Excellence
in the implementation of the legal framework on human trafficking by the
enforcement bodies is one important benchmark that determines the success of
Malaysia in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The responsibility to
enforce this framework is led by the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) followed by
the Immigration Department, the Customs Department, the Malaysian Maritime
Enforcement Agency (MMEA), and the Department of Labour. Accordingly,
Anti-Trafficking in Person unit is established in each body to acknowledge the
power and trust granted to them. Normally located at the headquarters, these
specialised units are dedicated to combat human trafficking. Furthermore, their
actions are within the ambit of power granted by the legislated laws,
particularly in Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act
2007 (ATIPSOM 2007). All forms of exploitation including sex exploitation,
labour force, and selling of babies which are common in Malaysia are
highlighted by the Act. Unfortunately, since the introduction of TIP in 2001,
these bodies have been continuously criticised by the reports, media,
non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and public for their deficiency in
identifying the vulnerable victims, detecting corruption among their officers,
and failure in investigating the related cases. This article studies the power
of these five enforcement bodies and the challenges that they face in
combatting the heinous crime in order to understand the factors influencing
their incompetency. A combination of content analysis and semi-structured
interview was adopted in the research. On the whole, the article contends that
a lot of improvements need to be done to recuperate the image of these
enforcement bodies and to strengthen their fight against human trafficking in
Malaysia.
Journal Section | Articles |
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Authors | |
Publication Date | April 30, 2017 |
Submission Date | April 28, 2017 |
Published in Issue | Year 2017Volume: 3 Issue: 7 |
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