KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — Malaysia and other Asean member countries need to form a cooperative platform on legal and intelligence aspects to ensure more effective enforcement to counter human trafficking syndicates.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the implementation of laws against the crime must also be coordinated to ensure the targets of member nations are attained, including the protection of victims.

“The Asian region needs to have close cooperation because human trafficking is a complex crime which crosses state borders....there is also a need to think about coordination at the Asean level and this commitment should not just be on paper but its implementation should be holistic.

“On crimes committed in Australia (destination country), Malaysia and Indonesia have cooperated to ensure that we (Malaysia) and Indonesia do not become transit countries, and this has clearly had a positive impact when several crimes have been curbed,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after opening the 4th Asean Workshop on Criminal Justice Responses to Trafficking in Persons: Support to Victims of Trafficking in Criminal Justice System.

Ahmad Zahid said there were people who were aware that they had entered a country illegally but when arrested, claimed that they were victims of human trafficking.

“It is not fair that there are people who say that Malaysia is not giving justice to these victims....there are too many who feel they have been made used of when actually, in the beginning, they knew the way they were coming in had elements of human trafficking.

“Before any action is taken, we have to conduct investigations based on what is provided under the legal system about the crime,” he said.

Based on Home Ministry statistics, from February 2008 till February 2014, 738 cases were investigated under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.

Of that number, 4,465 individuals were given the Interim Protection Order while 1,760 individuals received the Protection Order.

These involved 154 children, 148 men and 1,585 women. — Bernama