VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKL #1025/01 3640808
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY AD049B38 MSI2503-695)
O 300808Z DEC 09  ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3643
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS KUALA LUMPUR 001025 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y (CAPTION ADDED) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG MY
SUBJECT: SUCCESSFUL ANTI-TIP TRAINING OF MALAYSIAN 
OFFICIALS COMPLETED 
 
REF: A. KL 906 MALAYSIA: GTIP STAFF VISIT AUGUST 15-21 
     ¶B. KL 896 MALAYSIA ATTORNEY GENERAL'S CHAMBERS 
        CONDUCTS TIP TRAINING FOR ENFORCEMENT 
        OFFICERS 
     ¶C. KL 832 MALAYSIA -- MEETING WITH HEAD PROSECUTOR 
        ON TIP 
     ¶D. KL 775 TIP AMBASSADOR CDEBACA'S VISIT TO 
        MALAYSIA AUGUST 25-27 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary and Comment: From December 8-16, a 
four-member United States Department of Justice Office of 
Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training 
(USDOJ-OPDAT) team, funded by the Department's Office to 
Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP), conducted 
two successive three-day trafficking in persons (TIP) 
training seminars for GOM officials. The team consisted of a 
federal judge, federal prosecutor, FBI Special Agent, and FBI 
victims' specialist with working experience in human 
trafficking cases. The team trained 70 participants including 
judicial officers, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, 
women's shelters employees, and labor department employees on 
identifying and caring for victims of human trafficking, as 
well as how to investigate and prosecute TIP cases under 
Malaysia's 2007 Anti-TIP Act. Overall, the training provided 
Malaysian officials with a solid framework for how to proceed 
in cases that involve TIP issues and led to a fruitful 
discussion of how to treat victims of trafficking. It also 
provided a forceful GOM interagency discussion on the need 
for better enforcement of the law. The GOM appreciated USG 
assistance and has requested follow-on training. End Summary 
and Comment. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In the weeks following Malaysia's placement on Tier 
Three of the 2009 TIP Report in June, Tun Majid, Head of 
Prosecution of the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) 
requested Embassy Kuala Lumpur support in educating law 
enforcement and prosecutors on how to successfully 
investigate and try human trafficking cases. In the 
subsequent months, the plan for training expanded to include 
participants from the Malaysian judiciary, Women's Ministry, 
and Labor Department. The training workshop was intended to 
provide detailed instruction on how to identify and care for 
victims of human trafficking, focus on a whole of government 
approach, and how to investigate and prosecute TIP cases 
under Malaysia's new Anti-TIP Act. Taught by a diverse team 
that included Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington, U.S. 
District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Assistant 
U.S. Attorney Demetri Jones, FBI Special Agent Gary Brown, 
and FBI victims' counselor Kathleen Liner, the goal was to 
foster collaboration and discussion between Malaysian 
judiciary, prosecutors, law enforcement, victims' 
specialists, and labor department employees on 
anti-trafficking issues. Judicial officers, representatives 
from the AGC, Royal Malaysian Police, Immigration Department, 
Maritime Enforcement Agency, Labor Department, Royal 
Malaysian Customs, and Women's Ministry attended. After 
initial pushback, Malaysian officials allowed three 
participants from local NGOs - Tenaganita, Boat People SOS, 
and the National Council of Women's Organizations, Malaysia - 
to attend the training. While initially allowing the NGOs to 
be present during the case studies portion of the training, 
ultimately they allowed the NGOs to participate in the entire 
second day of both training sessions. The two trainings were 
held December 8-10 and December 14-16. Each class had 
approximately 35 students leading to 70 Malaysian officials 
trained during these sessions. Jane Sigmon and Kelly Heinrich 
of G/TIP attended the first week's training session. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The training was provided by USDOJ-OPDAT team and 
funded by G/TIP. The Malaysian AGC provided a venue for the 
training as well as buffet-style lunches. Deputy Public 
Prosecutor Dusuki Mokhtar and Assistant Public Prosecutor 
Adilla Ahmad facilitated the training programs. The workshop 
included presentations from each of the team members 
regarding their area of expertise followed by break-out 
groups to review and analyze case studies. Throughout the 
training, the Malaysian officials gave presentations on their 
case studies and on the last day, participated in a moot 
court. A prosecutor from the AGC gave a class on the new 
Malaysian anti-TIP law. There was a heavy press presence 
covering the opening of the training, however, there were no 
published reports in the local news. 
 
¶4. (SBU) At G/TIP's request, the DOJ-OPDAT team distributed, 
collected, and reviewed daily evaluation reports from the 
training participants. The evaluations revealed that the 
participants generally wanted more interactive training with 
less lecture-style presentations and more information on how 
to work with victims. The DOJ-OPDAT team, with the assistance 
of G/TIP and Embassy Kuala Lumpur, significantly amended the 
training in the second week to be responsive to these 
suggestions. While both sessions of training were helpful, 
 
 
the second week of training was a greater success because of 
its interactive features and stimulation of discussion on 
difficult issues. 
¶5. (SBU) Embassy Kuala Lumpur created the four case studies 
utilized by the DOJ-OPDAT Team.  The case studies covered 
victims of trafficking who found themselves in forced 
domestic servitude, forced labor at a toy factory, indentured 
servitude at a plantation, and forced to work in the sex 
industry. The breakout groups determined who were the 
victims, what criminal charges applied, what legal procedures 
needed to be followed under the Anti-TIP Act, and created an 
investigation and litigation plan regarding witness 
testimony, evidence collection, witness protection, and 
general case strategy. These exercises, wherein law 
enforcement, prosecutors, victims' specialists, and other 
government officials worked together, offered some of the 
more constructive benefits of the training. The participants 
excelled in the training and gained a better understanding of 
human trafficking. 
¶6. (SBU) On December 9, the Malaysians held a panel 
discussion that included Tun Majid, the AGC's Head of 
International Affairs Division Azailiza Mohd Ahad, as well as 
representatives from the Royal Malaysian Police, Immigration 
Department, Maritime Enforcement Agency, and Royal Malaysian 
Customs. Tun Majid's remarks were extremely critical of the 
anti-trafficking efforts being made by law enforcement 
agencies. He commented that when law enforcement agents place 
TIP victims in handcuffs it more resembles an "arrest" than a 
"rescue." He noted that his cases rely on the cooperation of 
the rescued victims and that the enforcement officers needed 
to work better to establish trust with the victims as well as 
conduct better investigations of the arrest site for 
corroborating evidence. He emphasized the need for 
enforcement agencies, not prosecutors, to enforce the 
anti-TIP law and that criminal prosecutions were being held 
up by ineffective investigations. When he was later asked by 
an Immigration official how to enforce the Anti-TIP law, Tun 
Majid quickly shot back, "The law is simple. You know how to 
enforce laws - you have been doing it for time in memoriam. 
Now go enforce the law!" Azailiza Mohd Ahad explained what it 
meant to be ranked Tier Three on the 2009 TIP report from an 
international perspective and described the efforts made in 
2007 to pass the Anti-TIP Act. She noted that now was the 
time for Malaysia to implement the second phase of the plan 
) to enforce the anti-trafficking law. None of the 
representatives from the law enforcement agencies challenged 
the comments made by Tun Majid or Azailiza Mohd Ahad. To the 
contrary, they all took a conciliatory tone, noting that they 
are trying their best but knew they had to do better. 
 
¶7. (SBU) On December 11, in between the two training 
sessions, PolOff and the DOJ-OPDAT team visited a TIP shelter 
run by the GOM and another TIP shelter run by a local NGO. As 
described in reftel, conditions at government shelters raised 
concerns. The facilities, with high walls, bright lights, and 
razor wire, resemble detention facilities rather than women's 
shelters. 
Several victims told PolOff that they had been locked in 
their rooms until just before the team arrived. The 
government shelter lacked activities for the TIP victims and 
lacked trained counselors to work with the TIP victims. 
Conversely, the NGO shelter provided a far more nurturing 
setting with substantive activities as well as counseling and 
therapy by qualified professionals. 
 
¶8. (SBU) During the second week of training, the DOJ-OPDAT 
team utilized their experience at the TIP shelters in their 
training. FBI Victims' Specialist Kathleen Liner explained 
the differences between the two shelters and how treatment in 
the government shelters could mirror the treatment a victim 
receives at the hands of the traffickers. Although the class 
initially rejected Ms. Liner's assessment, a spirited 
discussion on how Malaysia cares for the victims of 
trafficking ensued. Over the remaining training period, many 
participants approached Ms. Liner to explain that they had 
never considered some of the factors she had mentioned in her 
presentation. Some acknowledged that they had never 
considered how placing victims into a detention-style 
facility might affect them. Others requested training from 
local NGOs on how to effectively run a TIP shelter. Ms. 
Liner's direct approach led to an open and frank conversation 
on an issue of significant import in Malaysia ) how to care 
for the victims of TIP. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The participants were serious and put forth a 
significant effort to master the material. Embassy Kuala 
Lumpur and the DOJ-OPDAT Team identified several top 
performers within each of the ministries who could be 
selected for follow-on training in the future. In general, 
the training was another positive step in the providing of 
anti-TIP training to Malaysian government officials. The GOM 
was appreciative of our continued training support and asked 
 
 
to be considered for additional anti-TIP training in the 
future. 
 
¶10. (SBU) G/TIP cleared this cable. 
KEITH