Dear Editor,

I WOULD like to share an incident that took place yesterday in Bangsar involving a raid by Rela, in which the manner it was conducted I
disapprove of entirely.

I was having dinner at a restaurant near my office at 1am when a team of Rela personnel stormed in to nab illegals working there. The raiding team members were aggressive and hostile, and I was shocked to see way they handled the illegals. They went as far as handcuffing them, even though the latter were compliant with the raiding team. The team used truncheons and bolt cutters, which I felt was unnecessary as there were a lot diners and their families there. In my opinion, the raiding team had blatantly violated the dignity of the illegals through their offensive and violent conduct. As the restaurant’s regular customers, my officemates and I can testify that the illegal workers were diligent and friendly and they deserved to be treated with respect, regardless of their offences. Rela personnel, however, did nothing to restrain themselves from asserting their hollow power. In fact, they adopted a ‘holier - than - thou’ attitude in front of customers. This, I believe, is unacceptable in a multi-racial and democratic society as the basic rights of all people, whether they are citizens or otherwise, should be upheld. Rela personnel do not have the right to be offensive to any race.

Source: Malay Mail – March 27, 2008