KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — The People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) has begun removing the names of people who had been inadvertently entered as members into its database.

Just hours earlier, several Malaysians took to social media to share their surprise at being listed as Rela members without their prior knowledge or consent.

A check of the Rela website showed that a Malay Mail staff who was earlier listed as an involuntary member has since been removed.

Malay Mail has contacted Rela and the Home Ministry for comment.

In August 2010, Selangor Rela director Brig-Gen Khairi Mohd Alwee was quoted by The Star as saying that the corps was aiming to have a total of 300,000 personnel in the state by the end of that year.

At the time of writing, Rela listed 3,070,898 members on its website, as of June 13, 2021.

For a person to qualify to be a Rela member, he or she must be a Malaysian citizen, age 18 and above and must be of sound body and mind.

Among the benefits of being a member is paid medical care, insurance scheme for those on duty, free uniform and training as well as RM6 allowance an hour on duty.