Speaking to FMT, its director Glorene Das said many human trafficking cases involve both registered and unregistered recruitment agencies.

“In the current situation of the scenario where recruitment agents are involved, it’s all about trade and profit. As long as there is trade and profit, that is human trafficking,” she said.

She was responding to concerns about a possible increase in human trafficking following Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement while tabling Budget 2018 on Friday that the government would allow employers to hire foreign domestic helpers from nine selected countries directly without any agents.

National Association of Employment Agencies (Pikap) president Raja Zulkepley Dahalan had said rural women could be lured as maids and could end up as victims of human trafficking.

However, Glorene said such cases already existed in situations involving recruitment agencies.

She gave the example of four girls who had been rescued from slave-like conditions, adding that they were even strip-searched with the excuse that they could be hiding written information in their underwear.

There were also a number of cases where the victims’ contracts were changed once they arrived in Malaysia, she said.

“A domestic worker, for example, could have signed on for a salary of RM900 or RM1,000 in Indonesia, but upon arrival in Malaysia they are given a contract that states they will only be paid RM600 or RM700.”

Glorene said this was because the victims often had no understanding of how Malaysian currency compared to their own. They were also unable to enquire into the situation due to cultural and language barriers, she added.

“Sometimes they don’t even know that there is a contract that exists between them and their employers.”

Glorene also cited cases where domestic workers were not paid for up to nine months, and were forced to work 24 hours a day without receiving any off-days.

She said these issues had been occurring with the existence of recruitment agencies, but that when questioned, the agencies always denied it.

“When we question the recruitment agencies, they say no, we have actually told the employer all this should be complied with.

“So the purpose of employers being able to directly hire a domestic worker is for the employers themselves to be held responsible or accountable,” she said.

She added that the government should also be accountable by playing the role of facilitator or moderator in the hiring process.

Klang MP Charles Santiago meanwhile agreed that the direct hiring of domestic workers could lead to an increase in human trafficking.

However, he also acknowledged Glorene’s point that the agencies themselves had been involved in many cases of human trafficking.

“This will actually create a new system, meaning that when you go to an agency, you have human trafficking, but in direct hiring, you have human trafficking as well.

“So you have two new rules of human trafficking to put in place,” he said.