Preserving the peace?
Mien Ly is an independent filmmaker, and went on the raid as a translator for a documentary filmmaker from Australia. She has been given permission by the filmmaker to write about her experience. Before she witnessed the raid, a refugee activist from Malaysian human rights organisation Suaram told her that Rela would be on their best behaviour when being watched by the media.
By Mien Ly, The Nut Graph
"BUKA pintu! Buka pintu!" shout the volunteers through the grill door, into the hallway of the shop lots in Pudu. They are from Rela, a civil volunteer corp formed by the Malaysian government in 1972 to help preserve "peace and national security". They are conducting a raid on undocumented migrants here, in the middle of Ramadan, on 2 Sept 2009.
A man comes sleepily to the grill door. The three Rela volunteers, dressed in their green combat-like uniforms, demand that he opens the door fast or they will cut it. They speak in Bahasa Malaysia. The man seems to understand them — he slowly comes out of his daze and realises what is going on. He responds in English, "Wait, wait, I go get the keys."
When he retreats, another Rela volunteer arrives on the scene with a cutter. The Rela volunteers cut the lock on the grill door. When the man returns with his keys, the Rela men say to him in Malay, "You're slow, we had to cut."
They proceed down the hallway, and knock on all the other doors. Another door opens, revealing a senior man and teenage boy, both equally dazed from being awakened. The Rela volunteers demand to see their identity cards (ICs) or any documents. The older man asks to see a search permit. The volunteers say, "The police are down there, the immigration [officers] are down there, go ask permits from them.
"The teenage boy produces their ICs — MyKads. "My son," the old man explains when the Rela volunteers ask about the boy. "I live with my family." The Rela volunteers demand that the older man open all the doors to see if he is harbouring any undocumented migrants or what they call "Pati" — pendatang asing tanpa izin, or literally "foreign migrants without permission". No "Pati" is found here. A Rela volunteer apologises for the inconvenience. The rest go upstairs to knock on more doors. The older man swears in Cantonese under his breath at this intrusion, and possibly also because he now has to buy another lock.
At another apartment, a group of women are awakened from their sleep, asked to change out of their pyjamas and bring their passports down for immigration officers to check. Five men in Rela uniforms wait outside their room, constantly knocking, and sometimes threatening to knock the door down if they don't hurry up. The women only comprehend when a Rela volunteer speaks in Mandarin to them. One woman asks, "Can't you check now? I've to leave early in the morning to Penang for work." The volunteer responds that he is unable to check their passports — only immigration personnel can — and that it will only take five minutes. The clock on the wall says 2am. The women grudgingly oblige, change into t-shirts and shorts and go downstairs with a Rela volunteer.
READ MORE HERE: http://www.thenutgraph.com/
Mien Ly is an independent filmmaker, and went on the raid as a translator for a documentary filmmaker from Australia. She has been given permission by the filmmaker to write about her experience. Before she witnessed the raid, a refugee activist from Malaysian human rights organisation Suaram told her that Rela would be on their best behaviour when being watched by the media.
By Mien Ly, The Nut Graph
"BUKA pintu! Buka pintu!" shout the volunteers through the grill door, into the hallway of the shop lots in Pudu. They are from Rela, a civil volunteer corp formed by the Malaysian government in 1972 to help preserve "peace and national security". They are conducting a raid on undocumented migrants here, in the middle of Ramadan, on 2 Sept 2009.
A man comes sleepily to the grill door. The three Rela volunteers, dressed in their green combat-like uniforms, demand that he opens the door fast or they will cut it. They speak in Bahasa Malaysia. The man seems to understand them — he slowly comes out of his daze and realises what is going on. He responds in English, "Wait, wait, I go get the keys."
When he retreats, another Rela volunteer arrives on the scene with a cutter. The Rela volunteers cut the lock on the grill door. When the man returns with his keys, the Rela men say to him in Malay, "You're slow, we had to cut."
They proceed down the hallway, and knock on all the other doors. Another door opens, revealing a senior man and teenage boy, both equally dazed from being awakened. The Rela volunteers demand to see their identity cards (ICs) or any documents. The older man asks to see a search permit. The volunteers say, "The police are down there, the immigration [officers] are down there, go ask permits from them.
"The teenage boy produces their ICs — MyKads. "My son," the old man explains when the Rela volunteers ask about the boy. "I live with my family." The Rela volunteers demand that the older man open all the doors to see if he is harbouring any undocumented migrants or what they call "Pati" — pendatang asing tanpa izin, or literally "foreign migrants without permission". No "Pati" is found here. A Rela volunteer apologises for the inconvenience. The rest go upstairs to knock on more doors. The older man swears in Cantonese under his breath at this intrusion, and possibly also because he now has to buy another lock.
At another apartment, a group of women are awakened from their sleep, asked to change out of their pyjamas and bring their passports down for immigration officers to check. Five men in Rela uniforms wait outside their room, constantly knocking, and sometimes threatening to knock the door down if they don't hurry up. The women only comprehend when a Rela volunteer speaks in Mandarin to them. One woman asks, "Can't you check now? I've to leave early in the morning to Penang for work." The volunteer responds that he is unable to check their passports — only immigration personnel can — and that it will only take five minutes. The clock on the wall says 2am. The women grudgingly oblige, change into t-shirts and shorts and go downstairs with a Rela volunteer.
READ MORE HERE: http://www.thenutgraph.com/
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