Source: Malaysian Digest
In recent years, Malaysia has frequently been linked to human rights abuses in the international media involving migrant workers and and victims of human trafficking.
Malaysia’s human trafficking score was even a topic of international political debate recently when the United States was accused of upgrading Malaysia’s score to Tier 2 Watch List to ensure that we meet the criteria as a signatory of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

FilePic: ANN
According to a report by the Asian Century Institute in 2014, the number of foreign workers in Malaysia rose an alarming 340% to reach 1.8 million by 2010 but have our labour laws kept up with the times to cope with this sudden spike in foreign labour presence in our country?
Malaysia outsources workers from Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka.
They are mostly employed in sectors involving heavy manual labour (the infamously labelled ‘3D’ jobs) in manufacturing, construction, plantation, agricultural and domestic help. However some Malaysians do not realize that they are vital for the economy and treat these workers without respect.
What is more worrying is the increase in the number of cases that make headlines involving Malaysians dispensing vigilante justice without any regard for the law. Read more →