“ayam telur!” cried the rela members

thursday, 26/10/06, 1:45 AM
the home minister, radzi, said that stern action would be taken against the rela members who misuses their power while arresting illegal immigrants. yakah? i won’t hold my breath.

do read a letter by someone sent to NST who question the manner the raid was conducted.

btw, anyone of you notice that lately, the TV had been advertising the services of these group of ‘ayam telur’ vigilantes (with regards to illegal immigrants)?
==========

original post

no no, they were not on a chicken eggs hunting. for the those who don’t now bahasa malaysia, ‘ayam telur’ literally means ‘chicken’s egg’. for the uninitiated (malaysians) repeat ‘ayam telur‘ many times, each time going faster. what do you get? “I AM THE LAW!”, right?

i don’t know who was it who started this phrase, which links robocop (picture) to it. remember the the movie, robocop, the half machine, half human cop? he goes around mumbling “i am the law, i am the law” and with his assent and with our malaysian ear, some smart alec turned it into ‘ayam telur‘. (like the ‘ayam kambing‘ joke of samy velu. haha).

ok so much about the background of ayam telur. well, did you missed it? where the rela members arrogantly claimed that they were the laws?

CHINA Press front-paged complaints from residents of about 10 households in Taman Anggerik, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, that Rela personnel crashed into their homes after breaking door locks and smashing gates, and told them they were looking for illegal workers.

The residents said the Rela personnel acted like gangsters and showed them no respect.

When they asked the Rela personnel to explain why they crashed into their homes, they were told “we are the law.”

oh ain’t that nice. if you are the law, why can’t you understand the law? does the law allows you to force yourself into people’s premises by breaking their locks? does the law allows you to take away the belongings of the houses you raided? does the law allows you to be rude to senior citizens… oops. this one has nothing to do with laws but all to do with manners. so these rela members are nothing but a bunch of arrogant ill-mannered robocops wannabe.

i think i would not be mistaken if i say many of us had long time felt that these vigilantes group of people, known as rela (which btw is an acronymn for ‘ikatan relawaan rakyat malaysia‘ – in english ‘people’s volunteer corps’) had become too powerful and had been abusing their powers.

rela was formed in jan. 1972 to help maintain peace and security in the country. in march 2005, they were mobilised to help in dealing with illegal immigrants.

do any of you remember sometime ago, there were some complaints from some illegals immigrants that the rela members humiliated them when they were ordered to walk like a duck? that was only one instance of how they abused their ‘ayam telur’ power. i’m sure some of you can recall many others.

do you remember at one stage some idiots were suggesting that to solve the rampant snatch thief crime problem, the rela members should be recruited? god help us if these ‘ayam telur‘ people were to walk the streets looking out for snatch thieves to nab.

rela members are merely volunteers from the public. it’s so easy to apply to be a member. if you take a look at their website, all you need is to be a healthy man of over 16 years old (or healthy woman of over 17 years old). the question is are these men (and women) given training, like real cops? it seems that they are licensed to carry firearms – that is very dangerous… are they train to handle firearms? why do they need firearms when they are not cops?

“We are also authorised to carry firearms but we don’t flaunt it to avoid chaos.”

flaunt it ? avoid chaos? my dear, the thought of some wannabe robocops carrying firearms already create chaos in my heart.

that remark came from the selangor rela chief, khairi, when he defended his men for acting according to rules during the raid at taman anggerik, kl.

oh? then why didn’t he admonish them for being rude and rough, even to an old man who is over 60 years old?

according to a lawyer, rela personnel are NOT cops, thus they do not have the authority to enter people’s premises without a warrant, but the chief said otherwise. he said they were authorised to enter and search premises without warrants, and arrest and handcuff suspects.

scary thought, isn’t it… joe public like you and me, carrying firearms, bursting into premises, arresting people by handcuffing them instantly.

it’s time for the government to seriously look into the role of these legalised vigilantes (as refered to by lulu). less power to them!! so that they won’t have to cry “ayam telur!” all the time.