Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the NGOs were better at gaining the victims’ trust and getting them to talk.
“NGOs consist of civilians and they know more when it comes to engaging with these victims and they are more friendly.
“We discussed this with NGOs at a meeting today and they’ve agreed to be the middleman for us,” he said.
The police and NGOs held the dialogue at Bukit Aman on the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) Act 2007.
Among the NGOs represented were Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), the Bar Council and human rights organisation Tenaganita.
“It was a big meeting today with almost 60 people attending and I think the meeting room was packed because this sort of dialogue is what they have been waiting for and this shows their interest in the matter,” Rashid said.
“We touched on many issues regarding human trafficking and they made suggestions to us.
“We will have these meetings every three or four months to discuss issues and update each other.
“They have suggested that these meetings be held with the state police as well.”
Rashid said while Malaysia has improved a lot when it comes to tackling human trafficking, it could still do better.
“We need to deal with the victim’s emotions, manage their stress and trauma better when they are arrested. They are told by the syndicates not to talk to police.
“The law is good. It’s just the implementation of the law that needs to be better but, again, it’s not something that is simple to do, especially to conduct operations and raids as they require proper surveillance.
“So far this year, there have been 62 cases … so quite a lot.
“Last year, we recorded 410 cases of human trafficking, ranging from exploitation in plantations to maids and forced labour.”
In December 2017, Suhakam criticised the lack of cooperation from local authorities in its investigation into the mass graves in Wang Kelian, Perlis, which opened up a Pandora’s box into human trafficking in the country.
It was reported that Malaysian police discovered 139 graves of human trafficking victims in 28 detention camps deep in the jungles of Perlis near the Thai border in May 2015.
In December 2017, the New Straits Times alleged that there had been massive cover-ups in the Wang Kelian graves discovered on the Malaysia-Thai border in 2015.
It said authorities had already known about the mass graves but delayed announcing it until four months after they were first discovered.
Yesterday, in the Dewan Rakyat, in reply to a question from Klang MP Charles Santiago, the home ministry denied newspaper reports that police had destroyed the graves of 130 trafficked victims found at Wang Kelian.
It said all graves found had undergone forensic examination and the remains sent for examination by a pathologist.
The reply noted that police had identified 10 Thais and a Bangladeshi as being involved in the trafficking.
Suhakam says cops, KDN of no help in Wang Kelian mass graves probe