MALAYSIA risks being an outcast on the international stage due to its lack of enforcement against human trafficking, the Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM) said today.
The association’s chief activist Nadzim Johan said several embassies had approached PPIM to bring the matter to light.
“These embassies approached us because they believe a group of people involved in this illegal business is tarnishing the image of the country and foreign workers,” he said at a press conference.
“I fear if Malaysia continues on this path of neglecting the issue of human trafficking, it will eventually make it difficult for our own people to travel abroad, especially to First World countries,” he said.
In July, the US State Department relegated Malaysia to the bottommost Tier 3 in its latest annual report assessing efforts by countries worldwide to combat human trafficking, saying Kuala Lumpur did not convict officials suspected of complicity in related crimes.
The 644-page TIP Report on Malaysia, among other countries, specifically focused on the glove manufacturing and plantations sectors – in addition to trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Nadzim said since 2015, there have been private companies managing the recruitment of foreign workers through a system that has been developed by a private company and connected with the system of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Malaysian Immigration Department.
“These private companies seem to assist the government in recruiting foreign workers to our country but generally collect millions of ringgit in the home country of foreign workers to bring them into our country,” he said.
Nadzim, however, did not name these companies.
“These private companies deal with companies or syndicates in the foreign worker’s home country to collect payment of between RM15,000 to RM20,000 for one employee to be eligible to work in our country,” he said.
Drawn by the promises of jobs in Malaysia, thousands of men and women travel here every year from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Vietnam and other countries in the region.
Once they arrive, many toils for 12 hours each day or longer, often in unsafe conditions, sometimes enduring physical and verbal abuse from their employers.
Many do not receive the wages they were promised in their home countries.
Migrant workers who come to Malaysia may find, in fact, that everything their recruitment agents told them in their home countries about their new jobs is untrue, for instance, the amount they will be paid, their employer, the type of work they will be doing. Some agents even promise jobs that do not exist.
Nadzim suggested that instead of bringing new migrant workers, the government should legalise existing ones in the country to avoid an influx as well as increased exploitation of migrant workers.
“We urge the government to look seriously into this matter. Corruption is widespread in this issue and it will affect the country’s image further on the international stage,” he said.
Also present at the press conference were Siraj Jalil and Mohd Fakrunizam, both of whom carry the same sentiment as PPIM in urging the government to eradicate what they call “modern slavery”.
It is estimated that the country currently has over three million undocumented foreign workers.
Article by: The Malaysian Insight
LACK OF EFFORT AGAINST ‘MODERN SLAVERY’ WILL TARNISH MALAYSIA’S IMAGE FURTHER, WARNS ASSOCIATION