KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — Malaysia should allow illegal immigrants to travel, work and live beyond the confines of detention centres, the New York Times (NYT) suggested, after the country earned poor marks in the US’s latest chart on global human trafficking activities.
To bring the hammer down on people-smuggling, the US daily said Putrajaya must offer better care to victims and consider altering its policies on illegal immigrants, such as granting them free movement.
“For Malaysia to restore its credibility on human trafficking, it must abandon its blame-the-victim approach,” the NYT said in an editorial published today.
“Trafficking victims must not be afraid to come forward to seek help. And Malaysia should move swiftly and forcefully to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of human trafficking at every level.”
Malaysia was downgraded to the lowest Tier 3 status in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2014 which was released on June 20.
The NYT said the downgrade places Malaysia at risk of American economic and diplomatic penalties.
The daily noted that the US department’s report had pinpointed the existence of an estimated two million documented foreigners in Malaysia, and a further two million undocumented ones.
“Men, women and children are routinely conscripted for forced labour and for the commercial sex trade,” the NYT observed.
“Desperate Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority group fleeing persecution in Myanmar, are especially vulnerable to trafficking in Malaysia.
“Unscrupulous employers, recruiters and criminal syndicates operate with near impunity, while trafficking victims are criminalised,” it added.
Putrajaya was quick, however, to protest the slide, claiming the US authorities had relied their report on unverified information provided by “dubious” organisations.
In a statement, Wisma Putra insisted that Malaysia has been taking necessary steps to curb trafficking activities here, including a new policy that allows victims who do not require further care at shelter homes to continue working and living in the country.
The policy, according to the government’s statement, came into effect on March 1.
“Despite claims that Malaysia made insufficient progress and improvement in areas of prosecution, prevention and protection, on the contrary, Malaysia has consistently pursued measures and initiatives in addressing the issues of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants,” Wisma Putra further added, according to a Bernama report on June 22.
But the NYT said that Malaysia’s records indicate that the government here is more concerned about “managing” immigration flows and helping employers.
The paper cited Putrajaya’s amnesty programme for the country’s undocumented foreign workers as example, describing as only “potentially” helpful, as it does not look out for the welfare of trafficking victims.
