KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — Human trafficking is integral to Malaysia’s economy, the Huffington Post has said in criticising the participation of Malaysia, which it accused of relying on slave labour, in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).
The US paper said in a news report that the lack of consequences over Malaysia’s dismal ranking in the US State Department’s annual people-trafficking reports for the past seven years also explains Putrajaya’s “apathetic” response to the current migrant crisis.
“Perhaps more to the point, trafficking is an integral part of the nation’s political economy, fed by surrounding countries,” said the Huffington Post report published today.
There are an estimated four million foreign workers in Malaysia, with the US State Department’s 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report saying that half of them are undocumented.
The Huffington Post noted that the majority of Rohingya flee Myanmar to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia and that the migrant crisis was further exacerbated after Thai authorities cracked down on land-based migrant routes that later forced people smugglers to go by sea, pushing even more migrants to Malaysia.
Local authorities also recently discovered 139 graves in abandoned people-smuggling camps in Wang Kelian, Perlis, near the Thai border.
The Huffington Post noted that foreign workers generally migrate willingly to Malaysia than other Asian countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Nepal.
It cited the US State Department’s human trafficking report as saying that a number of the migrants then encounter forced labour or debt bondage to their employers, employment agents or informal labour recruiters.
The Huffington Post also quoted the US State Department — which has given the worst ranking, Tier 3, to Malaysia three times for the past seven years on its human trafficking reports — as saying that Malaysian immigration officials reportedly facilitate people smuggling.
The paper also criticised Malaysia for introducing a policy in 2013 that placed the burden of paying immigration and employment authorisation fees on foreign workers instead of their employers, besides pointing out that employers in construction, agriculture and domestic work regularly seize foreign workers’ passports.
Malaysia’s human trafficking record came into the spotlight after the US Senate passed legislation last week that prohibits countries which engage in slave labour, such as Malaysia, from being part of the TPPA, a massive trade deal involving the US and 11 Pacific nations. The trade Bill will now be debated in the US House of Representatives.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, however, told Malay Mail Online last Sunday that Malaysia’s Tier 3 ranking on human trafficking can be resolved if it is seen as taking concrete steps to implement the recommendations in the US State Department’s report.
