Shafie clarifies statement on Rela

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal has denied that his statement on the People Volunteer Corps (Rela) was a ‘political gimmick’ as claimed by Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammudin Hussein.

“It is not a political gimmick, I only wanted to highlight that Rela in Semporna is different from Rela in Kota Kinabalu. Rela in Semporna has to comply with the curfew, while Kota Kinabalu does not have to do so,” Shafie said when met by reporters at Warisan’s walkabout at the Foh Sang morning market on Saturday.

“So when they (the Semporna Rela) asked me for my opinion because they were my family members, as the Semporna MP, I have to look after the welfare and security of my people.

“How can we deploy these people when we have an abundance of armed forces, which are located at the Paradise Camp in Kota Belud and Lok Kawi Camp.

“The army in those camps are badly needed in Semporna and they are well trained to use all sorts of equipment, unlike Rela,” he said, adding that he was worried for the safety of his Rela family members in Semporna.

Hishamuddin, the current Umno vice president, had also criticied Shafie for not bringing up the Rela issue when the latter was a federal minister.

“Well, they were not deployed then. At that time, they were not deployed to look after ESSZone. But now, since they have been deployed to do so, that is why I start to question,” he stressed.

Shafie asserted that all those people who were attacking him did not fully understand what was going on in Semporna.

He added that he was one of those standing in the front line when the Lahad Datu invasion occurred.

“How many of my people had died in that area. Why should I just ignore them when they (Semporna Rela members) asked me for protection.

Shafie, who is also a former Deputy Defence Minister and former Umno vice president, cited that the Rela Act has a clear guideline on what exactly are the scope of the Rela members’ duties.

He added that in the event anything bad happened to these Rela members, the burden would eventually fall on him.

Shafie reiterated that the job as an MP was to simply raise the concerns of his people.

Shafie was recently accused of belittling Rela by questioning the federal government’s move to deploy its members to ESSZone.

He was alleged to have said in a viral video that Rela members were only meant to be used for helping control traffic or private functions, and not suitable as security personnel against extremist groups.