Malaysia’s prime minister vowed to investigate a scathing report by US lawmakers saying thousands of Myanmar refugees were handed over to human traffickers with some ending up working in Thai brothels.
The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said in the report that illegal Myanmar migrants deported from Malaysia were often forced to work in brothels, fishing boats and restaurants across the border in Thailand if they had no money to purchase their freedom.
The report was based on a yearlong review by committee staff who spoke to migrants from military-ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, and human rights activists.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Friday that his government hoped to get more information on the report from US authorities.
“We will take appropriate action,” Najib told reporters. “We do not want Malaysia to be used as a point for human trafficking ... but we need to know more facts.”
Earlier this year, former Malaysian Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar dismissed claims of human trafficking at the border as “wild allegations.” But Malaysian national police chief Musa Hassan said earlier this month that Malaysian and Thai police and immigration officials were investigating the claims.
Many who flee persecution in Myanmar try to stay illegally in Malaysia, which does not recognize refugees and can arrest them, whip them as punishment then deport them.
The US Senate committee report said “a few thousand” Myanmar migrants in recent years might have become victims of extortion and trafficking once they were deported across Malaysia’s northern border with Thailand.
“Upon arrival at the Malaysia-Thailand border, human traffickers reportedly take possession of the migrants,” the report said.
The report quoted one unidentified migrant as saying women “are sold at a brothel if they look good. If they are not beautiful, they might sell them at a restaurant or housekeeping job.”
It called on Malaysia to investigate and prosecute “the trafficking, selling and slavery of Burmese and other migrants.”
“The prospect that Burmese migrants, having fled the heavy hand of the Burmese junta, only to find themselves in harms’ way in Malaysia, seemed beyond belief,” it said.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Malaysia’s government “should act on this US Senate report to protect the rights of refugees and victims of human trafficking.”
The UN refugee agency has registered 47,600 refugees living in Malaysia as of the end of last month, of whom 42,300 were from Myanmar.
Malaysian opposition politician Lim Kit-siang also urged the government to “respond with instant action” to the US report, saying it is “not only most damaging to Malaysia’s international image but raises grave questions about Malaysia’s human rights commitment.”
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS