RELA Corps
The RELA Corps or Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia ( English Malaysia People's Volunteer Corps ) is a paramilitary, civil volunteer corps in Malaysia . It is under the supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs . As an extended arm of the government, the RELA Corps support the security, law enforcement and police forces in their work and perform ceremonial tasks.
history
To maintain public order, village guards ( Pengawal Kampung ) were recruited from among the population during the Malayan Emergency . When the state of emergency was lifted in 1960, these associations were dissolved again. With the Konfrontasi between 1963 and 1965, volunteers were recruited again to act as the "eyes and ears of the government" to help the security authorities prevent the intrusion of Indonesian forces and the infiltration of Malaysian society. In 1965, with the end of the Konfrontasi, the Pasukan Kawalan ("control teams ") were disbanded. The race riots on May 13, 1969 prompted then Minister of Internal Affairs, Abdul Rahman , to establish a permanent voluntary organization as an extension of the government by ordinance. RELA was founded on January 11, 1972.
Legal basis
The volunteer corps was legalized in 1966 by regulation PU 33/66 Essential (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat) Regulations 1966 . With the withdrawal of the ordinances created as part of the emergency legislation on December 20, 2011, a new version of the legal basis for the activities of the RELA Corps became necessary. The law Malaysia Volunteers Corps Act 2012 , which came into force on June 22, 2012 , went beyond a pure revision and assigned the organization more extensive rights and tasks. The legal duties of the RELA Corps therefore include:
- Support of the security and law enforcement forces,
- Assisting the traffic police in regulating traffic,
- Voluntary work,
- Protecting Federal and State Buildings and Facilities and
- the execution of activities ordered by the general manager of RELA.
The activities include, among others, the provision of honor guards for the ministers of the government and the state governments.
The legal reform raised the minimum age for admission to the organization from 16 to 18 years. At the same time it placed the service in the RELA more under the protection of the law. The hindrance or frustration of RELA's tasks can therefore be punished with fines of up to MYR 5000 and a prison sentence of up to three years.
The legal reform also aimed at a fundamental reorganization of the RELA Corps. While RELA relatives previously had the general right to carry a weapon, to arrest people and to search houses without a judicial order through the Essential (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat) (Amendment) Regulations in 2005 , these police powers no longer apply as of 2012. Instead, the reform focuses the tasks of the RELA Corps on a general reduction of the crime rate through the omnipresence of the members as well as on the restructuring of the Malaysian society projected in the "Government Transformation Plan (GTP)". However, all members of the RELA Corps will continue to learn how to use the weapon in special training centers.
construction
The RELA Corps had nearly 3 million members in 2013. More than 40% of the 2,873,851 volunteers are women. Any citizen of Malaysia who is at least 18 years old and is not a member of the military armed forces can become a member.
The office is in Putrajaya in Complex D, right next to the Ministry of Home Affairs . The organization is run as a separate authority (Jabatan Sukarelawan Malaysia) . The current director is Mustafa bin Ibrahim.
The organization is divided into officers and members. The ranks of the RELA Corps are defined by law, but were changed by an amendment to the law in 2013:
| Ranks (before September 22, 2013) | |
| Officers | Members |
| general | Captain |
| Lieutenant General | Lieutenant |
| Major General | Second lieutenant |
| Brigadier General | Warrant Officer I. |
| Colonel | Warrant Officer II |
| Lieutenant Colonel | Staff sergeant |
| major | sergeant |
| Corporal | |
| Lance Corporal | |
| Private | |
| Ranks (as of September 22, 2013) | |
| Officers | Members |
| Chief Commissioner of RELA (CCR) | Senior Deputy Superintendent of RELA (SDSR) |
| Deputy Chief Commissioner of RELA (DCCR) | Deputy Superintendent of RELA (DSR) |
| Commissioner of RELA (CR) | Senior Assistant Superintendent of RELA (SASR) |
| Deputy Commissioner of RELA (DCR) | Assistant Superintendent I of RELA (ASR I) |
| Senior Assistant Commissioner of RELA (SACR) | Assistant Superintendent II of RELA (ASR II) |
| Assistant Commissioner of RELA (ACR) | Superior Officer I of RELA (SpOR I) |
| Superintendent of RELA (SR) | Superior Officer II of RELA (SpOR II) |
| Senior Officer I of RELA (SOR I) | |
| Senior Officer II of RELA (SOR II) | |
| Officer of RELA (OR) | |
More than 5000 RELA members are authorized to carry a service weapon. The general weapon permit for members of RELA was abolished in 2012 with the legal reform.
Web links
- RELA website (Malaysian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jabatan Sukarelawan Malaysia (RELA): History ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Accessed March 10, 2014
- ^ The Malaysian Bar: Rela in limbo two days in June , May 30, 2012; Accessed March 10, 2014
- ^ Laws of Malaysia: Act 752 - Malaysia Volunteers Corps Act 2012 ; Full text in English.
- ↑ Act 752 - Malaysia Volunteers Corps Act 2012 , PART III, No. 5 "Duties of RELA"; Accessed March 10, 2014
- ↑ Malaysia Volunteers Corps Act 2012, Part IV, No. 7 (4)
- ↑ Malaysia Volunteers Corps Act 2012, Part V, No. 17
- ↑ a b The Malaysian Insider: RELA members barred from carrying firearms, making arrests under new law ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. April 18, 2012; Accessed March 11, 2014
- ^ The Borneo Post: Power to arrest, carry firearms to be taken away under new law , April 18, 2012; Accessed March 11, 2014
- ↑ The Malaysian Insider, January 31, 2012: Quoted on MP Lim Kit Siang's website: Rebranding Rela into BN's vanguard ; Accessed March 11, 2014
- ^ The Borneo Post: Rela to hold state-level shooting tourney , December 12, 2013; Accessed March 11, 2014
- ↑ Jabatan Sukarelawan Malaysia (RELA): Membership Statistics ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Stand 2013); Accessed March 10, 2014
- ↑ Jabatan Sukarelawan Malaysia (RELA): Ibu Pejabat ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Accessed March 11, 2014
- ^ Appendix to Act 752 - Malaysia Volunteers Corps Act 2012 , amended September 22, 2013; Accessed March 10, 2014
- ^ Federal Government Gazette: Malaysia Volunteers Corps (Amendment of Schedule) Order 2013 ; Full text in Malaysian and English
- ↑ Malaysia Edition: Rela prepared to assist govt and police to fight armed criminals ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , August 24, 2013; Accessed March 11, 2014
