society through various trainings and courses.
RELA has the authority to raid suspected streets or places such as factories, restaurants or hotels, and may
interrogate
Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful infor ...
or
detain
Detention is the process whereby a state or private citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom or liberty at that time. This can be due to (pending) criminal charges preferred against the individual pursuant to a prosecution or ...
people who do not have traveling documents, such as passports or
work permits, on their person. They are also in charge of security, and are absorbed into the
Malaysian Army
The Malaysian Army ( ms, Tentera Darat Malaysia; Jawi: تنترا دارت مليسيا) is the land component of the Malaysian Armed Forces. Steeped in British Army traditions, the Malaysian Army does not carry the title ‘royal’ () as do th ...
as support groups during times of war, and are tasked with
search and rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
works if needed.
On 17 March 2020,
Malaysian Government
The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia ( ms, Kerajaan Persekutuan Malaysia), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Malay ...
announced the RELA Corps will assist the
Royal Malaysian Police
The Royal Malaysia Police (often abbreviated RMP) ( ms, Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM)), is a (primarily) uniformed national and federal police force in Malaysia. The force is a centralised organisation. Its headquarters are located at Bukit Aman ...
and
Malaysian Armed Forces
The Malaysian Armed Forces (: MAF; ms, Angkatan Tentera Malaysia; Jawi: ), are the armed forces of Malaysia, consists of three branches; the Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The number of MAF active pers ...
to enforce the
Movement Control Order
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy F ...
until the end of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
History
The People's Volunteer Corps is closely related to the
Home Guard
Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...
that was established when the
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...
was declared in 1948, and was dissolved when the Emergency ended on 31 July 1960. Its original purpose was to oppose
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
fighters,
and now now acts against illegal immigrants. There are 2.8 million people in the corps, most of whom are untrained volunteers.
In 2008 Rela was given charge of immigration detention centres.
Personnel
Strength
Current strength of RELA in terms of personnel as of 13 Nov 2017Personnel
Ranks
Criticism
The
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
has called for People's Volunteer Corps to be dissolved, accusing it of violating human rights, conducting illegal raids and extortions.
According to the United Nations Human Development Report of 2009, "Migrant activists say that RELA volunteers have become vigilantes, planting evidence to justify arrests of migrants and using excessive force in their policing. The government has recently announced its intention to curb abuses and is currently looking into ways of improving RELA by providing training to its members."
[http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/269/hdr_2009_en_complete.pdf ]
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
news about RELA in Aljazeera*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080320045508/http://www.mfasia.org/mfaStatements/F94-MalaysiaBaronRELA.html Malaysia Bar on RELAUK Channel 4 - Malaysia: Refugees for Sale
{{authority control
Federal ministries, departments and agencies of Malaysia
Ministry of Home Affairs (Malaysia)
1972 establishments in Malaysia
Government agencies established in 1972