Rela chief Zaidon Asmuni's stout defence of his men who were alleged to have acted improperly during a raid on a foreign workers quarters, as reported recently, raises even more misgivings about the operations of this quasi-police body.

During the raid on the homes of foreign workers at a sawmill - in the dead of the night - Rela personnel climbed over a fence and entered the living quarters of the workers and in the process, a number of Nepali workers were injured. The workers allege that they were assaulted, while Zaidon claims that they were injured 'while trying to flee'.

It is difficult to decide where the truth lies, but one cannot help recall the infamous black eye which a prominent politician supposedly inflicted upon himself, while in police custody.

District police chief Supt Zulkifli Mohammed asserts that the Rela personnel had exceeded their authority by climbing over a fence surrounding the factory and not having a police officer accompanying them on the raid. He also suggests that the Rela personnel had impersonated policemen and made false police reports after the raid, presumably in an attempt to cover themselves.

However, Zaidon claims that the Rela personnel had acted well within their powers and cites the Emergency (Stipulated Powers) Act 1964 (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat) Amendment of February 2005 as the source of the authority given to Rela.

Irrespective of whether or not Rela has the powers, as claimed by Zaidon, he should realise that there have been far too many complaints about the way Rela has been conducting its raids against foreign workers. There is no place for arrogance, violence, humiliation and harassment during raids.

It is a traumatic experience to be rudely woken up in the middle of the night by armed strangers and be subjected to rude searches and manhandling. Rela should realise that foreign workers also have a right to be treated as human beings. More often than not, however, one sees foreigners being herded around like animals and shouted at and verbally abused in the course of the raids.

In the final analysis, Rela may be legally correct, but morally their actions are often reprehensible. Judging from the strong words that Zaidon has for Zulkifli Mohammed ('What Zulkifli said is 100 percent wrong' and 'I have a mind to send [Zulkifli] a copy of our regulations'), it would appear that the arrogance of power has tainted the organisation.

It is timely therefore that the wide powers which Rela claims to have such breaking and entering into private premises without a search warrant and detaining innocent people on the presumption of guilt, be reviewed and curtailed so that they are more consonant with the practices of a civilised society.