Malaysia has become destination country for human trafficking: Zahid

BALI: Malaysia has become a destination country for human trafficking following the rapid development and the many job opportunities available in the country.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pix) said the government had taken immediate action to rectify the situation as it could lead to domestic crimes involving foreigners.
He said the Malaysian government was very committed to combating human trafficking and would also call on other countries to do the same at the ongoing Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime (Bali Process) here.
Ahmad Zahid said Malaysia used to be a transit country for human trafficking, but now illegal immigrants were keen on entering the country and deliberately destroying their identification and travel documents to hide their identities and nationalities.
"Malaysia used to be a transit country for foreigners travelling to Australia and other countries, but now they have turned Malaysia into their final destination country due to the available job opportunities," he told the Malaysian media here today.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said among the key problems faced in combating human trafficking crime was when the source country refused to recognised the victims as its nationals due to the absence of identification documents.
He said such problems would be discussed by Asean member countries and 44 other countries involved in the Bali Process.
"We see some kind of inequality in terms of taking responsibilities. Some source countries are seen to have washed their hands when their nationals left for other countries for good, either to earn a living or just to escape for economic or political reasons," he said.
As such, he said the source countries should be involved in finding solutions to the problem, so that they could ascertain the root causes underlying the people smuggling and human trafficking issues. — Bernama