VZCZCXRO3073
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHKL #0632/01 2151010
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 031010Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3047
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 2809
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0649

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 000632 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR EAP/MTS AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG MY
SUBJECT: TIP: GOM INTENSIFIES PUBLIC EDUCATION ON TIP 
 
REF: KUALA LUMPUR 618 -- TIP: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH 
     INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: In recent weeks, press coverage of 
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) issues in government-influenced 
print media has intensified in terms of quality and quantity, 
another indication of the GOM's determination to be seen as 
proactively confronting the issue.  The shift in the GOM's 
approach, and the new openness on TIP in the press, was 
exemplified in a July 28 editorial in the New Straits Times 
that underlined the significance of the first arrests of 
Immigration officers and acknowledged that the April SFRC 
Report and 2009 TIP Report contained "credible" allegations. 
The Star newspaper followed on August 2 with especially 
prominent placement of an interview with the Ambassador on 
the TIP issue.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Comment: Until recently, local mainstream media 
editors appeared to shy away from publishing in-depth 
reporting on trafficking, relegating the issue to the crime 
section or straight news.  However, at around the time the 
Government shifted to a more cooperative and proactive stance 
in reaction to the June 2009 TIP Report, the media began 
acknowledging the seriousness of the problem and highlighting 
the anti-trafficking actions taken by authorities. This 
approach appears to be part of a major GOM effort to educate 
the public, as well as its own officials, on the TIP issue. 
End Comment. 
 
¶3. (U) In recent weeks the government-influenced print media 
has significantly increased both the quantity and quality of 
its reporting on TIP, which previously had been almost a 
taboo subject.  Following the release of the 2009 TIP Report 
and news of Malaysia's Tier 3 TIP ranking, local press 
conveyed the Foreign Ministry's statement that Malaysia 
"takes a serious view of the drop of its status in the U.S. 
Trafficking in Persons Report 2009."  In the days and weeks 
following the June 16 release of the TIP report, the press 
reflected a shift in the government's public stance on 
trafficking, as additional government agencies weighed in 
with their own public statements.  An article entitled, 
"Enforcement Agencies Serious in Combating Human 
Trafficking," quoted the Inspector General of Police.  Other 
articles quoted the Commissioner of Suhakan, Malaysia's 
government-sponsored Human Rights Commission, and Home 
Affairs Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, who said his ministry 
"gives top priority to human trafficking as (Malaysia) is 
often used as a transit centre and this cannot continue," and 
announced creation of a task force involving "all relevant 
ministries" to study the issues laid out in the 2009 TIP 
Report.  On July 9, 2009, BERNAMA quoted Deputy Home Minister 
Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop at the closing of an ASEAN 
Awareness Course for Judges and Prosecutors, as saying 
"Malaysia will not hesitate to act against human traffickers 
whether they are government officers or not." 
 
¶4. (SBU) On July 10, BERNAMA reported two arrests for 
trafficking in Kuala Lumpur and quoted Deputy Public 
Prosecutor Mohd Dasuki Mokhtar as saying that he had asked 
the court to deny bail in these types of cases because the 
accused were members of a human smuggling and trafficking 
syndicate, and that because this was a serious case, the 
court's decision should reflect the government's seriousness 
in tackling human trafficking (Note:  Malaysian officials do 
not differentiate between human trafficking and human 
smuggling, although Post continues to highlight the 
difference in our interactions with TIP and policy-level 
officials. End note.)   The Malay Mail and other local 
dailies reported a July 9 statement from the Attorney 
General's Office that more than ten immigration officers were 
under investigation for involvement in human trafficking. 
(Note: This was the first public indication that the 
government had changed its public stance with regard to 
evidence of official involvement in human trafficking from 
one of denial and avoidance, to one of acknowledgement and 
action. End note). Local press subsequently reported on July 
20 and 21 that Police had arrested five immigration officials 
for involvement in an international trafficking syndicate 
dealing in refugees from Burma. 
 
¶5. (U) On July 16, BERNAMA reported that Rosmah Mansor, wife 
of the Malaysian Prime Minister, urged all the First Ladies 
of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Sharm El Sheikh "to 
consider serious measures in their respective countries to 
prevent more innocent women from being caught in the web of 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000632  002 OF 002 
 
 
human traffickers," a clear indication that the Prime 
Minister's Office had stepped up public diplomacy with regard 
to trafficking. 
 
¶6. (U) More recently, on July 26 The Star published three 
articles in a single issue focused on trafficking.  The three 
pieces exhibited an unprecedented level of honesty and 
openness, both in terms of their candid reporting, as well as 
in the evident greater willingness by government officials to 
discuss trafficking with journalists.  One of the Star 
articles focused on the plight of a single female trafficking 
victim; the second was an in-depth article discussing a 
government run shelter for human trafficking victims; and the 
third was a longer feature article looking at a host of 
issues related to trafficking, with material drawn from 
interviews with officials such as Women, Family and Community 
Development Director-General Noorul Ainu Mohd Nur.  The 
article carried a strong message about the need for greater 
public education on trafficking, mentioned Ministry efforts 
to empower local women with information; outlined a proposal 
to provide multi-lingual pamphlets cautioning foreigners 
entering Malaysia for work to be aware of the possibility of 
being trafficked; and mentioned the need for an emergency 
hotline to assist women who are in danger of being trafficked. 
 
¶7. (SBU) A June 28 article in the online news portal 
Malaysiakini entitled "Yes, We have a Human Trafficking 
Problem" may now be finding its echo within the mainstream 
media.  No stronger evidence of this can be found than in a 
July 28 New Straits Times Editorial entitled, "Better Late 
than Never," in which the Editor comments that "the 
significance of the arrests of the five officers of the Johor 
Immigration Department cannot be over-emphasized.  It not 
only validates the assertion that the allegations (in the 
April SFRC Report and 2009 TIP Report) had been 'credible,' 
but is also a reminder not to easily dismiss claims of 
official complicity as 'wild' and 'baseless' until a thorough 
and impartial investigation has been conducted. The fact that 
the Immigration Officer and three others who have been 
charged in court to date were accused of trafficking for the 
purpose of forced labor is no less significant, as there has 
been a conspicuous absence of such cases in the past.  It's 
past time that we recognize that men are as much victims as 
women and that the anti-trafficking law applies to all forms 
of labor exploitation and not just to forced prostitution." 
 
¶8. (U) On August 2, The Star gave prominent placement to an 
interview with the Ambassador on the TIP issue.  The paper 
took the unusual step of publishing the interview in its 
entirety.  The Ambassador noted that while shelters had been 
built for women and children victims of human trafficking, 
there remained a need to provide shelters to male victims of 
labor trafficking.  He elaborated that the shelters were 
important to separate the victims of human trafficking from 
the perpetrators. 
KEITH