LAHAD DATU: About 500 members of the Volunteer Corps (Rela) department in Sabah will be given training as second liners to assist the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) in safeguarding the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone).
Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said this is a pilot project before they mobilize 6,148 Rela members in 10 districts under ESSZone.
Zahid said the involvement of Rela in assisting ESSCom had been agreed on during the ESSZone Advisory Board meeting, yesterday.
“For the early stages of this pilot project, we have made some preparations including providing training as we feel that even though Rela members know the terrain, they still require training in the legal and security aspects so that they can play their role as second liners.
“We must have confidence that enforcement agencies will continue to carry out their responsibilities and Rela will provide assistance with 24-hour monitoring at locations that will be decided,” he said.
He said this during a press conference after co-chairing the meeting with Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman at ESSCom Headquarters.
Zahid, who is also Home Minister said the federal government is also committed and supports the long-term planning of the state government to target one million tourists from China.
He said that tourist safety is a priority and this effort is in line with efforts to increase the security in Sabah.
ESSCom, he said, with the assistance from other agencies should perform the first level of security control at all tourism destinations in ESSZone.
In the meantime, Zahid said that the curfew in ESSZone will be extended in certain areas during specific times until they are confident that the curfew is no longer needed.
“We will also take several steps to involve the people such as the outreach programme through the Gerak Saraf Perang Saraf (GSPS) so that people will have awareness and a sense of responsibility to help our team safeguard the security,” he added.
Meanwhile in a media statement related to the meeting, Zahid said the security situation in ESSZone is at a very good level due to the commitment and efforts of all agencies in ESSZone.
The meeting also decided that the General Operations Force (GOF) and Jawatankuasa Perancang Gerakan (JPG) camp would be upgraded and addressed the lack of logistic supply for daily operations.
It also agreed that the security level in the East Coast is important and must be closely watched.
Therefore, monitoring and continuous research should be done regularly to ensure the level of preparedness and intelligence are at the best level to avoid any intrusion.
Also present were Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim, National Security Council director-general Tan Sri Zulkefli Mohd Zin and ESSCom Commander Datuk Hazani Ghazali.