TIP: MALAYSIA TIER 3 REASSESSMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 000704 SIPDIS FOR G/TIP, G-ACBLANK, EAP/MTS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/19/2019 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KTIP ELAB SMIG MY SUBJECT: TIP: MALAYSIA TIER 3 REASSESSMENT REF: A. KL 521: DCM PRESENTS TIP ACTION PLAN TO GOM ¶B. STATE 81476: TIP REASSESSMENT FOR TIER 3 COUNTRIES ¶C. KL 583: ATTORNEY GENERAL ON TIP ENGAGEMENT ¶D. KL 600: ARRESTS OF IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS ¶E. KL 596: INCREASED GOM RESPONSIVENESS ON TIP ¶F. KL 632: TIP: GOM INTENSIFIES PUBLIC EDUCATION ¶G. KL 652: TIP UPDATE Classified By: Ambassador James R. Keith for reasons 1.4 b and d. ¶1. (C) SUMMARY/INTRODUCTION: During June-August 2009, the Government of Malaysia (GOM) made significant efforts toward implementing the June 26 Action Plan on human trafficking (ref A). Prime Minister Najib, who took office in April 2009, has established a National Council for Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Issues charged with developing a National Action Plan for TIP and has conveyed a strong sense of importance and urgency to his government and the public about addressing human trafficking. GOM reaction to our Tier 3 designation on June 15 has been unprecedentedly constructive, with senior level officials across agencies making themselves available to the Ambassador and USG officials for substantive discussions on what are for the Malaysians internally sensitive issues. The Home Minister, with jurisdiction over the Police and Immigration, Attorney General and others have made clear both in meetings with USG officials, public statements and through arrests of GOM officials implicated in refugee trafficking that combating trafficking in persons (TIP) is a priority, setting a new tone on the issue. While the GOM still has work to do to fully implement the Action Plan, especially in the area of labor trafficking, there is forward momentum that justifies reassessing Malaysia to Tier 2 Watch List now. Our overriding priority is to maintain current GOM momentum on TIP and an effective way to accomplish this would be to recognize the PM and his government,s positive performance to date by upgrading Malaysia to Tier 2 Watch List. If Malaysia were upgraded, the Embassy would deliver to Malaysian authorities a clear message that if progress in key areas of the action plan is not sustained and expanded, redesignation to Tier 3 in 2010 would be a given. We believe this would be the most effective means of maximizing our leverage with the Tier 3 designation. This message responds to ref B tasking and is �A;queued to our action plan and GOM efforts to respond to that. END SUMMARY/INTRODUCTION. Action Plan: GOM Efforts to Implement -------------- ¶2. (C) TRAFFICKING OF BURMESE REFUGEES: In July, Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail assured the Ambassador that Malaysian officials involved in Burmese refugee trafficking would be investigated and prosecuted (ref C). On July 20, the GOM announced the arrest of five immigration officials, and four other persons, under Malaysia's Trafficking in Persons Act (ref D). The suspects, alleged to have brought Burmese Rohingya migrants from government detention centers to the Malaysia-Thai border where they were forced to pay a fee or be trafficked, along the lines described in the April 2009 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report "Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand," are being investigated under Section 13 of the Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years and a fine. Sending a message to civil servants, Deputy Home Minister Abu Seman Yusop told an ASEAN group of judges in July that "Malaysia will not hesitate to act against human traffickers whether they are government officers or not." NGO contacts told us in early August that trafficking of Burmese refugees to the Malaysia-Thai border had declined recently. The GOM announced in August that immigration officials in contact with refugees would be rotated regularly, and has indicated that refugees are no longer subject to trafficking to the Malaysia-Thai border. ¶3. (C) LABOR TRAFFICKING: GOM officials acknowledge that they need to make progress on preventing and prosecuting labor trafficking, citing difficulties in identifying both victims -- many of whom are migrants who entered Malaysia willingly but may have later ended up in forced labor -- and perpetrators. By force of habit, most labor-related prosecutions continue to be under labor law rather than Malaysia's new TIP law. For example, cases that could be considered as labor trafficking have so far been dealt with as violations of an employment contract. In contrast, the head of the Police Criminal Investigation Division Mohd Bakri Zinin told us in July, police had launched 53 investigations for alleged sex trafficking since the Malaysian TIP law was fully implemented in March 2008. In a July 15 GOM interagency meeting -- which the Attorney General invited Embassy officers and NGO representatives to attend -- Chief Prosecutor Tun Majid expressed frustration about bureaucratic KUALA LUMP 00000704 002 OF 002 obstacles that were delaying the effort to address labor trafficking, such as what immigration officials said was the lack of legal basis to target employers. He also called on colleagues to overcome bureaucratic obstacles -- such as the fact that the Women's Ministry has responsibility for shelters but has no mandate to shelter men -- so that a shelter for male victims of labor trafficking could be established. ¶4. (C) ANTI-TRAFFICKING AWARENESS CAMPAIGN/IDENTIFYING VICTIMS: Since June, the state-controlled Malaysian media has featured the GOM's focus on TIP with articles such as one in June headlined "Enforcement Agencies Serious in Combating Human Trafficking" (ref F) and one in July quoting Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Dasuki Mokhtar asking courts to deny bail in trafficking cases. On July 26, the "Star" newspaper, owned by one of Malaysia's governing coalition of parties, carried three articles focusing on trafficking in one edition. A "New Straits Times" editorial on July 28 praised the July 20 arrests of immigration officials on human trafficking charges, noting that there had been "a conspicuous absence of such cases in the past." On August 2, the "Star" published a TIP-related interview with the Ambassador in its entirety. Although such articles are no substitute for credible anti-TIP law enforcement, they are important in the Malaysian context where awareness of trafficking in persons is still low. To aid in identifying trafficking victims, the GOM announced in July that it would distribute a 10-language pamphlet aboard flights bound for Malaysia that lists ways to spot victims of labor trafficking, such as not having an official offer of employment; the Embassy will provide a sample to the G-TIP office. In the international context, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman told Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) fellow ministers at a July meeting in Egypt that Malaysia regarded "human trafficking very seriously and remains firm and consistent in taking decisive action in order to address this problem." ¶5. (C) TRAINING OF LAW ENFORCEMENT/COOPERATION WITH USG: Deputy Minister Abu Seman, whose Home Ministry has the lead on anti-TIP efforts by virtue of its supervision of the Police and Immigration Departments, sought out the DCM in June to explain that the GOM wanted to work constructively with the USG in addressing the TIP issue and to request U.S. training and technical assistance (ref A). On August 5, as part of the three-day GOM TIP training seminar, an Embassy officer with prosecution experience presented the U.S. perspective on TIP to a group of prosecutors, who asked probing questions about topics such as victims' reluctance to testify (ref G). GOM officials are eager for more anti-TIP training. DOJ/OPDAT and other training opportunities are pending. KEITH