Describing it as “nothing new”, Charles Santiago, who went on a fact-finding mission last year, said the women and young girls who were trafficked were from Rakhine state.
A new report by the Child Rights Coalition Malaysia said Rohingya girls were being lured from refugee camps with promises of a better life, then forced into the sex trade.
Santiago, the DAP MP for Klang, visited the largest refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar last year. He told FMT the only difference in the current report was where the victims were from. “Some later become child brides,” he said.
“But this (report) will reflect badly on the Malaysian government. The authorities here need to buck up to end the trade and trafficking of people,” he said.
He said the illicit trade had been going on in Malaysia for some time.
Santiago also said the report could affect Malaysia’s ranking in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.
Earlier this year, Malaysia was placed on the Tier 2 Watch List again. Nations on Tier 2 are those that do not fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to meet those standards.
“A downgrade in the TIP report might have an adverse reaction to the country and implications for the economy, especially when it comes to trade with the US,” he said.