Malaysian volunteer corps chief defends action against illegals

The Straits Times, October 12, 2007
By Carolyn Hong, In Kuala Lumpur


MALAYSIA'S men in green - the volunteer security force Rela - is under fire again for abusing their powers, this time hitting ties with Indonesia.

But its chief Datuk Zaidon Asmuni has defended the controversial 492,000-strong corp, saying that recent incidents involving the citizen taskforce members were blown out of proportion.

He also said that a few bad hats do not tarnish the force which has flushed out 61,300 illegal immigrants in the last three years.

'The police and Immigration don't have enough personnel. If we don't have Rela, how do we deal with illegals?' he told The Straits Times.

Earlier this week, the Indonesian Embassy protested against Rela arresting an Indonesian diplomat's wife, and forcibly entering an Indonesian student's house.

Datuk Zaidon said the arrest of the diplomat's wife was a genuine mistake and he insisted that his men did not forcibly enter an Indonesian student's home during a raid on Monday.