bobjots : redux | 21st Century Slavery in Malaysia (2)

21st Century Slavery in Malaysia (2)

Malaysia is the largest destination country in Asia for migrant workers. It also has a very significant sex industry couched as entertainment centers, health centers and sports clubs where there are over 250,000 sex workers in the country. Thousands of girls from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia are abducted or falsely lured into bonded labour or forced sexual slavery for the brothels in Malaysia. They are often sold by their families for survival, stolen by traffickers, or lured by false job offers. With aggressive tourism promotion, the problem is becoming bigger. Trafficking in persons is a growing concern.

Testimonies given by trafficked women rescued from forced prostitution reveal that they are not only physically assaulted but raped more than 8 times a day by different men and by traffickers. They are forced to take drugs, pills, alcohol and cigarettes, thus becoming dependent users with severe health and psychological problems. They are exposed to sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. Some suffer permanent damage to their reproductive organs. The women are locked up or confined and monitored closely.

Children, mostly babies are trafficked from neighbouring countries for sale to childless couples in Malaysia, especially via Indonesia to Sabah and Sarawak. In January 2004, the Star newspapers reported about a 2 month old boy and a 2 week old girl, induced with sleeping pill-laced milk, then packed in a Styrofoam box to be transported for sale.

Currently, there are 400,000 foreign women and children employed as domestic workers in our country. They have no protection, there is no law, their movements are restricted, agents sell them from house to house, their wages not paid, they have to work long hours, 7 days a week, at times having to do 2-3 jobs. Some suffer emotional, physical and sexual abuse. All these are elements of human trafficking. Are we then condoning institutionalised bonded labour right at our doorsteps?

Many of the victims rescued are below 18, which means that children are being trafficked. Their passports often carry false names and false ages.

Trafficking has become highly sophisticated and organized. Websites are available to tell us where and what type of girls are available. There are holiday packages with sex thrown in. This year 2007 is Visit Malaysia year, sex tourism books are already made available overseas. These days there are also Vietnamese and Cambodian brides bought or brought into the country. Some of them fall prey to abusive husbands who force them into prostitution.

The sex trade has expanded from the usual Karaokes, KTVs to massage parlours, holiday resorts, golf resorts, private clubs, hotels, spas and even in restaurants having ‘sex’ in the menu! Want ‘China Dolls’ for desert? Try out this seafood restaurant in Teluk Gong, Klang. (Malay Mail Oct 2005). For such a multi-million dollar industry to flourish and boom, one would be naïve to think that the traffickers have not got support from certain enforcement agencies to work alongside them. The question is ‘how do we fight corruption together?’

In the absence of an Anti-trafficking Act, the state uses preventive detention through the Emergency Ordinance (EO) and the Restricted Residence Act (RR). These acts give wide powers to the Minister of Internal Security to detain or release the traffickers. In fact, because the case is not brought to court, there is lack of transparency and facts of the case remain hidden. This form of detention paves the way for corruption. Note recent allegations of RM 5.5 million bribe given to a Deputy Minister for the release of 3 detainees under EO (NST March 2007), one of whom is involved in the prostitution business. There is a dire need to repeal both the EO and the RR Act, to address the corruption behind it and to advocate for an Anti-Trafficking Act.

TENAGANITA, is a women, workers and migrant organization, actively involved in the rescue, protection and safe repatriation of trafficked victims. They run a Shelter for Trafficked Survivors, the only one in Malaysia (Thailand has 99 shelters). From May 2006 – Dec 2006, they have provided shelter, care and protection to 56 victims (2 Malaysians and 54 from 8 different nationalities). The survivors are provided medical care and counseling services, before being safely repatriated.

They do realise that for every girl rescued from this heinous crime, there are at least another 100 women trapped with no way out. What we see now is only the tip of the iceberg.

Malaysia is celebrating 50 years of nationhood this year but what have we achieved in terms of human rights and justice? 50 years down the road, the slave trade has mushroomed and bloomed. We still do not have proper laws for the protection and prevention of trafficking in persons. There is not a single government shelter for trafficked victims, compared to 99 shelters in Thailand. Trafficking in persons in Malaysia has grown to be a multi-billion industry, becoming more and more clandestine, and bringing in children as young as 13 years, and even selling babies and ovum to infertile women.

Has corruption with lack of political will been a real reason and a major factor for this increase?

KISAH BENAR

These are real stories by real people who have been rescued by the various organisations that work to shelter trafficked people :

I was employed as a domestic worker but was forced to work in a factory. If we do not produce the targets we were punished. 19 of us shared 1 bathroom, we were confined indoors, with no fresh air. All the windows were sealed with plywood, we couldn’t see the sun. Work hours were long, we do not get paid. It felt like prison. I could not take it anymore, I tried to cut my wrist and swallow insect repellant
- R, Indonesian

My mother is blind, our family is very poor, I need to support them. I trusted my neighbour who told me I could earn RM 100 an hour in Malaysia. On arrival I was forced to work in a Karaoke, to have sex with customers. I protested but to no avail, my boss told me if I slept with 200 men he would release me
– SN, Cambodian, age 17

My eldest sister promised me a job in her shop in Malaysia. On arrival she sold me for RM6000 to a man. I was only 17 years old, I cried and pleaded, she told me to shut my eyes and just endure the pain. After this I was forced to do sex-work in a karaoke.
- SP, Cambodian, age 17. Passport age 19

I was cheated when I went to England to work. I was forced to work as a prostitute. I am so ashamed, I do not want my family to know. I just want to forget it all, I do not want to talk about it.
- PY, Malaysian Chinese, age 20

My employer told me my father & mother has died in Indonesia, my sister had a stroke and died. I was not allowed any calls, so I could not confirm, I believed her, so I got very depressed and wanted to kill myself, I almost jumped down from the apartment
– SA, Indonesia, age 20
(suffered lacerated wounds inflicted by employer)

COME AND FIND OUT MORE & LEARN HOW YOU CAN HELP

Date:
19th April 2007 (Thursday)

Time：
8pm – 10pm

Venue：
Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH)
Ground Floor
1, Jalan Maharajalela
Kuala Lumpur
(beside the Maharajalela Monorail Station)

Speakers:
Dr. Irene Fernandez, Ms. Wong Su Zane

Jointly Organised By:
KLSCAH Civil Rights Committee
KLSCAH Women’s Section
TENAGANITA
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