SCENESETTER FOR AMBASSADOR JOHN MILLER'S VISIT TO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 002035 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS JAKARTA PASS TO AMB. MILLER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KCRM KWMN MY SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR AMBASSADOR JOHN MILLER'S VISIT TO KUALA LUMPUR REF: A. STATE 144327 ¶B. KUALA LUMPUR 1661 ¶C. KUALA LUMPUR 1804 Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Ambassador Miller, we welcome your visit to Kuala Lumpur and hope that your presence in Malaysia will assist us in encouraging the GOM to take substantive and positive measures as outlined in the Malaysia TIP Action Plan (ref A). Your schedule will allow you to engage with a range of government officials responsible for the trafficking issue, as well as non-governmental and foreign embassy actors knowledgeable about the trafficking situation in Malaysia. Specifically, we view your visit as an excellent opportunity to: -- Urge Malaysia to follow through on its stated plans to open a shelter for victims, and clarify recent GOM announcements in this regard; -- Encourage the GOM to make the decision to draft and pass comprehensive legislation to address the trans-national crime of trafficking in persons; and -- Step up law enforcement efforts to fight traffickers, against the backdrop of strongly supportive public statements by the new Police Inspector General. End Summary. Delivery of U.S. recommendations -------------- ¶2. (SBU) We have used the release of the Tier 2 Watch List Action Plan (ref A) to further our dialogue with Malaysian officials and encourage the GOM to move ahead with its discussions to draft and pass a comprehensive anti-trafficking bill. Since its release, we have delivered the action plan to the Ministry of Internal Security (MIS), the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (WFCD),the Foreign Ministry, and to other senior government advisors on police and security issues. Interagency committee established to address TIP -------------- --- ¶3. (SBU) During PRM A/S Sauerbrey's mission to Malaysia, Muhammad Hatta bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Security (MIS),advised us on August 24 that overall responsibility for coordinating the GOM's anti-TIP efforts had been transferred to MIS from the Ministry of Home Affairs (ref B). Hatta stated that the GOM made the transfer because Home Affairs viewed the issue only from the perspective of immigration documentation, while MIS 
could better deal with trafficking as a national security and law enforcement matter, pointing out that the police fall under MIS's supervision. In August, Hatta chaired the inaugural meeting of a new interagency committee organized to coordinate the GOM's anti-TIP efforts. The interagency committee consists of representatives from the ministries of Internal Security, Home Affairs, Health and WFCD. The committee is tasked with coordinating its efforts with the Attorney General's office (AGO). ¶4. (SBU) As of early October, it appeared the new committee has only met once and on that occasion agreed to study further whether the GOM should draft a new anti-TIP law or amend existing legislation. Hatta indicated that officials in attendance at the inaugural meeting signaled support for a new law, but the matter remained before the committee. Hatta said he would solicit and welcome US expertise and support in drafting Malaysia's anti-TIP law, should the GOM decide to pursue this course. Hatta noted Malaysia's intention to provide shelter to trafficking victims within a separate wing of an immigration detention facility in Terangganu. Home Affairs and WFCD encourage new law -------------- ¶5. (SBU) At an August 28 press conference, the Ministers of Home Affairs and WFCD announced two new TIP-related initiatives. They said they would hold discussions with the Attorney General's chambers to consider drafting a new law to "curb human smuggling." The Minister of WFCD, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, also announced that the Minister of Home Affairs, Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, had agreed during their meeting KUALA LUMP 00002035 002 OF 002 "to establish a protection center" for victims of trafficking that will be managed by the WFCD ministry. She said she also requested that Radzi separate trafficking victims from other detainees in police cells and illegal migrant detention facilities. ¶6. (SBU) We held a follow-up meeting with Deputy SecGen Hatta on September 28 and presented him with the TIP Action Plan. Hatta advised us that the matter of whether to draft a new law remained with Home Affairs Ministry and the AGO. He did not confirm a positive GOM decision to pursue a TIP law, only that the issue continued to be under consideration. When asked about the status of the TIP victims "shelter" in the detention facility in Terangganu, Hatta said the physical building has been identified, but as far as he knew it did not yet house any victims. Information had gone out to police elements regarding the use of this facility, but the police had not yet referred any victims. Hatta noted that the inter-agency committee had not reconvened since August. Royal Malaysian Police support new legislation -------------- - ¶7. (U) Also in September, Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan delivered the keynote address at an anti-TIP conference jointly sponsored by The Royal Malaysian Police (RMP),the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation and Malaysia's largest non-governmental organization for migrant laborers, Tenaganita (ref C). Musa publicly called for comprehensive anti-TIP legislation and for the construction of shelters for trafficking victims. The IGP described the excellent relationship the RMP shared with Tenaganita and his appreciation that the police could now place trafficking victims in Tenaganita's shelter that opened in June 2006. ¶8. (U) Musa admitted that previous efforts to tackle trafficking have been uncoordinated and inefficient, and he recognized that there was very little empirical evidence available to truly understand the scope of the problem in Malaysia. The IGP called for all law enforcement agencies to share more information and intelligence and cited the need for uniform databases to track all aspects of TIP investigations. Citing the RMP's past efforts to address trafficking, Musa announced that between June 2004 and September 2006, the RMP identified and repatriated 365 foreign victims of trafficking. Between June 2003 and June 2006, the RMP had arrested and charged 143 pimps under the penal code; another 126 had been detained under the Restricted Residence Act and 18 others under Emergency Ordinance 1969. Police establish special trafficking unit -------------- ¶9. (U) The RMP's Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations, Syed Ismail Syed Azizan, also addressed the September conference and announced the RMP would establish an anti-trafficking unit within the vice squad (D-7),and that this unit would be staffed with experienced male and female officers who could properly understand the criminal activity involved and who would have the authority to address the corruption issues at lower levels. Ismail lamented, however, that unless there were shelters built for victims, even with a new specialized trafficking unit, police would not be able to properly address the issue of trafficking. Current actions -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The Anti-Trafficking office at WFCD is in the process of organizing a victim identification workshop for police, immigration officials and state community development officials. We are working with WFCD to coordinate USDOJ/ICITAP trainers from Jakarta to provide the bulk of the much-needed training. Current hopes are to hold the conference in December or early January. ¶11. (SBU) The USG funded Tenaganita shelter is fully operational and has active support from the RMP. Tenaganita reports that most of the sheltered victims have been from Vietnam and Cambodia, but the shelter has never been full to capacity (25 victims). The police have referred to the shelter as a model for government run shelters, and have expressed appreciation to Tenaganita for operating it. The Indonesian and Philippines embassies continue to operate shelters for their respective nationals. LAFLEUR