Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Home Ministry Targets 2.5 Million Rela Members By 2012

Home Ministry Targets 2.5 Million Rela Members By 2012

KLUANG, May 17 (Bernama) -- The Home Ministry hopes to increase the number of Rela members from 556,286 (current figure) to 2.5 million by 2012 said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

The additional members comprising all races would not only strengthen Rela but also form a human wave made of volunteers to help achieve the 1Malaysia concept.

"Since there are a number of political, religious and racial issues, there need to be a bridge like Rela, to unite the people," he told reporters after a meet the people session organised by Rela here Friday.

Hishammuddin said according to statistics as of April 30, there are 556,286 Rela members (492,917 men and 63,369 women) and from the total, 346,352 were Malays, 84,849 Chinese and 25,899 Indians.

The Ministry will continue to encourage youths, National Service trainees, students of Higher Learning Institutions to join Rela, he said.

Meanwhile, asked of the Bar Council's call for him and Federal Police Chief Tan Sri Musa Hassan to resign, Hishammuddin who is also Member of Parliament for Sembrong, said there would be no compromise on issues that would be detrimental to the harmony of the nation.

"According to the constitution of the country, nobody is above the law, including lawyers, Federal Police Chief or Home Minister," he said.

During a press conference Saturrday, the Bar Council demanded the resignations of Hishammuddin, Musa and Brickfields police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid for detaining five lawyers from the Legal Aid Bureau on May 7.

Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said the five lawyers were in front of the Brickfields police station to provide legal aid to those nabbed during a candlelight vigil in support of Bersih activist Wong Chin Huat and not involved in the gathering.

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