A bloody rush of fear gushes the body when we hear of names like Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the LTTE, Hizbul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad and many more. For a second, we enter a terrorized world where human are held captives, they are kidnapped, transported, tortured and eventually killed brutally. International terrorism is a problem to every country today. A nation is forced to spend a good part of its revenue in protecting it from organized killers. While terrorists of this kind are categorized illegal, what about those who are sponsored by the state itself?
Sometime in 2005, the Malaysian government transformed a force, organized four decades ago for reasons, then relevant. To be called ‘Rela‘, a Malaysian acronym for Volunteer self-defense corps, its mandate was to hunt down illegal migrants into the country. Since then, started a brutal campaign by this state sponsored outfit that raids houses where migrants are staying, harasses occupants for want of documents (sometimes even ignoring valid ones), confiscates belongings and then takes them to undisclosed locations. Shockingly, many of these transported ones do not return.
Considering immigrants as one of their prime enemies, Zaidon Asmuni, the Director General of Rela justifies the aggressiveness his force displays for keeping their nation secure. However, migrants who have been victims of Rela’s terror acts, tell a different tale. Forced into houses in dozens like animals and laboring in small factories and construction sites, they are living a life no worse than the historic slaves of Africa. Even the Malaysian government has come to Rela’s defense in many occasions overlooking the fact that the group is crossing its limits.
Declared an Islamic state, the Malaysian government had recently discriminated even the ethnic Tamil people who are in minority. All this goes to show how irresponsible, the government of Malaysia has been to migrants and minorities. There is a need for strong International pressure to make the government, discipline the Rela. After all, these migrants are humans with economic problems and they need a solution, not more problems. It is also time the United Nations stepped in seriously...
News Source: Herald Tribune
