JUNE 26 — Malaysia was put in the lowest Tier 3 in the US State Department’s latest Trafficking In Persons Report. The irate Wisma Putra instantly issued a statement to clarify things.

The government did not offer any explanation on the fact that none of our universities made it to the top 100 Asian universities in Times Higher Education’s 2014 rankings. However, the government was obviously very unhappy with the US Department of State’s blacklist. This shows that human trafficking is a much more serious humiliation to the Malaysian government.

To be honest, the government has indeed made some effort to check human trafficking activities, having been warned by the US for these years. For instance, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act was drafted in 2007 and be put into implementation in February the following year. The act was amended in October 2010 and be renamed Anti Trafficking In Person and Smuggling of Migrants Act 2010 (ATIPSOM.)

The police and immigration officials have been busily taking initiatives to round up illegal migrants in recent years, news of arrests of human traffickers making national headlines almost on a daily basis.

At the same time, the home ministry introduced the 6P program to more effectively manage the million-strong army of foreign workers in the country while curbing incidents of maltreatment on migrant workers. In addition, the government has also established a database of arriving aliens through the biometric system.

Such efforts have paid off. Malaysia was blacklisted in 2007 alongside Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and North Korea, but in 2010, the country was upgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 2.

Unfortunately we have seen our rating downgraded again this year, sharing this unglamorous position with countries like Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Syria. There must be reasons why Malaysia was downgraded again. While the government can show the world it is “indeed doing some work,” it has not done enough to prevent human smuggling from its root.

The enforcers have been able to make so many arrests and this shows the situation is indeed very serious. By right the government should do something to stop these human smugglers from infiltrating the country instead of making arrests only after they have breached our shores.

The recent two boat mishaps off the coast of Selangor point to the fact that our marine defense is still very porous.

There are currently several million of migrant workers. This, coupled with the presence of a large number of foreign nationals in the country, makes the country a fertile breeding ground for human trafficking activities. Meanwhile, Malaysia has slowly evolved from being a “recipient country” to a “transit country” to now a “source country.”

In its Trafficking In Persons Report 2009, the United States accused that some of the Malaysian immigration officials were themselves involved in people smuggling activities, “selling” refugees to human smugglers in southern Thailand at approximately US$200 per head.

In 2010, it was reported in the media that immigration officials in Pulau Ketam were involved in accepting bribes from illegal migrants. Some of these officials were subsequently detained by the MACC while 20 were transferred. During the same year, eight immigration officials involved in human smuggling activities were detained under the Internal Security Act but were all released after they showed repentance.

Berita Harian reported last year that immigration officials at KLIA and LCCT were bribed by illegal syndicates to allow foreigners holding counterfeit documents to gain access into the country.

In view of this, besides tackling the human trafficking problem, it is imperative that the government also clean up its own institution and remove all the undesirable elements within in a bid to reverse the negative impression of the international community.

As a matter of fact, the enforcement unit has been adopting an antiquated approach in dealing with people smuggling without tackling the root cause of it.

The US human trafficking report should sound an alarm bell to remind us of to look seriously into the issue of internal security. Dealing with the consequences alone will not help put things right. — Sin Chew Daily

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of the Malay Mail Online