VZCZCXRO5967
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHKL #2035/01 3050701
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 010701Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 1568
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7883
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 002035 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
JAKARTA PASS TO AMB. MILLER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KCRM KWMN MY
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR AMBASSADOR JOHN MILLER'S VISIT TO 
KUALA LUMPUR 
 
REF: A. STATE 144327 
 
     ¶B. KUALA LUMPUR 1661 
     ¶C. KUALA LUMPUR 1804 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Ambassador Miller, we welcome your visit to Kuala 
Lumpur and hope that your presence in Malaysia will assist us 
in encouraging the GOM to take substantive and positive 
measures as outlined in the Malaysia TIP Action Plan (ref A). 
 Your schedule will allow you to engage with a range of 
government officials responsible for the trafficking issue, 
as well as non-governmental and foreign embassy actors 
knowledgeable about the trafficking situation in Malaysia. 
Specifically, we view your visit as an excellent opportunity 
to: 
 
-- Urge Malaysia to follow through on its stated plans to 
open a shelter for victims, and clarify recent GOM 
announcements in this regard; 
 
-- Encourage the GOM to make the decision to draft and pass 
comprehensive legislation to address the trans-national crime 
of trafficking in persons; and 
 
-- Step up law enforcement efforts to fight traffickers, 
against the backdrop of strongly supportive public statements 
by the new Police Inspector General. 
 
End Summary. 
 
Delivery of U.S. recommendations 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) We have used the release of the Tier 2 Watch List 
Action Plan (ref A) to further our dialogue with Malaysian 
officials and encourage the GOM to move ahead with its 
discussions to draft and pass a comprehensive 
anti-trafficking bill.  Since its release, we have delivered 
the action plan to the Ministry of Internal Security (MIS), 
the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development 
(WFCD), the Foreign Ministry, and to other senior government 
advisors on police and security issues. 
 
Interagency committee established to address TIP 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) During PRM A/S Sauerbrey's mission to Malaysia, 
Muhammad Hatta bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary General of 
the Ministry of Internal Security (MIS), advised us on August 
24 that overall responsibility for coordinating the GOM's 
anti-TIP efforts had been transferred to MIS from the 
Ministry of Home Affairs (ref B).  Hatta stated that the GOM 
made the transfer because Home Affairs viewed the issue only 
from the perspective of immigration documentation, while MIS 
could better deal with trafficking as a national security and 
law enforcement matter, pointing out that the police fall 
under MIS's supervision.  In August, Hatta chaired the 
inaugural meeting of a new interagency committee organized to 
coordinate the GOM's anti-TIP efforts.  The interagency 
committee consists of representatives from the ministries of 
Internal Security, Home Affairs, Health and WFCD.  The 
committee is tasked with coordinating its efforts with the 
Attorney General's office (AGO). 
 
¶4.  (SBU) As of early October, it appeared the new committee 
has only met once and on that occasion agreed to study 
further whether the GOM should draft a new anti-TIP law or 
amend existing legislation.  Hatta indicated that officials 
in attendance at the inaugural meeting signaled support for a 
new law, but the matter remained before the committee.  Hatta 
said he would solicit and welcome US expertise and support in 
drafting Malaysia's anti-TIP law, should the GOM decide to 
pursue this course.  Hatta noted Malaysia's intention to 
provide shelter to trafficking victims within a separate wing 
of an immigration detention facility in Terangganu. 
 
Home Affairs and WFCD encourage new law 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) At an August 28 press conference, the Ministers of 
Home Affairs and WFCD announced two new TIP-related 
initiatives.  They said they would hold discussions with the 
Attorney General's chambers to consider drafting a new law to 
"curb human smuggling."  The Minister of WFCD, Shahrizat 
Abdul Jalil, also announced that the Minister of Home 
Affairs, Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, had agreed during their meeting 
 
KUALA LUMP 00002035  002 OF 002 
 
 
"to establish a protection center" for victims of trafficking 
that will be managed by the WFCD ministry.  She said she also 
requested that Radzi separate trafficking victims from other 
detainees in police cells and illegal migrant detention 
facilities. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) We held a follow-up meeting with Deputy SecGen 
Hatta on September 28 and presented him with the TIP Action 
Plan.  Hatta advised us that the matter of whether to draft a 
new law remained with Home Affairs Ministry and the AGO.  He 
did not confirm a positive GOM decision to pursue a TIP law, 
only that the issue continued to be under consideration. 
When asked about the status of the TIP victims "shelter" in 
the detention facility in Terangganu, Hatta said the physical 
building has been identified, but as far as he knew it did 
not yet house any victims.  Information had gone out to 
police elements regarding the use of this facility, but the 
police had not yet referred any victims.  Hatta noted that 
the inter-agency committee had not reconvened since August. 
 
Royal Malaysian Police support new legislation 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶7.  (U) Also in September, Inspector General of Police Musa 
Hassan delivered the keynote address at an anti-TIP 
conference jointly sponsored by The Royal Malaysian Police 
(RMP), the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation and 
Malaysia's largest non-governmental organization for migrant 
laborers, Tenaganita (ref C).  Musa publicly called for 
comprehensive anti-TIP legislation and for the construction 
of shelters for trafficking victims.  The IGP described the 
excellent relationship the RMP shared with Tenaganita and his 
appreciation that the police could now place trafficking 
victims in Tenaganita's shelter that opened in June 2006. 
 
¶8.  (U) Musa admitted that previous efforts to tackle 
trafficking have been uncoordinated and inefficient, and he 
recognized that there was very little empirical evidence 
available to truly understand the scope of the problem in 
Malaysia.  The IGP called for all law enforcement agencies to 
share more information and intelligence and cited the need 
for uniform databases to track all aspects of TIP 
investigations.  Citing the RMP's past efforts to address 
trafficking, Musa announced that between June 2004 and 
September 2006, the RMP identified and repatriated 365 
foreign victims of trafficking.  Between June 2003 and June 
2006, the RMP had arrested and charged 143 pimps under the 
penal code; another 126 had been detained under the 
Restricted Residence Act and 18 others under Emergency 
Ordinance 1969. 
 
Police establish special trafficking unit 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U)  The RMP's Deputy Director of Criminal 
Investigations, Syed Ismail Syed Azizan, also addressed the 
September conference and announced the RMP would establish an 
anti-trafficking unit within the vice squad (D-7), and that 
this unit would be staffed with experienced male and female 
officers who could properly understand the criminal activity 
involved and who would have the authority to address the 
corruption issues at lower levels.  Ismail lamented, however, 
that unless there were shelters built for victims, even with 
a new specialized trafficking unit, police would not be able 
to properly address the issue of trafficking. 
 
Current actions 
--------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The Anti-Trafficking office at WFCD is in the 
process of organizing a victim identification workshop for 
police, immigration officials and state community development 
officials.  We are working with WFCD to coordinate 
USDOJ/ICITAP trainers from Jakarta to provide the bulk of the 
much-needed training.  Current hopes are to hold the 
conference in December or early January. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) The USG funded Tenaganita shelter is fully 
operational and has active support from the RMP.  Tenaganita 
reports that most of the sheltered victims have been from 
Vietnam and Cambodia, but the shelter has never been full to 
capacity (25 victims).  The police have referred to the 
shelter as a model for government run shelters, and have 
expressed appreciation to Tenaganita for operating it.  The 
Indonesian and Philippines embassies continue to operate 
shelters for their respective nationals. 
LAFLEUR