COMMENT The fact that Malaysia has become one of the worst hubs in human trafficking in the world should be everyone’s concern.

In 2012, for example, according to The Star , an average of 15 people went missing every day in Malaysia, with nearly a quarter of them Malay girls aged between 13 and 17.

It is believed that more than 5,000 children are involved in the child sex trade in the Klang Valley.

Abducted Malaysian children have also been found trafficked for sex in Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Every right-thinking Malaysian should be asking the question, “Why?”

Negative reports

Despite the trumpeting of the country’s economic and transformation success, why are we now ranked the eighth worst perpetrator of slavery in the Asia Pacific region, according to Global Slavery Index (GSI) 2014?

According to the report published by The Walk Tree Foundation, Australia, we have an estimated 142,600 people bonded in slavery. This is despite the fact that we would have become an independent nation for 58 years come Aug 31.

Modern slavery is big business worldwide. It is estimated at a whopping US$150 billion, accounting for more than 30 million slaves today.

It is sad that, despite all the economic transformation plan (ETP) and government transformation plan (GTP), our country is at such a despicable level. Have we become too focused on material gains that we have forgotten the dignity of the human persons?

The GSI also gave the Malaysian government the bottom half rating of CCC on its response to modern slavery. There is only very limited support for victims and a system that “may criminalise and/or deport victims, and/or facilitate slavery”.

It is not only the GSI report that has put us in a bad light, but several other international bodies and state departments have given us a bad report card.

In June last year, we were also ranked Tier 3 - in the same category as Zimbabwe, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia - by the US State Department in its Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report.

In November last year, the Nepali embassy in Kuala Lumpur has reported that an average of nine Nepalis die each week in Malaysia, based on the figure of 166 deaths within a span of four and a half months.

The same report published in Kathmandu has “raised a serious question over Nepali workers’ condition in South-East Asia’s third largest economy”.

Amnesty USA has estimated that Malaysia has 300,000 foreign domestic workers who often face serious exploitation and abuse.

When they have complaints against their employers or recruitment agents, no legal redress that could be sought, since an employment contract does not exist.

The only place that they could go to are non-governmental organisations such as Tenaganita or the embassies of their respective countries.

Employers keep their passports and some domestic workers are forced to work seven days a week. Some of them eventually run away from their employers, even without their passports.

Without a proper work permit, when they go out, there is always the risk of being ‘bullied’ by rogue policemen, who demand hefty bribes. We are paying the salaries of the boys in blue, but some of them are busy going after the easy prey.

This is an issue that deserves attention from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Time for action

We should now ask what the key performance indicator (KPI) is for both the inspector-general of police and the director-general of the Immigration Department.

If they have failed to reduce human trafficking, what should be the consequences?

On top of these two senior civil servants, has the home affairs minister placed sufficient attention to the issue of human trafficking? If yes, why all the negative reports about human trafficking in the country?

If the minister has failed in his duties, what has the prime minister done to arrest the problem, and bring Malaysia back into a good light once again?

Why does it always have to be the non-governmental organisations that take the lead instead of the government?

Several NGOs have recently started working together to organise the biggest human trafficking art exhibition in Malaysia, known as ‘Be My Protector’ .

The three-month awareness raising campaign, which was kicked off recently on April 25 by Selangor state assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh, has gone on its circuit in several shopping malls, and will next be appearing in 1 Utama Shopping Centre (May 18) and Tropicana City Mall (June 15).

It is co-sponsored by Yeoh and her fellow assemblypersons Yeo Bee Yin and Ng Sze Han, and supported by Tenaganita, and the campaign will run from April 25 to July 25.

It is intended to challenge Malaysians to stop human trafficking by creating community intelligence through raising awareness and empowering them to act.

A good way to start acting is by writing to the Prime Minister’s Department  a letter drafted by Amnesty USA:

H.E. NAJIB BIN TUN HAJI ABDUL RAZAK

Malaysian Prime Minister

Office of the Prime Minister

Main Block, Perdana Putra Building

Federal Government Administrative Centre

62502 Putrajaya, Malaysia

Fax: 603-8888 3444

Email: ppm@pmo.gov.my

Dear Prime Minister Najib,

We/I are writing to you about the plight of migrant workers in Malaysia. More than four million foreign workers from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal and other Asian countries are believed to be working in Malaysia. They comprise nearly one-third of the Malaysian workforce. Approximately 300,000 of them are domestic workers.

We are concerned because migrant workers often face serious abuse and exploitation in Malaysia. However, they are unable to seek legal redress against their employers, recruitment agents or other perpetrators.

We are also concerned that Malaysian law continues to consider domestic workers as ‘servants’ and excludes them from provisions of the Employment Act which should also provide for their rights as workers.

We urge you to:

1. Establish an independent Royal Commission to investigate and report on human rights abuses experienced by migrant workers, the reasons why migrants become undocumented and other problems they face;

2. Authorise and direct the Human Resources Ministry to establish a provident fund to support abused migrant workers seeking legal redress against their employers, or migrants who remain in the country as witnesses in cases involving trafficking, and all other forms of labour exploitation;

Direct prosecutors to prosecute and seek appropriate punishment for Malaysian employers and recruitment agents who subject workers to trafficking, and all other forms of labour exploitation, including confiscating and withholding workers’ passports or by failing to renew work permits.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.