DPM says dropping 186,000 members from Rela roll, 34 for criminal records
MALAYMAILONLINE
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PUTRAJAYA, May 12 ― A whopping 186,000 names will be removed from the Malaysian Volunteers Department (Rela) registry for non-compliance, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.
Zahid who is also Home Minister said, of the figure, 34 members were found to hold criminal records.
“There are 186,000 names which have been identified to be removed, whereas 34 were found to have been involved in criminal activities which fall under the Penal Code.
“We don't want negative elements in Rela,” Ahmad Zahid said in his speech at an accreditation function here for 39 Puteri Umno leaders as Rela members.
Rela has some three million members nationwide.
Rela director-general Datuk Kamariah Mohd Noah said the exercise to clean up her agency’s registry has been ongoing since last October, since some of the members on the roll have died or had dubious addresses.
“We vet all old and new members. We check with the National Registry Department as to whether the members are Malaysian citizens or not because we found that some are not citizens.
“Then we check with the National Drug Agency as to whether they had any drug addiction history since they are patrolling buildings and all that, they have to be clean from drugs,” she told reporters later.
She said Rela also conducts checks with the Prisons Department if any of its members have been jailed.
Kamariah said that the initiative is important as under Rela's training module, members are also taught to shoot.
“It is one of the modules we give to them… we are afraid that they might use the new skills to harm national security,” she added.
