WTH??

Malaysia a destination for human trafficking, says US

by Lim Ai Lee, The Star,

Tuesday March 3, 2009

NEW YORK: Malaysia has been identified as a destination for human trafficking, according to the 2008 Human Rights Report released by the US State Department here.

The report described the problem as serious, adding that the country was to a lesser extent, a source and transit point for men and women trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour.

“Victims, mostly women and girls from Myanmar, Mongolia, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Viet-nam, were trafficked into the country for commercial sexual exploitation,” the department said in its annual human rights country report that covered over 190 countries.

Foreign embassies, NGOs, and government authorities had reported that more than 100 trafficking victims were rescued and repatriated in Malaysia last year, many of whom were involved in prostitution.

Crime syndicates were believed to be behind most of the trafficking cases while employment agencies were also said to be heavily involved in trafficking migrant workers, the report claimed.

In Petaling Jaya, LOURDES CHARLES reports that the police here have had numerous successes in combating human trafficking.

According to Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, Malaysian police and their Asean counterparts had been sharing information on local syndicates involved in the trafficking.

“That is why we have our own Anti-Human Trafficking law as we are very serious in our fight against such crimes. We have rescued many women and deported them to their countries of origin,” he added.

The US department was satisfied that Malaysia was neither involved in politically motivated killings nor was it linked to any reports of politically motivated disappearances during the year.

The Malaysian Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens, it acknowledged.

Although there were no government restrictions on access to the Internet, the Government was criticised for blocking access to some websites and arresting several prominent bloggers, including Malaysia Today’s Raja Petra Kamarudin for sedition.

The report also commented that political rhetoric using religion had raised tensions among different religious groups but this did not lead to an outbreak of violence.

my guesses of what we are going to do about this:

1. Jump up and down, shouting and cursing at each other at the parliament
2. Start a malicious racist sort of chain-mail accusing this and that
3. Keep quiet and go on with life
   
4. What Malaysia? I 'm not Malaysian...?!

So, Which one are you?