Star Tuesday March 22, 2011
PENANG Rela aims to reach a total of 150,000 members this year.
Last year, its membership reached a record high of 112,159 reservists .
Its director Romli Ibrahim said they would refer to all village heads for advice on engaging more recruits.
New members must also go through police vetting before they can be accepted.
“We are not only focusing on quantity but we also want quality. There were a few complaints that a small number of members conducted operations on their own and some even blackmailed people.”
“Bear in mind that every member represents the image of Rela, so we do not want these black sheep to give us a bad name,” he said during the closing ceremony of the one-day basic introduction course for 85 new Rela members at the Barisan Nasional’s Batu Uban service centre on Sunday.
The event also marked the setting up of two new platoons in Sungai Dua to make it a total of 4,000 platoons in Penang.
There are at least 33 members in each platoon.
Barisan Nasional Batu Uban coordinator Goh Kheng Sneah and his Bayan Baru counterpart David Yim were also present.