World Day Against Human Trafficking: The Grey Line Merging Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling

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SUBANG JAYA - During the religious public holidays of AidilFitri and AidilAdha, amongst these festivities full of laughter, food and colours, a more sinister and curious series of emotions is observed arising among the public, especially the locals inhabiting the nation. Most of it surrounds the locals’ feelings toward the ever-so-prominent crowds of migrant workers thronging Kuala Lumpur and related sites popular for sightseeing around these holidays. 

Reports flood social media with negativity surrounding their presence, with commenters on posts ridiculing their presence in the country:

while others equally show gratitude that they exist to help develop Malaysia.

Upon investigation, the formerly posted reports and posts with comments are not in circulation, however, posts still exist with comments from nationals that express their opinions on the situation.

Most of the said foreign workers come into the nation through recruitment agencies that link potential candidates to employers, aiming to bridge the gaps that could be separating them from connecting with each other. Foreign workers in Malaysia working for renowned and well-established companies are not smuggled in, nor are they ‘stealing’ jobs from the people in the nation; in fact, they are sought after by authorities and companies in charge for skilled labour required in labour-intensive work, and for specific jobs such as in the cleaning, construction and hospitality sectors. 

Shafkat Ismam, 29, employed in the marketing department of one such recruitment agency in Puchong focusing on hiring foreign workers from neighbouring countries and beyond for cleaning services, speaks to the InkSlingers on how the process is conducted. 

‘I have been working in this field for about four years since moving to Malaysia for employment in my current job,’ Ismam, holding a degree from an engineering university back in his home country, shared. 

Speaking on the recruitment process, Ismam states, ‘My company uses tactics such as screening potential candidates for the jobs, using information from job markets to determine which country or company from the foreign country would be best for the employer looking to hire.’Ismam mentioned that his job includes screening employees, checking their housing and working conditions and mitigation of any issues that may arise during the stay of these workers in Malaysia, no matter how far away from the agency they may be employed, even stating once having to quickly catch a bus to Johor when an instance of a foreign worker’s safety being compromised came to light.

Companies like his bring in foreign workers seasonally, with the numbers of them depending on the demands from different companies in the country. 

Recruitment agencies aim to simplify the hiring process by collecting and communicating post-interview feedback from workers who are trained in their home countries. Aiding in salary negotiations and facilitation of smooth transition into work for new hires is also managed by them. Recruitment agencies’ industry-specific expertise allows for maintenance of awareness of role requirements and candidate qualifications in the fields.

On a contrastingly different note, Malaysia is infamous worldwide for migrant smuggling. Different from trafficking, migrant smuggling refers to the allocation of a service, usually with dishonest transportation methods such as through forests or sea, with fraudulent documents, to bring in an individual who seeks to gain illegal entry into a foreign country with the false notion of being a foreign worker. Reports referring to this include businessmen in the country illegally bringing in workers through Thailand to avoid the fees and extensive paperwork required to bring in workers. Additionally, reports of workers being duped into coming to Malaysia with promises of jobs, and then abandoned by immoral employers who then refuse to take accountability for the workers they brought in are not uncommon. The immigration department takes proper action when such cases are brought to light, however, to keep matters civil and lawful, workers are often returned to the companies they faced said difficulties from.

These are simply examples with positive outcomes, and contrastingly, workers often come to Malaysia with prospects of a job but then are made to wait months, sometimes leading to a year, of sitting around, without a job or with expired temporary job permits, waiting to be employed. One such case took place in March of this year when foreign workers filed a police report about their unemployment status that included sombre details such as lack of pay by the recruiting company, and needing to pay up to 6,000 MYR to acquire their passports from their employers. These were victims of a job scam, similar to the incident of foreign workers seen marching to a police station to report about their situation, being unemployed for three to six months, reported from Kota Tinggi. Initially, these workers were not treated with fairness and understanding, as it was reported that they were first detained for causing disruption and ‘sparking uneasiness’ to the public. They were even charged with overstaying in the country despite the situation being out of their own hands. The company involved was later blacklisted. 

In conjunction with the World Day Against Human Trafficking, human trafficking, even in 2024, remains a prominent concern in Malaysia. Human trafficking, unlike migrant smuggling, refers to exploiting women, children or men for forced, nonconsensual labour or commercial sexual exploitation. In just March of this year, Johor police rescued four trafficking victims following a raid at an apartment building; victims trafficked to be employed for sex work. A Malaysian man and foreign woman were arrested for this trafficking incident. Next, in Johor again, three Malaysian human traffickers were jailed, and two disabled foreign workers brought in to beg on the streets, were rescued. The syndicate was reported to have been travelling to neighbouring countries to identify people with disabilities on the streets to bring them to Malaysia as beggars. Due to recent reports, Malaysia has climbed to tier 2 in the US human trafficking report, a climb significant in showing Malaysia’s progress, which has albeit, seen its fair share of peaks and troughs. 

A very pressing concern in Malaysia is the mixing up of human trafficking and migrant smuggling due to laws not being as clear to law enforcement agencies. Speaking to FMT, human rights and anti-trafficking expert Corinne Dettmeijer stated that while Malaysia increased efforts in tackling human trafficking with the amended Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act, law enforcement often combines trafficking with migrant smuggling, thus undermining the protection of trafficking victims through their identification. She emphasised that the differences in smuggling and trafficking impact the respective victims separately and distinctly. A clear understanding of the differences between the two would be what can be labelled as effective enforcement of laws. On the matter, Dettmeijer highlighted to FMT the topic of corruption within the government personnel’s rankings, stating that government officials have been reported to have profited from bribery, and exploitation of immigrants, thus increasing costs of migration and increased chances of trafficking of workers through debt-related coercion taking advantage of their vulnerability. 

In 2021, however, the Home Ministry launched the National Action Plan on Anti-Trafficking in Persons 2021-2025 to eliminate human trafficking in the country. Malaysia’s climb on the US human trafficking report is a testament to the efforts by the country. But it is undoubtedly true that could be improved by revised laws that charge traffickers and smugglers separately and offer remedies to victims as required by their delicate situations.