Malaysia's Policy Statement

Madame Chair and fellow delegates,

Being a country with 30 percent of our work force consisting of foreigners we try our best to protect their rights. They are covered if injured under the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1952. We punish employers who do not protect their foreign workers rights. We also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Thailand to ensure that Thai immigrants, who number around 18,000, have good work conditions have their rights protected.

Malaysia is one of the most frequent destinations for human traffickers. We as a country do not have specific laws pertaining to human trafficking. However, we do have laws that protect women against sexual assault, kidnapping and forced labor. As well as these laws we have created a special task force for combating trafficking and prostitution. The Royal Malaysian Police force also regularly conducts raids on brothels. Last year we set up a safe house in Sabah for human trafficking victims. This safe house is operated by our Community Development Ministry. Our efforts have been rewarded as we are now on the Tier 2 watch list after previously being at Tier 3 in 2009.

As a large Muslim country we have a multitude of Muslim citizens. We receive many immigrants from the Philippines and surrounding areas. In order to become a Malaysian citizen the person needs to have lived in the country for 10 of the last 12 years and have knowledge of the our official language, Malay. We have a special program called the “Malaysia my second home” program. This program assists foreigners who wish to immigrate to Malaysia by assisting in getting visas and much more. Over 12,000 people have joined this program and have started the immigration process. This is a government sponsored program and we feel it has been very successful.

As a member of the international community Malaysia feels it has an important role to play in intercepting kidnapping for ransom on an international level. We have a successful record of intercepting international kidnappings. Our most recent success was in July of this year when we arrested four Nigerian men accused of kidnapping six people, including one Malaysian national, in June. We impose harsh punishment for kidnappers, including life imprisonment and even death. We find that it is vital to our community and the international effort to continue to seek and prosecute these kidnappers. We believe that other countries should follow our example and combat kidnapping head on and regard it as a prevalent issue.