June 21st, 2007
Nothing could be more intolerable for Malaysia than to be lumped together with Burma, North Korea, Iran and Syria in any global index.
But the United States has done precisely that, naming Malaysia among “worst offenders” in human trafficking, bonded labour, sex trade and child prostitution.
Predictably, Malaysia reacted with horror at the classification, accusing the US state department of behaving as the uninvited “judge, jury and prosecutor” without just cause.
“It’s all false, not true. We reject it,”said Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar.
But opposition lawmakers and human rights activists who have long campaigned inside and outside the country against human trafficking said the report’s conclusions are true and verifiable.
“It is a damning report, it is a major black mark on Malaysia’s already tarnished human record. It tells a lot about our treatment of migrant workers and victims of trafficking,” said opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok, also a campaigner for women’s rights and migrant worker issues.
“No matter how hard it is to swallow we must accept the report’s conclusion and work to clean up our record. We have nearly two million migrant workers in the country and many are really trafficked persons.
“They live and work in virtual servitude. We are at least a decade late in respecting their human rights. Our awareness and response to this heinous crime is shamefully low.”
Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang has asked the government to table a ministerial statement in Parliament explaining its “abysmal handling” of the rights of migrant workers and trafficked persons.
“But if the government genuinely feels it is wronged by the US report, then it should explain in Parliament giving all the details how it was wronged and rebut the findings,” he told IPS.
“It is not enough to brush aside the report. The inclusion of Malaysia as a Tier 3 offender is a serious matter with repercussions. It must not be taken lightly. Our lawmakers will want to know how we fell this low.”
Damning findings
The 236-page report entitled ‘Trafficking in Persons Report 2006′ was launched by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington earlier this month.
It charged Malaysia, which has nearly two million migrant workers - both documented and undocumented - with doing little to combat human trafficking.
Rice cited “disturbing evidence” that prosecution of human trafficking cases had levelled off across the globe. In countries with major human trafficking problems, “only a couple of traffickers were brought to justice”, she was quoted as saying.
“This cannot and must not be tolerated.”
Reflecting conditions in Malaysia and elsewhere, Rice said weak law render foreign workers vulnerable to abuse in both private homes and work sites.
The report noted that Malaysia had tabled in Parliament a tough anti-human trafficking law but has “failed to fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so”.
Malaysia has not punished acts of trafficking, provided adequate shelters and social services to victims, and protected migrant workers from involuntary servitude.
“The government did not establish a government-run shelter for foreign trafficking victims that it had announced publicly in 2004. Without procedures for the identification of victims, the government continued to treat some trafficking victims as illegal immigrants, and arrest, incarcerate, and deport them,” the report said.
It also said that, as a regional economic leader approaching developed nation status, Malaysia has the resources and government infrastructure to do far more in addressing the issue of trafficking in persons.
“The government needs to demonstrate stronger political will to tackle Malaysia’s significant forced labour and sex trafficking problems,” it added.
Last year, Malaysia was in the ‘Tier 2 watch list’ with other countries that are making little significant effort to comply with international standards to protect victims of human trafficking.
”It was a warning,” said Agile Fernandez, migrant worker programme co-ordinator with labou rights group Tenaganita.
‘Officials being bribed’
Malaysia’s Anti-Human Trafficking bill metes out up to 20 years in prison for traffickers, provides shelter for trafficked children and women and treat trafficked persons not as illegal immigrants but as victims needing help and support.
The bill protects victims and severely punishes people who trafficked, harboured or profited from the offence.
Most female trafficked victims are from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines and many end up as sex slaves or bonded labour. Malaysia is also a transit centre for these women, who are forced into vice in third countries, especially in Europe.
NGOs like Tenaganita are hoping the report will spur the government to improve conditions, rectify shortcomings and get out of the “denial syndrome”.
“Official corruption is at the core of the problem…it’s the evil that is fuelling trafficking here,” alleged Fernandez.
“This is why trafficking is rampant and why prosecution of offenders is so few and far in between. Trafficking syndicates regularly bribe officials to close an eye.”
She said the problem is compounded by low awareness among the public and officials on human rights of migrant workers and trafficked persons.
“There is apathy and ignorance. There is a use-and-discard mentality and culture. There are no permanent policies, everything is ad hoc and very reactive,” she said.
“The government must find the political will to see that the new anti-trafficking bill is made a law and strictly enforced.” - IPS
Baradan Kuppusamy
