KLANG, JULY 14: Malaysia has done nothing to deserve a recent upgrade in the United States’ Trafficking in Persons report, and doing so has shattered the credibility of the report, an opposition MP today said.

DAP Klang MP Charles Santiago in a press conference today rapped the US government for moving Malaysia to Tier 2, up from Tier 3, in its annual watch of human trafficking situations across the globe — a move which has sparked controversy within domestic and international human rights groups.

“The TIP report has certainly not taken into account Malaysia’s appalling record when it comes to dealing with trafficking issues,” said Charles.

Malaysia has done nothing to deserve US human trafficking report upgrade, said Charles.

He also accused the US government of giving the upgrade in a desperate attempt to sign the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) with Malaysia.

Charles questioned the upgrade in light of the discovery of mass graves, believed to be of migrants and victims of human trafficking, in ‘camps’ found at the border of Malaysia and Thailand.

“The government introduced a recent amendment to the Anti Trafficking Act 2007 to allow for the employment of documented refuges and the setting up of a high level agency to manage anti-trafficking efforts, but we have yet to see its effectiveness. One hint of the ‘effectiveness’, however, would be how Malaysia dealt with the discovery of the mass graves,” he said.

However, investigations into the gruesome find had concluded no criminal elements which led to the death of hundreds at the camps.

“If the US state department insists on upgrading Malaysia to tier 2, the TIP annual report will lose its credibility,” added Charles.

Charles said a letter, authored by him and US congressman Joseph Pitts, has been sent to the US government, to ask the White House to reconsider the upgrade.

– The Rocket